Falco columbarius - Merlin

This isn't my typical blog post, but I am an avid birder and love birds of all sorts.  This poor bird often referred to as a "pigeon hawk" was just hit by a car by my house.  He was still warm when I set up a portrait of him to pay homage to him.  So sad when beautiful predators like this one are killed. Here is some more information about merlins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(bird)

Merlins

Chief of Police - Art Acevedo

ArtAcevedo

Recently I won a bid with the City of Austin to photograph portraits of all the City Mangers, Assistant Department Heads, Police Chief, and Fire Chief.  It was a fairly standard portrait session and it was interesting to meet all these wonderful citizens.  I was taken back by how friendly and candid Police Chief Art Acevedo is, considering the seriousness of his post.  This outtake is worth sharing; one of Austin most serious men, hanging ten.

Midway Companies

I had a wonderful time in Houston working on Midway Companies' annual report, in conjunction with Ron Brady and Liz Horner at The Dealey Group in Dallas.  Our biggest challenge was making six different photographs appear as one image during post production. 

Austin City Council

Politics is something that I try to avoid talking about with anyone, anywhere, anytime; especially city politics.   I will say though that the City of Austin has a great bunch council members working with Mayor Lee Leffingwell.  Every one from the City Manger to all six Council Members work together so well. The City of Austin meets at City Hall, 301 W. 2nd Street most Thursdays.  All Council Members are elected by the citizens of Austin for three-year terms.

Austin City Council

Red McCombs School of Business

These photographs are from a series for the University of Texas PhD. candidate brochure.  We had a great time working with Rick Kendrick and Marsha Miller to get these portraits produced on time and on budget.  We were all pleased with the images and look forward to working more with the University of Texas.  Hook'em! 

Nobel Peace Prize Kofi Annan

I recently had the privilege of meeting 2001 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Kofi Annan, Security General for the United Nations, with humble beginnings in Africa's Gold Coast.  I was honored to be given his attention while taking his portrait, and noted his kind, gentle behavior.  For more information about Annan visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofi_Annan.  Here is a web link to his 2001 Nobel Lecture in Oslo. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2001/annan-lecture.html

Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan Speaks to the audiences of peoples. 

Waltz Across Texas - Days 3, 4 and 5

We left El Paso later than we'd planned on day three. On our way out of the city, we were amazed at the stark difference between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez while driving along I-10, the interstate rides along the United States-Mexico border in the greater El Paso area. We did our best to capture that contrast while remaining north of the border. Leaving El Paso, we raced down I-10 eastbound until we hit Sierra Blanca. After a little harassment from the Border Patrol agent at the check point, we were back on our way to Marfa and Davis Mountains State Park to finish out the day.  Prior to arriving in Marfa we saw a UFO hovering motionless in the sky ahead of us. We concede it was just a weather balloon, but it was still an awfully eerie sight.

Day four began with an early morning trip to McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains, a beautiful location with friendly staff.  They gave us a tour around the giant telescope and let us go around the catwalk for unobstructed views of the valley below.  We continued on through Fort Davis and Alpine where we watched the Sul Ross State University Lobo baseball team practice.  We then moved on to Kerrville to call it a night.

We awoke on day five to disappointing weather.  Thankfully, the four days preceding provided clear skies and temperatures in the 70's.  We were able to salvage some of the day by shooting some portraits with waitresses from the Hill Country Cafe in Fredericksburg and a few of the firefighters from the Boerne Fire Department.

Please check back with us as we progress through post-production of this project.

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Waltz Across Texas - Days 1 and 2

Patrick, Victor, and I (Joseph) just wrapped up day two of our five-day West Texas tour, an enjoyable journey thus far.

Day one got off to a rocky start outside of Marble Falls (damn you, GPS!), but we quickly recovered and continued on to El Paso.  Highlights included meeting a dog-showing poodle peddler from Washington state, swimming in the spring-fed pool at Balmorhea State Park, and revisiting some of the houses we grew up in.

We stayed in El Paso for day two, traveling around the rapidly-growing city and its surrounding communities. We started off with Uncle Hiram in his Canutillo bakery, then stopped by Franklin Mountains State Park on the way out to Fort Bliss.  Following Fort Bliss, we stopped by the Charcoaler for some burgers (El Paso's finest) and continued on to the missions in Ysleta and Socorro.

The three of us will continue our trip by visiting Marfa, Alpine, and Fort Davis.  We plan to head to San Angelo for day four and back home on day five.  Check back for updates during and after our trip!

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UFCU Ad

ufcu

Here's another ad recently sent to University Federal Credit Union (UFCU) customers like ourselves. This was shot here in Austin at Umlauf Garden.