My September 23, 2010, Photo Shoot

[Doug Loudenback]

The impetus for the photos I took yesterday relate to a blog post, still developing, as to what has transpired since December 2006 when I first published my Oklahoma Rising video. After reviewing that video, I became astonished about the amount of change that either had occurred or was in progress of occurring since that December 2006 date.

So, I made a field trip yesterday... some of it is not at all new but IS new since the December 2006 Oklahoma Rising. Much of that "new" stuff since December 2006 needed no new ground research/photos, but much of it did. And other stuff that is new since December 2006 was not covered in the photo shoot because I'd already captured such images before and no need existed to duplicate them.

All of the photos that follow were taken September 23. I took a few legacy photos of buildings well established since December 2007 but not completed in my Oklahoma Rising video, but those will be shown just the same for completeness about the pics that I took today. That said, the best of the lot of photos I took today are of projects still in progress and under construction.

I'll break this post into parcels.

Small (510 px wide) images are shown here but much larger images are also available by clicking individual photos.

This is the first parcel, and it simply shows items that were either begun or firmly in place but not yet done. It doesn't show all such items, e.g., the Skirvin Hilton, which in December 2006 was not yet accomplished.

The Hill. This condo project had begun by 12/2006 but as time proceeded it looked as though The Hill was dead in the water. By the time today's pics were taken, it looks as though The Hill may have weathered its personal storm.



The Centennial on the Canal. When the December 2006 video was made, this Lower Bricktown project wasn't done. Today's images of this project are shown below.





Maywood. This condo project was in its infancy in December 2006. Although it is has not yet reached its long term completion, it has substantially progressed. A couple of pics taken yesterday show it to look like this:





Residence Inn. Construction was well under way 12/06 but it wasn't done.





Hampton Inn. I don't recall if construction had begun or not in 12/06.



Next: Devon Boathouse & Chesapeake Finish Tower.

[kevinpate]

Nice shots and thanks for taking the time to update.

[Doug Loudenback]

The first photo was taken from the Byers Avenue bridge. In this series, 3 sizes are available ... 510 px wide is shown, clicking it shows a 1024 px wide shot, and clicking the "much larger link" gives images exceeding 3000 px wide. For cropped views, only 510 and 1024 px wide views are available.

From Byers Bridge

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From South Side of River. The next series of shots were taken from the berm which parallels the walking/biking trail on the south side of the Oklahoma River, proceeding west to east.

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Next, Center of the American Indian.

[Doug Loudenback]

For this series, I circumvented the entire premises in a clockwise direction beginning on the east side and took 15 pics. It was rather cloudy and, on the west side, windy and red dust was blowing. In this series, 3 sizes are available ... 510 px wide is shown, clicking it shows a 1024 px wide shot, and clicking the "much larger link" gives images exceeding 3000 px wide. For cropped views, only 510 and 1024 px wide views are available. On edit: sorry about the spelling in the title of "American" Indian ... perhaps a mod will correct that since I'm not able to edit that misspelling.

The Center of the American Indian was pretty much a large mound with nothing else in December 2006. Quite a lot of progress has been made, as you will see. I don't know what the particular structures are.

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The next pair of photos were taken from the west side of the huge mound looking east. My best guess is that this is a large drainage canal but that's just a guess. At the end of the tunnel, a building on the east side of the mound can be seen.

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The next photos highlight the white arced sculpture which we've noticed from Interstate 40 at a distance. The vertical arcs are shaped like feathers.

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Next: Devon Tower & Myriad Gardens

[metro]

Great pics Doug. Ironic we both went out yesterday on a photo shoot, we should have gone together, it's been too long! I'm sure that hole through the dirt mound will be a great new place for the homeless to sleep at night.

[earlywinegareth]

I'd like to see all those power lines around boathouse row UNDERGROUND!

[Doug Loudenback]

Devon Tower and a complete revamp of the Myriad Gardens wasn't even on the horizon in December 2006. For this series, I took the first shots out my car window while driving westbound on I-40 and those photos will be less crisp than desired but will show a somewhat different perspective than most photos do. I then exited at Classen and then drove east on Sheridan. In this series, 3 sizes are available ... 510 px wide is shown, clicking it shows a 1024 px wide shot, and clicking the "much larger link" gives images exceeding 1024 px wide. For cropped views, only 510 and 1024 px wide views are available.

Taken From I-40 Westbound:

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In the next 3 photos, notice the glass being installed.

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Inside Myriad Gardens. For the following photos, I entered Myriad Gardens from the construction road entry on Reno. There wasn't much room to maneuver but I was able to get the following photos.

