Ferrari on the Streets of Austin, TX

Random Super Cars

Today is for fun! I was walking with Pamela down the street in Austin, TX during one SXSWi when I came across this random Ferrari on the Streets of Austin! I don’t know who can afford such things, but one day I hope to drive a few of these super cars and hopefully in the process learn how to properly drive them!

Photo Technical Info

Neon Grove Soda Sign

Unknown Location

I sort of know where this sign lives…I found it one year in Austin, Texas when visiting for SXSWi. Where exactly, it’s located in Austin I actually have no idea. If you happen to know a GPS local I would love to add a more specific local! I always get caught by signs like this. Neon is from such a bygone day and I love all the wire and rigging needed to keep these signs from falling down. As you can tell, today is also another experiment…I have a few more planned never fear!

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 11 March, 2012
  • Focal length: 35mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/400s
  • Title: Neon Grove Soda Sign

Odd Random Knobs

Austin is Weird

On my last trip to Austin, I went on a photowalk with a number of people. We were an odd group, much like these knobs, but we were all tied together by our love for photography. During that walk I came across the strangest knobs cemented to a store front. I to this day, I have no idea why they are there…if anyone knows what this is, I would love to know! Karen Hutton stopped with me and we both snapped several pictures. Karen kept saying, there’s something there, I think there is something…nope, nothing, there is nothing here, moving on. Her banter that night really made me laugh! Even after Karen stopped shooting, I kept trying and got this. For some reason I really like these strange orbs. They somehow sum up the entire evening.

Bicycles This Way…hmmmm

Bikes in the Rain

A quick photo for today. During SXSWi 2012 (boy are we going to miss SXSW 2013) I attended the Trey Ratcliff Google+ photo walk. It rained and rained and rained for the first half of South-By and the ill fated photo walk was part of this deluge. While waiting around for the even to start I caught this morose smiley-face like character indifferently directing cyclists to the Google bike racks. Enjoy!

The Driskill Bikes

Rain Falls Down

SXSWi 2012 was a wet experience…at least for the first part. It rained so much flights were delayed, attendees were waterlogged, and the general mood was dour. Would that stop photographers from going on a photowalk? Hardly! While the turnout for this particular event wasn’t mind blowing or as record setting as was hoped it was a fun opportunity to hang out with a bunch of other photographers taking pictures of Austin in the rain. Luckily by the time the walk happened, the rain had tappered down to a mild drizzle. This was of course much better the the torrential downpours that had been delaying flights.

And Now for Something Completely Different

This was a bracketed shot, but in the end I didn’t like the processing I got out of Photomatix. I ended up just using the normal exposure and processing this entire photo in Adobe Lightroom 4. I ended up using quite a bit of clarity as well as moving to a 1:1 crop. The image was shot at 35mm f2.8 on a 16-35mm, 1/1000 sec, ISO 1600.

The Texas Capitol Dome

Guts

Inside the Texas Capitol Building, after you make your way through the guards and metal detectors, you end up in a beautiful rotunda and if you happen to look up (I am not sure why you wouldn’t) will be presented with this wonderful dome. If you look really closely, you can see the star of Texas at the top. It actually reminds me a bit of something out of 2001 A Space Odyssey.

 

The Texas Capitol

A Funny Thing Happened

Pamela and I experienced our second SXSW Interactive festival this year. One of the un-official events, but very high up on my list, was the photowalk put on by Google+ and Trey Ratcliff. I had never been to a photowalk before and honestly it was sort of miserable weather. It rained the whole time, it was cold and the walk was mercifully over before I even knew what happened. I didn’t get many great shots, but I know a secret. A secret I am going to share with you…I stick around after events (often fun things happen).

The After Party

I am always quiet around new people, but I wanted to meet some new photographers. I made several new friends and spent a very interesting evening hanging out with some very fun people. One of the interesting things about hanging out with a bunch of photographers is (and I think I have Karen to think for this quote) you never feel like you need to apologize for talking time to get a picture. Most people just don’t get the joy of spending 45 minutes trying to get just the right angle. Photographers understand this completely.

A Walk to the Forum

We walked to the Texas Capitol Building where I got the shot below. I ended up hand-holding this bracket at 1600 ISO…my slowest frame was 1/8th of a second. Usually I cant hand-hold at this speed, but I was using my trusty knowledge dispensed to me by the incomparable Joe McNally (via YouTube of course). Yet another reason why I need to buy Joe a beer. The other great thing is I was voted the best photograph in the “Everything’s Bigger in Texas” category. Another first for me…it was my first photo walk, my first photo-contest entry AND my first win! Not bad for a beginner!

Indispensable Advice from Joe