Welcome to
Young's Photo Gallery
James W. Young, Professional Photographer
State Capitol Buildings
during my first 'road' trip across the country in late 1989. I had been asked
to be one of the main speakers at the "Hamfest Minnesota & Computer Expo",
and for this particular trip I had installed a new amateur radio and antenna in
my 1979 Subaru, to stay in touch with my wife in California, as well as talk to
and visit 'ham' friends along the 5600 miles I traveled. I specifically used
my amateur radio setup at night, so on my return from Minneapolis, I first went
to Pierre, South Dakota at night. Pierre is a small town, and I saw the state
capitol building as I passed through town, so I stopped and took some nighttime
pictures for fun. Before arriving back in California, my trip itinerary had me
passing through Cheyenne, Wyoming and Denver, Colorado, so I took pictures
of these two additional capitol buildings, again at night. It was this trip that
had me hooked on the idea of photographing all 50, and all at night!
For the next 21 years I managed to photograph all 50 buildings, with only one
difficult state...Nebraska! As you scroll through the images below, the date of
each photograph, as well as specific notes of any relative circumstances are noted
for some of each capitol building. I drove to 49 state capitals in my personal
car, mostly planned well in advance, and also usually included multiple capitals
visited during each trip, especially those that were furthest from home. I had
to fly to Hawaii to get Honolulu, therefore I was unable to say I drove to all 50.
Images taken prior to January, 2002, were done with film, whereas those after
that date were with digital cameras.
ALABAMA - Montgomery
July 19, 2006
ALASKA - Juneau
July 22, 2004
ARIZONA - Phoenix
September 8, 1991
ARKANSAS - Little Rock
November 20, 2004
CALIFORNIA - Sacramento
July 29, 1993
COLORADO - Denver
November 1, 1989
CONNECTICUT - Hartford
July 28, 2001
DELAWARE - Dover
July 27, 2001
Arriving at 4 AM, I was escorted
by a Dover capital police officer to this spot
to take my photograph. They had been alerted to my impending
arrival by a
local 'ham' friend who also met me.
FLORIDA - Tallahassee
July 20, 2006
GEORGIA - Atlanta
July 23, 2006
HAWAII -
Honolulu
December
28, 2010
IDAHO - Boise
July 14, 2000
ILLINOIS - Springfield
July 09, 2000
INDIANA - Indianapolis
July 22, 2000
IOWA - Des Moines
July 11, 2000
KANSAS - Topeka
July 12, 2000
KENTUCKY - Frankfort
July 23, 2001
LOUISIANA - Baton Rouge
July 17, 2006
MAINE - Augusta
July 30, 2001
a combination of multiple 'strobe' flashes I made manually around the front of
the building, and a long time exposure from across the street in a park.
MARYLAND - Annapolis
July 26, 2001
MASSACHUSETTS - Boston
July 29, 2001
The narrow street directly in
front of the building didn't afford much of a view
to photograph, so this image was taken from a park far enough away to
show the
dome and general structure. Interestingly enough, the front was
undergoing some
sort of renovation.
MICHIGAN - Lansing
August 4, 2001
MINNESOTA - St. Paul
August 6, 2001
MISSISSIPPI - Jackson
July 18, 2006
MISSOURI - Jefferson City
July 08, 2000
MONTANA - Helena
August 15, 1993
My first attempt here in Helena,
two years earlier, was unsuccessful because as
I got my camera and tripod set up, the capitol lights were turned off
(10 PM).
NEBRASKA - Lincoln
November 15, 2004
Lincoln proved to be my most
difficult capitol building to photograph! My first
attempt in 1989 was poor photography since the lights were not on
the building.
The next three attempts were met with, 1) a driving rainstorm, 2) the
entire
front of the building was behind scaffolding, and 3) dangerously close
lightning
from a nighttime thunderstorm. The image above was my 5th attempt!
NEVADA - Carson City
July 20, 1990
NEW
HAMPSHIRE - Concord
July 31, 2001
NEW
JERSEY - Trenton
July 28, 2001
NEW
MEXICO - Santa Fe
May 07, 1994
NEW
YORK - Albany
August 01, 2001
NORTH
CAROLINA - Raleigh
July 25, 2006
NORTH
DAKOTA - Bismarck
August 17, 1993
OHIO - Columbus
August 3, 2001
OKLAHOMA - Oklahoma City
July 07, 2000
OREGON - Salem
August 06, 1993
PENNSYLVANIA - Harrisburg
August 02, 2001
RHODE
ISLAND - Providence
July 29, 2001
SOUTH
CAROLINA
July 24, 2006
SOUTH
DAKOTA - Pierre
October 30, 1989
This was my first nighttime image
of a US state capitol building.
TENNESSEE - Nashville
November 19, 2004
TEXAS - Austin
May 11, 1994
UTAH - Salt Lake City
April 24, 2010
It wasn't until this year (2010)
that I realized I had never taken a picture of
Utah's capitol building. I have been to Salt Lake City on many
occasions since
1974, but as I prepared this 'Capitol Building' page, I found no
photograph of
of this beautiful building.
VERMONT - Montpelier
August 1, 2001
The only picture taken (and used)
under difficult circumstances, as there was a
very thick fog in Montpelier when I arrived. This image was
heavily processed!
VIRGINIA - Richmond
July 25, 2001
WASHINGTON - Olympia
August 12, 1993
I was here on the capital grounds
talking on my amateur radio after taking the
above image, when sirens and about a dozen 'capital' police squad cars
swarmed
the area nearby, as well as checking me out. Seems there
had been some sort
of break-in attempt. I was cleared, and not even asked to leave.
WASHINGTON
D. C. - United States of America
April 30, 2008
WEST
VIRGINIA - Charleston
July 24, 2001
WISCONSIN - Madison
July 10, 2000
WYOMING - Cheyenne
October 31, 1989
