Water Lily

I thought a pretty flower might chase the Winter Blahs's away. This Water Lily was in bloom in the fountain in front of Plant Hall at the University of Tampa in November.

It has lost a lot of saturation due to the compression and I'm very disappointed. I wish you all could see how it really looks. It's a beautiful flower. This blog really does a number on my photos. :( What a shame!

Settings used for this shot were: Aperture Priority and partial metering off the flower at F7.1 at 1/250 with 200 ISO, -2/3 exposure to keep the highlights in check. Focal Length was 200mm.

Plant Hall, UT Interior

Plant Hall at the University of Tampa is one of the most beautiful places in the area.

It was originally the Tampa Hotel, built in the late 19th century during the Gilded Age by Henry B Plant, a railroad magnate for over $3,000,000. The hotel had more than 500 rooms and was 5 stories high. It was frequented by the late President Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, Babe Ruth, Sarah, Bernhart, President Ulysses S Grant, the Prince of Wales, the Queen of England and a host of other celebrities of the day. This hotel was luxurious and a resort in itself. The rooms had their own baths, expensive furnishings, electricity and even telephones. It would be a 5* rated hotel today.

For a short time, Plant Hall was also the Hillsborough High School, then eventually became the University of Tampa's main administration building. It is an historic symbol of the city of Tampa.

This view is on the main floor where it has facing entrances on the East and West side.

This shot was made during the Wednesday night's Meetup with Jim Sykes.

University of Tampa Minaret

This was taken in back in January, just before I left for vacation. I must apologize for going back to my files for posting since I had a long day today and haven't done any editing.

I've never shot these minarets in total darkness before because I like to see some blue in the sky; but with the black background, I think it sets off the minaret better than if it were taken with a blue sky.

The University of Tampa, Plant Hall building has always fascinated me. It reminds me a little bit of Moscow (at least of the picture of Moscow that I've seen). I just love that architecture.

I'm always trying to expand my comfort zone by shooting what I'm not used to. I find it enhances my abilities--even though my experiments don't always come out to my liking. This one, though, I like. (I got lucky.) I also had a little bit of help with the campus lighting.

"Sticks of Fire"

"Sticks of Fire" sculpture on the University of Tampa's campus.

I haven't shot much this weekend, so I had to take a trip through my archives. I shot this one during the "Lights on Tampa" celebration just before the Super Bowl in Tampa, FL.

This sculpture is lit up occasionally and it stands tall in the center of the front campus. The Regions Bank building is in the background.

I originally shot this using the Auto White Balance setting on my camera, but thought it looked more realistic using the Tungsten setting, which I changed in Lightroom (one of my photo processing programs). I liked the golden look on the sculpture, but it hid the rest of the elements.

Downtown Tampa From the UT Campus

This is only one of many beautiful views of downtown Tampa that can be seen from the University of Tampa campus.

The buildings, from left to right are, the Sykes building, the Bank of America building and the Regions Bank buildings.

Arch Detail

Arch detail and reflections in window of Regions Bank, which is in downtown Tampa. The University of Tampa campus is one of the preferred places to create "out of the box" images of downtown Tampa.

These arches are over the main doors in Plant Hall at the University of Tampa.

Backside Plant Hall, University of Tampa, Tampa, FL

This is another image from Plant Hall at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida. This building is so ornate it's hard to know what to shoot. It shows detail of some of the Gingerbread design that was so popular in the Victorian age.

Plant Hall, University of Tampa

This is one of the many porches on the backside of this amazing building. I've been there twice now, and still haven't been able to capture everything there is to photograph.

The University of Tampa campus is one of the most amazing campuses I've ever seen. The architecture appears to be a combination of Russian and Victorian, yet it also resembles Middle East architecture.

If you're ever in the Tampa area, this is one place to put on your list to see.