Voting is underway for the annual Chronicle “Best of Austin” survey. If you have a free moment, I’d love your vote for “Photographer” (under the Media section). For “Kids Party Place”, I recommend Hopping House. You could also vote Brandon’s Birthday Party as “Party of the Year”, but please don’t vote for our house under “Liquor Store”.
I’ve had the pleasure of working on a pretty fun project for the last month or so. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf company recently opened their first store in Austin, and I was asked to shoot lifestyle images to be displayed on canvas in the store. All of the images needed to happen on or near Town Lake, with an emphasis on the hike & bike trails. We started originally with 5 or 6 ideas, but we ended up printing around 15 canvases of various sizes. Opening night (well actually, 3 nights) just happened, and here are some shots from that event.
Here’s a collage of the images we did for the main wall. There are a couple others throughout the store.
The store was hopping for 3 straight nights.
Samples everywhere!
Sheila, one of my ‘07 brides, happened to be in town with her beautiful son Noah. It was great to see them.
I know those models!
If you’re in Austin, you should swing by and check out the store. The coffee, food, and atmosphere are great. They are on Lamar, between Riverside and Barton Springs.
Brandon turned 4 recently, and we had a huge party to celebrate! His official birthday was on the 12th, and then we had the party the following weeks. Here are some of the highlights. With VIDEO!
Every year we head to Red Robin for his birthday dinner, and Lisa had brought along a little birthday pie for him.
This video caught Brandon losing his balloon at Red Robin! Luckily Grandpa got up to get another one.
For his big gift, we blindfolded him and took him out to the garage.
Ok you can take off your blindfold! Notice anything fun?
The party was at the Hoppin House in Austin. It’s a big, indoor play area that grownups have fun at too. Lots of slides and fun. Here’s Brandon’s mega-cool ice cream cake.
Lisa and the B-Man head down a slide.
The funniest thing happened when it came time to blow out the candle. The fan blew it out before Brandon did, and he totally LOST IT. He blamed the kid next to him for blowing it out. When we told him that the fan did it, he responded with “No it didn’t – the fan doesn’t have a mouth!”. So true.
Here’s the video showing the tragic moment. Watch how he accuses his friend.
Trevor was in charge of guarding any and all balloons.
Brandon and his cousin, Stella, who made a special trip in for the party.
Here’s a video of Brandon and me going down the slide:
And finally, here is a collage of images shot in the same spot every birthday (the Red Robin parking lot). You can see how he’s progressed through the years.
With the passing of MJ yesterday, I did a quick look today to the iTunes store to see if his death was prompting a renewal of people interested in his music, and sure enough it is:
Even though he was plagued with personal problems, his musical impact will live forever. And for that, thanks Michael!
While we were in Boston for my sister-in-law’s graduation, we took some time to check out some of the incredible historical landmarks there. One day isn’t enough to see everything, but we did catch some of the highlights, including the U.S.S. Constitution (the oldest, still-floating, commissioned warship in the world), as well as some stops on the Freedom Trail.
The Freedom trail is literally a colored-line trail that runs through downtown along several historical sites. You simply start walking on the trail and you’re bound to run into something important. We were able to catch Paul Revere’s house and the Old North Church. That’s where Paul hung those lanterns to let everyone know that the British were on the way (this was pre-Twiter).
Here’s the Constitution:
Can you imagine sleeping in these hammocks below deck? Although they look like they are spaced enough apart, sailors would actually be hitting each other because the boat would knock them around with the waves.
Here’s part of the Freedom Trail.
Inside the Old North Church are these boxed-off seating areas. Back in the day, you would purchase these areas as your family’s personal box seats at church. The walls were high to keep heat in, as families would have little fires going to keep warm.
A tribute to fallen soldiers in the garden of the Old North Church:
Paul Revere’s house. Unfortunately, no photography allowed inside. Boo.
This is Paul’s front door, where he received countless offers for magazine subscriptions and tasty popcorn treats.
For you Austinites out there, I’ll be speaking at the next meeting of the Cap Mac group on Thursday, June 25th, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm. They’ve asked me to talk about how I light, shoot, post-process, and more. I’ll also cover some Facebook/marketing tips I’ve been using lately. If all goes as planned, we’ll do a live multi-frame shoot and composite it right there. Again, if all goes as planned. :)
If you are in town, please swing by and say hello. It’s all free, and you can find all of the details right here.
