The 5th Level

Today's photo comes to you from the 5th level of the parking garage under the Grand Hyatt on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas. I have used this facility as my parking area of choice when I go downtown to take photos because the $9.00 flat rate is pretty hard to beat and it is located adjacent to both the Riverwalk, HemisFair Park, and downtown San Antonio.

Normally I just drive down to the lowest level and park there, but for some reason the 4th level was fairly empty when I arrived so I chose to park on that level and decided to take the elevator down, and if the garage was empty I was going to get a few shots. Fortunately it was empty, so I took a few shots of the openness, then decided that I was going to take some through the gate of the "restricted" area of the garage. I don't recall ever seeing this side open, but I know there are a few areas that look like keycard entry points that I guess can be used by residents of "Alteza", the condos that are located on the upper levels of the Grand Hyatt. I "think" the area can also be used during special events to expand the parking at the hotel, but I am not certain of that.

I wanted this shot to have a dark feel to it (much darker than the shot actually was) and I used quite a bit of vignetting and black & white coloring to try to have a layered vignette, which I think draws the center of attention to photo much more effectively. If you view a larger version of the photo you can notice that the "Wrong Way" signs suspended from the roof and the "Level 5" sign next to the doors on the right of the shot (the sign is also the name of this post).

The 5th Level

Please feel free to leave any comments or feedback, and remember clicking on the photo takes you to my online gallery hosted over at smugmug where you can view this (and my other photos) in various sizes ( I recommend you do for today's shot, as the larger versions allow you to see more detail in the shot! ). Thanks for stopping by!