St. Louis Panorama

The destination for my most recent photoshoot was the top of the Arch in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, USA. It was a bright, clear, sunny day, which I hadn't given that much thought to at the time, but it turned out to be an excellent day for the task at hand. For readers who have not been up in the Arch before, I'll give a brief overview of the experience. If you've been there and don't care about the ride, skip ahead to the heading: At the TOP.

The ride:

First let me start by explaining that after 911, security was beefed up considerably at the Arch. So my first thoughts were on what I could get through security in a timely fashion. I wasn't sure if my backpack loaded down with equipment, lenses, wiring, etc. would dumbfound security staff and leave me standing waiting for them to figure out that everything was harmless. So I left the backpack in the jeep, and took my 20D, my 400 zoom lens, and my 18-55 wide angle. Always bring an extra batteries and memory cards for any photoshoot. I had been up in the arch a few times before and fully expected long lines and delays, so I wasn't thrilled about carrying the weight without the backpack. The backpack has straps that wrap around and hook in front, allowing me to hook my big lens with camera attached to these straps to take the weight off my neck. Without the backpack I just cradled the system in my arms. Tip: Take only what you need to avoid delays at security checkpoints.

Since it was a weekday, at about 1 pm, I was pleasantly pleased to discover that lines were non-existent. In my prior life as a technician for the Federal Reserve, I was only off on weekends so I was used to seeing lines outside the arch, waiting to get in, inside waiting to buy tickets and waiting to get on the tram after getting tickets. This day was all together different. Tip: go on a weekday, not a weekend. I got through security quickly. They told me to put my long coat in the basket rather than emptying pockets (which I had already emptied of all non-essentials to alleviate delays). The ticket counter had no line and the tram was leaving in 10 minutes.

Again, no line at the tram. There was a gal from Kodak taking pictures of families before going up if they wanted to buy one. I wondered if this was in case they never made it back down. Here is where the ride gets interesting. As a single person, the tram attendants assign you a car with someone else. I like this custom as it gives you a chance to meet other people. I was lucky to meet a young mom and her son, Griffith, who was celebrating his 5th birthday. I love kids so I was happy to meet this excited young man with blond hair and a big smile. I've noticed lots of kids seem to warm right up to me as well. I think it is just because I give them a warm smile. I don't think they get enough smiles from adults. Tip: smile at kids, it puts them at ease.

Once the riders coming down from the top exit the tram, you find a seat in the car. The cars are tiny, as is the door to get into them. You have to duck to keep from hitting your head. Inside the car is the shape of the inside of an egg, with 5 seats, two on each side and one against the back facing the door. Anyone with long legs should pick the one facing the door. I remember riding once with a French man who was very tall, kindof like jack the pumpkin king in "Night Before Christmas." He only fit in the seat facing the door.

As the egg ascends it rocks and jolts, realigning itself as it lurches through the curvature of the arch. Through the tram window all you can see is the inner bowels of the Arch. Cold bare cement, and an endless staircase (I'd hate to have to take that to the top). At the top you can free yourself from the egg and enjoy the 5 star restaurant. Just kidding. There's no restaurant at the top despite urban myths to the contrary.

At the TOP:

The Arch is shaped like a triangle with the point at the bottom, below the floor, and the wide flat part at the top. So there is a narrow floor, walls that slant outward from the floor toward the ceiling, and windows that slant toward the ground. The windows are wide horizontally, and have a deep windowsill in front of them. So people lean forward with elbows on the windowsill to see out the window and look down on the city. Inside the arch, when there are a lot of visitors, you see a row of behinds as everyone leans over the window sills to peer down. Tip: Don't bother with a large tripod at the Arch, there isn't room on the window sill to make it work, use a tabletop tripod or simply rest your camera on your coat or arm. Since the windowsill slants down from the window, you need something to raise the camera while providing stability.

Peering down yourself, on the West side you see the City of St. Louis, Missouri; on the East side you see the Mississippi river and Illinois. My primary goal of this trip was to get a picture of Busch Stadium. A new stadium is being built next to the old one, and I wanted to get a shot of the new one in progress while the old one is still a full circle. With my 400 mm lens I could get shots of half of the old stadium, and the flag on top. It was way longer than I needed, but I had fun zooming in on minutiae going on in the city: Sculptures on top of hotels, couples crossing streets hand in hand, a bicycle messenger facing a row of traffic at a light. Tips: Bring something to clean windows if you have to shoot through them, also use a polarizing filter (circular polarizer for autofocus lenses) to reduce glare on glass and water).

Switching to the 18-55 lens, I took numerous side by side shots from the south side of the city, featuring the stadium and old courthouse, to the northeast where the Edward Jones Dome dominates the cityscape. On the West side of the Arch a similar pan of shots netted the Poplar Street bridge, the Illinois farmlands, a high muddy river, the Casino, and the Eades Bridge to the North. Tips: Shoot with the same focal length to make panoramic stitching easier. Use the sky as an alignment guide, keeping a small amount of sky in each pic. Try to avoid putting key landmarks close to the edge of the picture, they could fall into a seam when stitching.

On the trip down I was paired with a young man from New York. I laughed heartily when he told me that in New York, you never want to be alone with a stranger even for 30 seconds. I welcomed him to St. Louis and told him I hope he enjoys his visit.

At ground level I shot the stainless steel of the Arch with the moon along side in a blue sky backdrop. My favorite shot of the day though was a people shot (rare for me since I am, believe it or not, primarily a wildlife photographer). I saw a man standing at the base of the North leg of the arch with his head tilted far back staring up at the curve of the arch. I also saw two other people approaching, one pushing a wheel chair. I wondered if the inevitable would happen and it did. All three (with the exception of the person in the wheel chair), stood for a moment with their heads tilted back staring up at the Arch. Boom, I saw it coming and was able to get the shot, even though they only held the pose for a moment. Tip: If you plan to use photos of people, take releases with you for them to sign. This is only important if they are key subjects, not if they are a face in a crowd.

Back home I loaded my images in, brought up photostitch, and stitched the city together. I was highly successful with most of the city, taken at the same focal length, but the Old Courthouse was to close to the edge (having framed the old courthouse and the stadium in the same shot) so I wasn't successful in getting that key component of the city to gracefully stitch in. Thus my prior tip. If you didn't use the same focal length for your shots you can adjust the focal lengths in Photostitch, but the minimum is 20mm, not 18. I had better success using 20 mm, the smallest possible than using higher focal lengths attempting to match my other shots. The best outcome came from pairing shots taken at the same focal length. I printed my cityscape on 8.5 x 11 paper and trimmed it to fit in a panoramic frame that is 4 inches high by 11 wide. The actual image is only 2 inches high so a white border of an inch is on top and bottom. This picture is now proudly displayed at the camera store I am assistant manager at. Creve Coeur Camera on Telegraph Road in St. Louis. Come by for a visit.

I hope my first attempt at blogging hasn't bored you and has provided some useful tips to help you on future photoshoots. Above all I hope my photography adventures will inspire you to get out and enjoy your camera.

Geopic