I’ve done several post showing various photos of the Texas Capitol (here). This one is actually inside the Capitol looking down at the floor under the Rotunda. If you look closely, you will see the Texas DPS officers that keep an eye on things standing on the ground floor. To their credit, they have always pretty much left me alone while I photographed this beautiful building.

If you are getting married in Austin Texas, or know someone that is having a small wedding in Austin Texas, you should tell them about Chapel Dulcinea. It’s not a big place, but the surroundings are beautiful and the price is right. I’ve been out there a couple of times. Once to attend a wedding and another time to photograph one and was amazed at the peacefulness of the setting both times. (No I am not usually a wedding photographer, but I am a romantic & love weddings.)

Last week I was on an assignment in Portland Oregon to shoot a book cover for a new soon to be released novel “The Blue Light of Portland”. (BTW, the book is very good. Watch for it.) The assignment basically consisted of: “Shoot a nondescript door in an alley in the Pearl district of Portland in the rain”. Well, it was not raining & if there are any alleys in the Pearl district, I didn’t find them. I did find some nondescript doors & with a bit of Photoshop magic the publisher & author seem to be pleased. While was on my quest for the perfect door to illustrate the “Blue Light” cover I ran across this door. I knew immediately that this was not the door I was looking for, but it was pretty interesting.

My favorite hotel in Austin Texas is the Driskill Hotel on 6th Street. If you find yourself in downtown Austin and want a nice quiet bar just a few feet from the night time party mayhem of Sixth street, check out this place. You can see some more of my images of the Driskill Hotel (here).

There are lot’s of folks from Austin Texas and around the world hoping to see the University of Texas Tower with a big #1 tomorrow morning after tonights national championship football game. I took this photograph early one morning after they won the national championship game in 2005. The photo was taken with my 4×5 view camera and then the transparency was digitally scanned to a 500 megabyte file. With a resolution 50 times that of a good digital camera I am able to produce truly beautiful enlargements.

One of my favorite views of the Austin Skyline is from the large patio in front of the Long Center for the Performing Arts. (Preferably with a glass of wine during the  intermission of a performance.) The arc surrounding the patio provides a perfect frame to the city. Unfortunately the format of my website doesn’t really do a panorama justice. In fact, typically I tend to find myself shooting more ‘portrait format’ (tall and skinny vs. short & wide) images simply because they allow me to show a larger image on the page.

Awhile back I posted a similar image of the Texas Capitol Annex photographed during purple hour here that was shot on a photo walk with Trey Ratcliff. I actually shot this image several months before the previous posting and it has been quite successful for me. I license my images for use on websites, marketing materials & magazine publications as well as other uses. I also have prints and gift cards available of most of my images. Please contact me through the information provided on the contact page on my website page for more information.

A couple of blocks from the apartment where we are staying in Paris stands the Château de Vincennes including the Sainte Chapelle. It’s great being in Paris in the ‘off season’ because you have the opportunity to go to touristy places while the tourist are away. This afternoon we were in this magnificent space alone. For over 550 years people have been entering this space and awed by it’s beauty. I am probably one of the odd few that took the opportunity to lay down on the stone floor and look straight up at the heavenly view. I’m sure some would frown upon such behavior… They would be the ones missing the beauty. Occasionally you must be a bit odd to truly see a different, perhaps better, perspective.