Morning Light At Pennzoil Place – Mike Schaffner Photography

The morning light at Pennzoil Place is a gift to photographers. The light plays with the shapes and angles to create beautiful and ever-changing vignettes to stimulate your imagination.

This iconic building stands out in the Houston skyline. Wikipedia cites it as “Houston’s most award-winning skyscraper and is widely known for its innovative design.” Wikipedia describes Pennzoil Place as “495 ft. trapezoidal towers placed ten feet apart and sheathed in dark bronze glass and aluminum. The buildings are mirror images of each other. The entire street-level plaza joining the two structures is enclosed in a 115-foot glass pyramid-shaped atrium. Deliberately designed as an optical illusion, Pennzoil Place’s appearance will vary depending on the different locations from where it is viewed. Pennzoil Place is considered significant in architectural circles for breaking the modernist glass box design…”

The building is all lines, shapes, and angles giving any close-up view a very abstract feel. As a result, every time you pass by the building you see something new. It is a real joy to look at and photograph. This is because it is so different from the ubiquitous boxy and oh-so boring glass and aluminum buildings. This was especially useful as my intent on this outing was to get close-up (or at least closer) shots rather than full-building shots. As it turned out, I got two shots I was very happy with.

Morning Light At Pennzoil Place #1

My first shot was from the southeast corner that allowed me to highlight the slanted atrium rood and the captivating 10-foot gap between the towers. The narrow gap grabs your attention. It’s like a hole in the fence that allows you to peek into another world.

Because of the symmetry of the design the view from the southeast corner is almost identical to the view from the northwest corner. However, there are a couple of significant differences. First, there is the light. The east side gets the warm morning light while the west is in shade. Even in the afternoon the west may be in shade due to the tall building to the west of it. On the east side for half a block the opposite building is “short” allowing light to hit the atrium and also cast an interesting trapezoidal shadow of its own on to the atrium.

Second, on the east side there are two “ventilation chimneys” for the underground parking garage (my presumption on what they are). These add another shape in the composition that along with the trapezoidal shadow strengthen the abstract feel of the image. In addition, they act as a counter-point to the blue sky in the diagonally opposite corner.

Morning Light At Pennzoil Place #2

My second shot resulted from a bit of luck. After completing my first shot I decided to check the view from the northwest corner. While waiting opposite the northeast corner for the traffic light I glanced back toward the east atrium entrance.

The warm morning light emphasized the bronze tones of the building. Along with the varied reflections they created a nice mosaic. I also noticed that the warm air from the garage below condensed when it exited the chimney. This made a nice “smoke” effect that provided a nice softer element in contrast the all the other “hard” elements.

It’s been a few months since I’ve been able to break away to do some shooting so I was ecstatic that I could call this a successful outing. I’m happy with how both shots turned out. But to be honest, if I had to choose, I would say I prefer the second shot. Which one do you prefer?

How do you go about finding a composition you like? I’d love to hear your comments and feedback. Please leave a comment in the comment box below.

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