Being based in Silicon Valley, I've finally started to take advantage of all of the tech company headquarters that I'm surrounded by. I had often seen this campus driving down the freeway and there was always something about it that caught my eye. For the longest time, I had no idea which company it belonged to and one day, I just found myself exiting the freeway and doing a quick drive-by to get a closer look. Lo and behold, it was another Google campus, separate from its Mountain View mothership.
After that night of cruising around the campus lots, craning my neck out my driver side window to see each building, I did what any other determined photographer would do. I made it my mission to get at least one great shot of this campus. And, if I was going to go through the trouble and try not to be seen, it was going to be a twilight shot. So, I strategically picked a weekend evening to sneak on campus and photograph it.
Upon my arrival, I found the campus empty and deserted - perfect planning. I walked around a bit and found this funky, yet modern and futuristic looking seating area and knew I had found my subject. I set up my tripod and camera, composed the shot and bracketed till the sun went down. The area was surprisingly well lit and the interior lights of the building turned on at just the right time, so it was pretty simple to capture what I wanted.
I did a bit of compositing in post to blend together all of the best exposures of each area of the shot and the sky, but kept it pretty simple. Mission accomplished.
