Last month, my wife and I brought my brother-in-law to San Francisco to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Star Trek television show. We attended the big Star Trek convention in nearby Burlingame. I have quite a few pictures of the event, but let's face it, they're really geeky photos.
This one I took because we were lounging around one of the balconies that faces a massive and beautiful indoor atrium in the center of the hotel. The entire inner concourse of the hotel is covered by an airy glass roof that lets in a lot of natural light but protects guests from rain and Klingon disruptor fire. On the mezzanine floor is a really nice bar with wide open seating spaces. From the point of view of the 1960's, when Star Trek got its start, this sort of atrium would have been considered vast and futuristic.
Adding to the Star Trek ambience were a few hundred hotel guests dressed in the iconic gold, blue, and red uniforms (including us), plus a smattering of aliens and a few bewildered civilians who had no idea a Star Trek convention had descended on their hotel.
Anyways, I snapped this picture and thought, dang if this doesn't look like Starfleet Academy. Being in San Francisco, were were just a few miles from the "real thing".
However, when I got home I realized the picture needed a few embellishments in Photoshop to really sell the idea. Some of the additions are likely fairly obvious, but some of the changes I am most happy with are the subtle ones.
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