Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I met my friend Alex downtown last night to shoot the Moon over City Hall’s Rotunda. City Hall is comprised of the Tower where the Mayor has an office on the top floor, the plaza, and the Rotunda which has council rooms, meeting rooms and a large space for events. The space and rooms in the Rotunda can be rented out for events such as weddings.

The Rotunda reminds me of an Observatory very much like those at Lick Observatory that sit high atop Mt. Hamilton which overlooks San Jose from the East side in the Diablo Range. Lick Observatory was the first permanently occupied mountain top astronomical observatory. Constructed between 1886-1887. I don’t know if that reference is what the architect (Richard Meier) had in mind when he designed the Rotunda though. I can’t find that information.

This new City Hall complex opened to the public in Oct. 2005, replacing the former City Hall complex civic center located on North First Street, which was used from 1958 until 2005. From 1889 to 1958 the city hall was located in what is now Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San José.~Wiki-pedia

I shot the foreground then switched lenses then waited for the moon to rise above the mountains and buildings then I exposed for the Moon to make the second frame, finally in post development I blended the two frames together.

Nikon D700| Tripod
Frame 1- AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm @ 24mm
Frame 2- AF-D Nikkor 80-200mm @ 200mm