Charlotte: skyline is ever-changing image

[cityboi]

Skyline is ever-changing image

Photographer wins Chamber's contest for 3rd time

DOUG SMITH

CHARLOTTE CHAMBER

Peter Brentlinger's winning photo.

The winner of the Charlotte Chamber's annual skyline photo contest is a familiar name to judges.

Peter Brentlinger, a professional photographer, is taking home the $500 first prize for the third time. He also won in 1997 and 2000.

What makes the competition challenging for him, he said, is the ever-changing skyline.

"I've been in Charlotte for seven years, and I've watched it grow," Brentlinger said. "This year we had some great new buildings -- the Westin Charlotte, the Ratcliffe on the Green condominiums and the Hearst Tower."

To keep up with the change, the chamber sponsors the contest to ensure it has an up-to-date file photo, said Stacey Ellis, vice president of public relations.

The first contest was in 1992.

Brentlinger's photo -- the official 2004 skyline image -- will be the chamber's exclusive property for two years during which it will be used in publications, brochures, posters and prints.

Ellis said $10 posters and limited edition $50 prints should be available for sale by Dec. 1 at Main Street Charlotte in the chamber building at 330 S. Tryon St.

Brentlinger's twilight shot competed with about 200 other entries in the contest, which ran from Sept. 2 through Sept. 30.

Brentlinger, whose commercial business operates as Peter Brentlinger Photographer, said he's always looking for the best time of day and optimum position from which to photograph buildings.

The winning photo was taken recently from atop the Morehead Place office building on East Morehead just as the setting sun cast a pink glow over the towers.

"I entered three or four photos shot from the same position about one and half hours apart," he said. "But twilight is what really made it pop. It lasts for about five minutes, and then it's gone."

Brentlinger, who specializes in architectural photography, will keep shooting skyline photos to sell, but he won't be eligible for next year's chamber contest. He said first place winners must sit out the following year to give other contestants a chance.

Doug Smith's Notebook

• Rhodes Furniture Inc. plans to replace its East Independence Boulevard store this week with a 45,000-square-foot store in Matthews.

The new location at 1834 Matthews Township Parkway next to Target will emphasize a new lighting and color scheme and stock more accessories and home accents, said manager Ruth Mays.

Rhodes, which plans a grand opening preview for the public Friday, officially opens Saturday.

• Southern Marine Supply, a Little Rock, Ark., distributor of boat parts and accessories, leased about 24,000 square feet in the Arrowood One building in southwest Charlotte.

Bill Wood of Trinity Partners represented the landlord, Lion Industrial Properties. He said about 36,000 square feet remains available in the building at 11626 Wilmar Blvd.

• The Lingerie Shoppe is moving this month from Dilworth Court (under the Pewter Rose restaurant) in South End to the Allen Tate Building off Fairview Road at Phillips Place.

Owners Nina Browder and Julie LeQuire said the new store will stock intimate apparel, sleepwear and gifts in about 995 square feet.

• Fairway Green of North Carolina, a Raleigh-based chemical lawn-care business, opened a Charlotte location at 4316 Sunset Road, off Interstate 77 north of Charlotte.

Sherrill Capps of McGuire Properties Inc./TCN Worldwide represented the tenant in the 4,050-square-foot lease. Lisa Dula of Dula Real Estate represented the landlord.

• Seventeen-year real estate veteran Flint McNaughton resigned as senior vice president at Lincoln Harris in Charlotte to join North Point Real Estate LLC in Savannah, Ga.

McNaughton is leaving Lincoln Harris after nine years to join two partners in the newly formed real estate development firm.

Doug Smith

[Neo]

That's definately a good looking photo, but I think it would have been better coming from more of an east side approach rather than looking northwest.