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That's the end of my September 23, 2010, photoshoot. These photos represent just a piece of all that's transpired since my Oklahoma Rising video was put together in December 2006. It's really pretty amazing, particularly considering the economic problems that came to occur. Though I didn't take any photos particularly focusing on all of the streets being churned up because of the in-process Project 180, the amount of construction going on despite the economy is utterly amazing. These photos do not even taken into account developments in Midtown or the Heath Sciences Center, but I've previously taken photos of those developments and did not revisit them on September 23, 2010.

[Laramie]

Doug:

Great pics are very refreshing of our beloved city.

I went to the last rowing event on the river and I met people here from San Diego, Seattle and Texas and they were impressed.

The Devon Tower glass panels are coming in and it's very educational watching thes tower reach the sky.

The Native American Cultural Center appear to be dragging along at snail's pace, it's going to be impressive when all of these projects are finished and construction begins on the initial phases of the MAPS III projects.

Thanks Again!

[Doug Loudenback]

Thanks, Laramie. I don't know the current status of funding of the Native American Cultural Center but I understand that funding has been a big problem during the past several months. Still, when I took these pictures of this project, there were construction workers everywhere along the picture route that I took ... but certainly not as many as the hordes of construction workers working on the Devon Tower, Myriad Gardens, and Project 180 sites that I observed when the photos were taken yesterday. You may be like me ... I want everything done TODAY. But, on the other hand, the development that has occurred during the past 3 ½ years or so is pretty amazing. In the long view, that's a very small slice of time.

[Doug Loudenback]

Great pics Doug. Ironic we both went out yesterday on a photo shoot, we should have gone together, it's been too long! I'm sure that hole through the dirt mound will be a great new place for the homeless to sleep at night.

Maybe so, sometimes, but not a great place for them when a gully washer plops on the town!

I think that it would be great fun for us to take a joint photo shoot some time, but, beware ... I do take risks, sometimes foolish ones, such as when I took the photos of Devon Tower while driving west on I-40 at about 40 mph. And I am pretty much willing to go where my nose takes me. An example is the Devon Boat House photos, above. Getting to the vantage point for those photos is not particularly simple, but I'd been there before. But, I'd never been challenged for being there. Yesterday, I was. When I reached the "X" point in the map below, I parked my car, got out and was preparing to cross over a dilapidated fence to climb a small hill and get to the south side of the Oklahoma River where I could take pictures. Click the image for a better map ...



As you can see from the map, it is a pretty convoluted process to reach that area ... crossing multiple railroad tracks is required and there are VERY few points at which one can make that crossing. When I reached the yellow "X" and was preparing to cross a low-lying fence, I was approached by not one but two security guys. It was explained to me that since 9/11 that enhanced security procedures applied to that area ... I didn't understand all of what was said but apparently train cars are, somewhere in that rather large area, loaded with "stuff" and a concern was present that dangerous stuff could be loaded on a rail car and transported to some other location and then be detonated, or something like that.

Anyway, the lead security guy said that I could drive to the end of the building you see in the map (in the map it is white but it is actually pink in color), turn north, take a turn to the right and then drive along the berm which is owned by the city. I thanked him and did exactly that.

The berm above the pedestrian/bicycle trail is not intended for automobile traffic but, if one is very careful, and if one doesn't mind getting one's radio antenna bent when passing under a tree limb, auto navigation on top of the berm is possible, even if probably prohibited by city ordinances.

All this said, Metro, are you sure you want to do a joint photo shoot?

[metro]

I'd like to see all those power lines around boathouse row UNDERGROUND!

If I'm not mistaken, I think that is the plan...

[metro]

All this said, Metro, are you sure you want to do a joint photo shoot?

I don' t know, you may wear me out trying to keep up with you. My photo shoots are usually more brief these days due to having a newborn to attend to, but we do need to connect soon. I do the same thing Doug, and thankfully my body is still young enough to take the abuse. Security guards usually like to shoe me away but I have ways of getting the shots I want.

[Spartan]

Awesome pics Doug.

Are they doing stuff with some more of those buildings along Film Row, or is it just related to the streetscape project?

[Doug Loudenback]

I wasn't paying attention, Nick. I did notice a few homeless people sitting on the sidewalk with their backs leaning against one of the film row buildings, though.

[ljbab728]

In looking at the pictures of the Native American Cultural Center under construction, the silver colored siding on most of the buildings looks less than attractive. It may look better in person but does anyone know if that is permanent or something else is planned to cover it?