South Congress in Austin is known for it’s many eclectic shops and venues including the many food trailers. The Hey Cupcake food trailer was one of the first and remains one of the most popular of the veritable plethora of foodie options. The only thing really missing from the photo is I should be sitting in one of the empty chairs enjoying a nice chocolate cupcake…
You can see another photo of the Hey Cupcake trailer from an earlier post here.
Welcome to SXSW! Thousands of visitors are arriving in Austin this week for the annual SXSW Music, Film & Interactive conferences. One of the welcoming sights that gives visitors a clue of how important the music culture is in Austin is the display of giant Gibson guitars at the Austin airport baggage claim.
You can see my other ‘Music’ related photos including photos of SXSW here.
This week I’ve had a chance to play with a 16mm Fisheye. It’s been fun finding subjects that work well with this rather extreme lens. Here is a shot I took at O’dark thirty this morning of the Austin Bergstrom International Airport just as it was starting to come to life. Take a look at my other Airline & Airport photos here.
Last night I had the opportunity to do some photography of the Austin skyline after dark for a long time client. I decided to get to the location early to grab some personal pre-sunset images as well, and shot this while I was waiting. I’m not sure, but the client may decide they like this better than their original vision. We shall see…
One thing that is obvious (if you look close) is the cranes have returned to Austin. Not the pretty flying kind but the big ugly steel ones. You can see where work has begun on at least one large project. It seemed like it took years of waiting to get a shot of the Austin skyline without numerous cranes in the shot. Finally, last year the skyline was (relatively) crane free. It looks like those days are over as the ‘progress’ continues.
I recently did some additional photography for the Paramount Theatre in Austin Texas. I love this place! This is actually an HDR panorama to try and capture as much of the theatre a possible from the front center stage position. It was shot as multiple images with my 14mm lens and then stitched together. Normally, I would have been able to get the whole room with the 14-24 lens by just backing up a bit. However, the theatre had a large projection screen in place for a summer film series which forced me to the front of the stage. Creating the image this way caused a bit more of a ‘fisheye’ effect which I believe works well for this grand historical theatre.
You can see my other photographs of the Austin Paramount Theater here.
The Frost bank building in Austin Texas looks pretty tall until you view it from the top of the new Austonian. A resident of the Austonian that recently acquired one of my Austin art images was kind enough to allow me into his home to see my art displayed in these amazing surroundings. While I was visiting he also arranged a tour for me to scout locations for a future Austin skyline image. Now I’m just waiting for the scaffolding to be removed from the Capitol building so I can shoot a series of new Austin skyline photographs that show off the views afforded the fortunate residents of this amazing space.
Katz’s New York style deli has been a fixture in Austin for over 30 years. For many in Austin Katz’s was the ‘go to’ place after closing down the bars on Austin’s 6th Street or Warehouse district. With it’s parent company recently filing for bankruptcy protection & rumors that they may be looking to move from their iconic 6th street Austin location, I thought I’d better grab a photo of this long time Austin landmark before it disappears like so many others.
Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of doing some photography for my good friend Sarah Pierce and her band. They opened for Kenny Loggins at the Paramount Theatre in Austin Texas. With such a beautiful venue I had to do a few shots to try & capture this classic old space. I shot this about five minutes before they opened the house. Wow what a view!
I’ve been meaning to do a more current photo of the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue for awhile. The challenge is getting the rather dark statue to pop out from the evening sky. This image is a combination of light painting & HDR. I did three long exposures of Stevie while lighting the statue and surrounding area with my super duper mini flashlight. You can see my other photos of the Stevie statue here.
Austin’s newest residential tower on the Austin skyline is almost finished. At 56 stories tall, The Austonian is the tallest residential building in Texas. You can see another view of The Austonian here. Although my dogs might disagree, I could easily see myself living in the heart of downtown Austin.
