Shows: Esther's Follies

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Some fun shots from the current Esther's Follies show, taken June 2, 2009. Thanks to Esther's Follies for allowing me to share these with my friends!

Events: Texas Silver Haired Legislature

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Today I photographed the Texas Silver Haired Legislature's award show at Esther's Follies, taking pictures of Texas Machers and Alta Kockers!

Carlos Higgins (left) and Texas Senator Jeff Wentworth (right)

Impromptu Portraits: At Deep Eddy

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Deep Eddy is our favorite swimming spot in Austin.

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Deep Eddy Pool dates back to the 1930's. You can read more about the pool's colorful history at deepeddy.org. The water comes from the aquifer underground, the same source that fills Barton Springs Pool, and therefore stays a cool 68 to 72 degrees F year round.

Operated by the City of Austin, it is one of four municipal pools in town. There's an admission fee of $3 for adults and $1 for little people. This plus the cold water tends to keep Deep Eddy fairly uncrowded. Oh, another cool thing about this pool is that Deep Eddy and Barton Springs Pools are the only public pools in Austin that do not use chlorine.

During the summer, Sam and I go to Deep Eddy as often as possible.

Photo Walk with Nicca

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This evening I met my friend Nicca for a photo walk at Town Lake. We specifically wanted to focus on getting sharp images of people. I pulled out my current favorite lens: the 85mm f/1.8. It is great in low light, and just perfect for portraits. This is a lens that I had rented for many jobs but I finally purchased it and now it's always in my camera bag. All the pictures below, except for the very bottom picture, were taken with this lens. I love it!

Nothing says "summer" like kids playing in a fountain.

Beautiful Nicca

Silly Nicca

Nutty Nicca

Downtown Austin bathed in Sunset Gold and Pink

Spectacular Sunset

Food: Rudy's Gas Station and Bar-B-Que Emporium

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Rudy's in my opinion isn't the best bar-b-que in Central Texas. But there's a lot of stiff competition here and I'd say Rudy's is definitely among the top ten. In addition to three cuts of brisket (lean, fatty or cutter's choice), they also serve pork ribs and a tasty smoked sausage. You buy the meats by the pound, and sides (cole slaw, mashed potato, creamed corn, beans) are available in three sizes of styrofoam cup. Rudy's Sauce is really good, sweet and tangy. And they give you an endless supply of sliced pickles and white onions.

The meal shown here (half pound of brisket, side of cole slaw, cup of water) cost $6.50. The half pound of meat made a sandwich and a half.

Food: Love Those Tacos from Taco Deli!

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Man I do love those tacos from Taco Deli.

Shown here: Fish taco (upper) and Pastor taco (lower). Natural light and shot on a nikon d300 with 50mm f/1.8 lens. Getting a good picture of tacos can be especially tricky. I think this is one of my best so far, but still it's nothing like looking at it when it's right there on your plate. Gotta figure out how the professional food photogs make food look so three-dimensional and so yummy!

Art & Architecture: Black and White and Austin

Birdseye View


St. Mary's Reflection

Photo Documentary: Light Rail Coming Soon?

The Capital Area Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CapMetro) is stumbling towards completion of a light rail line that will go from downtown to the northern suburbs. They had a kick-off party scheduled for last month but had to cancel it due to technical difficulties. Hopefully, they'll finish this thing before my grandkids are too old to ride it.

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Peter's 3rd Birthday Party

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Sam, Jake and Peter (left to right) dive into some awesome
carrot cupcakes at Peter's Third Birthday Party!