Austin Building

Before becoming a civil servant I worked for several years as an occasionally-paid Democratic Party staffer. In that role I organized a campaign event for Dick Austin in 1974.

This building was renamed to honor Richard Austin in 2006. Prior to that it was called the Treasury Building.

Secretary Austin was my boss for more than half of my state government career--not directly, of course, but our department reported to Michigan's Secretary of State, not to Michigan's Governor. But even before that Austin was an inspiration.

Here's the original of the photo I posted to 366 Snaps last February 21. Last year I put a frame around it to soften the sharp-edged image. There's something about the downtown government complex that annoys me--these forty-some-year-old buildings still look more like architect's drawings than places designed for workers.

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By late February I'd gotten pretty comfortable using the phone as a camera. A doctor's appointment had me downtown on this date, so I arrived a bit early and spent an hour shooting pictures. And remembering my first days in Lansing.

Most of the photographs turned out well.

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This photograph is an alternate version from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps.

Number of project photos taken: 23
Title of "roll:" Downtown Lansing
Other photos taken on 2/21/2012: I set up an eBay auction, and used the D300 to shoot a dozen pictures to support it.