Yes, this was STS-134 Endeavour taken from the VAB roof. It was very mediocre to say the least, probably the lamest launch I've ever been to, but hey, you make the most out of it We were shooting straight into the sun under a thick cloud cover - no color, no contrast... plus I processed this photo on my lame laptop, because I am still in FL working the roll-over / lift / mate of STS-135 Atlantis.
Lame to you maybe, and I've seen a lot of your other shots so I know what kind of spectacular stuff you are used to producing. I like this shot because of the clouds and the smoke around the launchpad is pretty cool. I think it shows motion very well, and with the disappearing shuttle it piques the viewers interest leaving them wondering what might have just blasted off there.
I opened the shutter for the 8s that the shuttle was visible before disappearing in the clouds
The actual exposure is 49s long, but the trail was visible only for 8s. I had a hard time judging the cloud ceiling and wanted to be safe. In hindsight I am happy that I had the shutter open so much longer as that better blended the ambient exposure.
We were shooting straight into the sun under a thick cloud cover - no color, no contrast... plus I processed this photo on my lame laptop, because I am still in FL working the roll-over / lift / mate of STS-135 Atlantis.