It’s a beautiful day in Austin Texas. Despite the fact we are in the middle of a record drought, there have been quite a few cloudy grey wet weather days lately so it’s great to see the sun. I’m glad the visitors in town for SXSW are having the opportunity to enjoy a little beautiful Austin spring weather!
Almost twenty three thousand runners & walkers hit the streets this year for the Capitol 10k. A decade or so ago my son & I started running the 10k, then when his unit at Texas A&M started running it, I became their ‘official’ photographer. Although Matt graduated a couple of years ago, I still get the privilege of photographing the Aggies from his unit during their traditional run. This year I was fortunate to be able to photograph the runners as they made their way up Congress Ave from the Austonian building. Can you imagine being able to actually wake up every morning with this view of the Austin skyline out your window? Amazing.
As a photographer that sells photos for licensing & stock as well as fine art prints, I’m always looking for a new image of the Austin Skyline. I know this location has been used by many photographers in the past to capture Austin but this is actually my first. In fact the night I shot this another photographer was doing a portrait session at the same location. In any case, here is my latest ‘take’ on looking at Austin from this particular spot. I’l be revisiting this location again soon when I can capture some nice golden clouds above the city
As always, if you enjoy my work, please comment. And of course licensing is available for commercial use as well as beautiful art prints and canvas wraps.
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.
Here is yet another view of the Austin Skyline from the Long Center for the Performing Arts. (Can you tell I like this view of Austin?) This photograph was made the same evening the I shot the Austin Skyline Panorama. (You can see that photo here.) When I photograph I virtually always do multiple angles and perspectives of my subject matter. Due to time constraints, I generally only retouch one of the images immediately to post. Later it’s always fun to go back through my files after some time has past to mine another photograph. It’s interesting how an image that did not jump out at me during the first pass will really stand out during a second look. This image was like that. When I was browsing through my photographs for my (sometimes) daily posting I found this shot of the Long Center. It’s hard to say, but I may like it better than the original Panorama.
I know I’ve been doing a lot of Austin Skyline shots lately, but I keep getting request for more images showing the almost “complete” skyline. Of course, it’s never truly complete, but at least most of the cranes are down. Although my exposures were way to long for them to appear in the final photograph, as I was photographing this scene several kayaks silently rowed by. What a wonderful way to spend an evening in Austin Texas!
The new Austin skyline is finally getting to a point where a photograph doesn’t appear to obviously be a “work in progress”. I love this particular view of Austin. The arch at the Long Center for the Performing Arts frames the city perfectly. There is nothing like enjoying a great performance there and then stepping out on the patio during intermission and enjoying the view.
Since panoramas tend to be rather small on my blog I am also including a cropped portion of the photo.
Here is a crop of the image showing the new “Austonian”.
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.
While few long time Austinites don’t long for the time not too long ago when Austin was a smaller place without the outrageous traffic and sprawling suburbs, I do like the emerging look of the ‘new’ downtown. The Austin Skyline is developing into quite a beauty.
As a side note, don’t try a multiple exposure HDR shot like this from the middle of a busy road without an assistant (that likes you) to warn of traffic coming from behind.
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.
