I heard two words: “building” and “demolished”
That’s all I needed. I did a horribly lacking amount of research to get the start time. 12 midnight.
“Well, I have to wake up at 6am for an early shoot – but how many times do you get to photograph one of the oldest buildings in downtown Houston go kaput?”
Plus I had an advantage on vantage point – 19th floor balcony of the Houston House Apartments. The ingredients are all there – camera, tripod, building, view, etc.
My lack of research? Well, with more research I may have found that they weren’t going to implode or explode the building with all the magic of C4 – like a glorious end to an old icon. No, they were going to tear it down with a crane – a slow, painful death. One we don’t have time to watch. One that doesn’t do much for the camera.
At the stroke of midnight – they started laying down planks for the crane. That’s about it.
At 2am my interest went in REVERSE. Feeling sleepy and defeated I gave up – but decided to create an explosion of my own:
Here’s an update on the state of the building:
Being a member of Houston’s small but tight nit urban exploration group, I was sad to hear of the old bird’s soon to be demise, but like you was excited about such a grand finale. Having explored every passable floor of that building, I can for one tell you that the amount of asbestos in that building was taxing on the lungs even after an hours time, a mass demolition would have spread dust all over downtown.
Being a member of Houston’s small but tight nit urban exploration group, I was sad to hear of the old bird’s soon to be demise, but like you was excited about such a grand finale. Having explored every passable floor of that building, I can for one tell you that the amount of asbestos in that building was taxing on the lungs even after an hours time, a mass demolition would have spread dust all over downtown.