More Austin

Here's a few more images from Austin this past weekend. This was a little park I stumbled upon when I was trying to find the hotel. I really cherish the times when I can just grab my camera and walk around in solitude just looking through the lens to see things a little differently. Very peaceful & relaxing, and I think it really helps keep the creativity fresh.

The next post will include a few images from the awesome kiddo models we got to photograph at the workshop, so stay tuned.

I thought this composition and the way the fence, tree and old house came together was pretty cool. This was photographed using the 14-24mm lens, I love wide angle lens in close-ups like this.


Slow shutter speed... 1/5th of a second


Fast shutterspeed - 1/2500th of a second.




Loved angles and perspectives in this image.

Detours

Sometimes a problem or even just an inconvenience is God's way of telling you to try out a different route to get to something better. While that's a bit of a theme for me lately, this past Sunday it was just plain literal. I was on my way back from one of Skye Hardwick's Soulographer photography workshops in Austin (more on that in a later post) thinking about the awesome time I had, the cool stuff I learned, and the fantastic people I met when my post-workshop reminiscing party came to a screeching halt on I-35 near Hillsboro, TX. 'Perfect' I thought to myself (probably not the actual word I was thinking). First I thought it would be no biggie... it's Sunday afternoon so surely this was only a temporary slow-down caused by a minor fender bender. Tick. Tock. Ugh, what's the hold up? Tick. Tock. What a beating... my 3 hour drive is now 30 minutes behind schedule with no relief in site, and no obligatory road trip cheetohs in the car to distract me. Wait a minute... I've got an iPhone... and it's got Google Maps (and it's just cool in general which helps a little here). I tell it to locate where I'm at on the map, and see that if I get off I-35 I can wind through some back roads and skip all this mess and get back on the highway a few miles up ahead. Genius I am for being so resourceful and for buying my rock star iPhone. Yay, Apple.

Great idea... except the side roads were littered with detours and closings because of work being done on them. Stupid, over-priced iPhone didn't point that part out. Next thing I know I'm on some rinky-dink back road to no where when God turned my pile of lemons into a big ol' bucket of lemonade.

I love old, vintage cars no matter what kinda shape they're in. They're one of the things - if not the thing - I love to photograph most when it's just me and my camera out playing around. They just have so much character and history about them... classic Americana. I was actually just thinking about them a little earlier in the drive hoping I would see some close to the highway on the way home, but had pretty much given up on it. But because of this little traffic snafu that I was annoyed about, I took another route that turned into something cooler. Sometimes we don't alway get to travel the path we thought we would, but God always knows a better way.

Here's just a little taste of my lemonade He poured me on my trip home.




















And here's a couple from a truck I saw on the way down to Austin

San Frantatstic

I spent the last couple days on a mini tour of the west coast for some meetings with some top notch design firms for a project I'm working on with TI. There wasn't a whole lotta time for photo hunting, but we did have a little time one morning during our stop in San Francisco. Here's a few images to prove I was there.



Another view of the bridge.





Looking down the stairwell at the hotel.



Typical street view near downtown.



Here's the view from the glass elevator at the Westin I stayed at downtown.

Swampscott, Sun Rise and Spencer

What's in a name? Well, I'll tell you what's not in a name... and that's anything remotely telling about the name Swampscott. First of all, and maybe this is just me, but if I want people to know how beautiful and quaint a town is, chances are anything with the word "swamp" in it isn't gonna make the final cut. I mean, c'mon... Swampscott?? Is this the best someone could come up with for their beloved city's name? Sounds more like a member of a shady crew you'd wanna shy away from down at the docks to me.

[cut to headline]
"Swampscott, Shotgungary and Beerbobby arrested on charges of tax evasion at local boat house."
[end headline]

Naming considerations aside I spent the night at the house of my cousin Aaron, his wife Jen, and their 17 month-old little big man, Spencer, Friday night just outside of Boston in this cozy, coastal getaway. Such cool established neighborhoods with towering trees, hills and miles of coastline made this little suburb amazingly peaceful and serene.


Umm, what time are we getting up again?
So, Aaron asked me Friday night (after midnight actually) if I wanted to try and catch a few images of sunrise down by the water at a little after 6 in the morning. To say I'm not a morning person is like saying Bostonians hate the Yankees... it's a given. I must have been high on fall color, though, 'cause I agreed to giving it a try, but secretly hoped he'd A) forget about it, B) sleep through his alarm, or C) wake up, realize it was only 30-some degrees outside and decide to skip it. No luck, though... being a trader on Wall Street and living in/near Boston, this guy's used to frigid, early mornings. So, off we went and I'm so glad he dragged me along. I haven't seen a sunrise since, well, I don't even know, and it was amazing. Check out the cool beach images.

THE Game
After we got back to the house and my body recovered from the shell-shock of being up so early, it was time to settle in for THE game all Buckeye fans live for every year against Michigan. So, we all put on our OSU gear, grazed on tons of awesome food the entire afternoon and celebrated what's become a customary whipping of the Wolverines. Good times were had by all. Well, maybe not so much by Aaron and Jen's friends that also came over. They're unfortunately fans of the maize and blue variety, and as you can tell by the look on their adorable little daughter, Makena's face, her Big Blue eyes can't believe the Wolverines got pummeled again.

Thanks, Aaron, Jen and Spencer for being such gracious hosts and opening your home to me. It was great seeing you again, and can't wait to return the favor in Dallas sometime soon.

Please Come To Boston

No, seriously. You really need to come. I mean it.

Boston and the surrounding neighborhoods are beautiful. So much contrast between the busy, hectic city and the calm and peacefulness of some of the nearby outlying suburbs. Truly one of the great cities in our country, and if you haven't been here already, what are you waiting for?Here's a few more images from my recent tip. Click on the images for larger previews.

This was a small public cemetery in the middle of the city that memorialized all those who died in The Boston Massacre. It's very cool how the city has re-purposed several of the graveyards to be celebrated memorials and parks where people come to visit and relax.





Fall colors! Yeay! It's such a beautiful time of year here right now.

Boston is Cool

Scratch that. Boston is cold. Actually, I'm just a big baby. It's not that cold here... yet. But when I'm comparing the weather here with the sunny, low 80's weather in Dallas, it's justifiably frigid. I got in this evening, dropped my bag off at the hotel and took a quick walk to find some dinner and grabbed a few images along the way. I really like coming to Boston because it's got such a rich history and cool things to see and photograph at every turn. And downtown is so people-friendly with all the greenery, parks and cool little neighborhoods. There's plenty of hot sports opinions waiting to be heard here, too. With the Red Sox winning the world series, the Patriots steamrolling everything in sight, and the Celtics off to the best start in the league this year, it's hard to argue with them.

Check out this big guy sticking his tongue out at me when I took his picture.