Midnight Madness
On Sunday morning, my BF was on Facebook when he noticed RC Concepcion of Layers TV was on chat. Since we both planned to attend RC & Dave Cross’ Austin class the following day, he invited RC out to shoot night photos with us that evening.
“Ha. RC shoot with US?” I laughed. He’s an Adobe Rock Star. Why would he be interested in hanging with a couple of fans on a Sunday evening? As the evening approached and the rain began to fall, I figured he would be a no-show. But around 6pm, I received a text message on my PERSONAL PHONE. I held it up in disbelief at the BF.
“Oh my God! RC Concepcion just texted ME!”
It was close to 10:30pm before we finally met him; he seemed tired at first, but willing to play. We wandered around 6th Street before turning down Congress Ave. towards the Capital Building. If you haven’t shot the Capital Building at night, I highly recommend finding a clear night to do it; between the rain and haze, it wasn’t an easy shoot. We walked the full length of the building, shooting both the front and back. Along the way, we discussed HDR with RC, who gave us some pointers. Here it was, midnight, and I’m getting pointers on HDR from an Adobe guru.
Surreal.
About that time, we were getting tired, so we headed back towards Congress Ave. to make the walk back to our hotels. But as we walked down the front walkway, we were intercepted by a policeman.
“Well, what are you guys doing here with all that camera equipment at midnight? Either you’re a bunch of terrorists, or I’d venture to say you’re photographers.” The BF, being in law enforcement, took the lead and immediately started a conversation with the trooper, explaining that we were showing RC the great capital of Texas, and that he’d never been to our amazing state before. That lit the trooper’s pride, and he pointed up to the dome.
“Then you’ve never seen the dome before from the inside?” he asked RC.
“No sir, I haven’t.”
“Well, are you going to be here tomorrow?”
“He’s teaching a class tomorrow,” the BF interjected.
The trooper was pensive for a moment… “Well, would you like to see it?”
“Oh, yes sir,” RC exclaimed. “I’d love to.”
The trooper shook his keys. “Well, come on then. You can’t come to Texas and not see the dome.” I looked at the BF in disbelief. Seriously, if you don’t know a cop, get to know one… the perks are immeasurable. We followed the trooper up the capital steps and into the main rotunda. I stood in absolute awe of my luck: here I was, at midnight, standing in the Texas state capital with an Adobe Rock Star as our local trooper explained the history of the building. I looked at the BF and blinked before pinching myself. For real???
The trooper continued with the history of the building, pointing to the star at the top and explaining that the only way up was a winding spiral staircase. RC smiled and commented that the view must be amazing from up there. The trooper furrowed his brow.
“Well, it’s something else, I tell ya. You afraid of heights?”
For real???
Before I could comprehend the situation, I was on a spiral staircase with a wicked case of vertigo, suspended high above the marble inlay and RC gasping for air behind me… I giggled from the sheer absurdity of it all. We continued up, and up, and up… until we reached the very top of the dome, where the trooper unlocked the door to a tiny ledge.
“Okay, you can’t go this high and not make the 360.”
As I stepped out into the cool Austin night air, I ceased to breathe. I flattened my back against the tin panel behind me, horribly unnerved as it moved beneath my weight. Even more unnerving; knowing that a 2 and a half foot sheet of tin and a foot of steel beneath my feet was all that separated me from plummeting to a very messy death. Beneath us, a flock of birds passed by. But as the moments passed, and I had a breathtaking view of Congress Avenue that few other people have ever been allowed to witness, the joy of the moment began to sink in… I creeped around the ledge, taking in all of Austin before ducking back into the door and thanking God for both the experience and surviving it.
Before we left to go down, we had to take the shot from the top: the shot that involves hanging your camera over a ledge with an eight-story drop to a marble floor. My legs were already shaking from the outside ledge; at this point, I just couldn’t stop laughing. To my left, the BF sat wtih his camera pointed at RC, to my right, RC stood with his camera extended as far as it would go and a look of comical terror on his face. Behind him, the trooper wedged his shoes against his heels. You know, in case RC fell over. (!!!) And plummeted to his death on the marble floor. Because that would have sucked. After a few moments, he was finally satisfied with the shot and we began the journey back down the spiral staircase, which, if possible, was more terrifiying than the journey up.
Did I mention I did the whole thing in high-heeled boots? Would you expect anything less?
On the way back down, RC commented that he had a new respect for a friend of his that shot the Empire State Building.
A friend of his. The Joe McNally.
Freaking surreal.