Sunday, February 27, 2011

North Loop, and a park

I go and explore the ‘North Loop’ in Austin. A tiny stretch of 53rd ave with a few vintage shops, restaurants, and random stores. It was described to me as the ‘lifeblood of Austin’s underground’. Whatever.

 

There was a cool mural:

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And a few interesting storefronts:

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And an awesomely named food trailer:

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Beyond that, I’ve been spending lots of hours at Zilker park:

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A wide open space, where dogs can run free, people can fly kites:

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And where lots of random things happen. Last night I saw some people setting up a slackline (my familiarity with the sport extending only to trying it once in SanFran and failing miserably). But this line was different. It was LOOOOOONG. Longer than a football field.

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I went over to shoot some photos, and met the crew of Somewhereelseland. They were in from Germany, traveling around the country walking lines all over the place. Super cool folks, who were very talented walking on the webbing:

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And that’s about it in my neck of the woods right now. I’m soaking up lots of sunshine and living a pretty easy-going life for now.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Doo

Just a random shot of Doo at the park:

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A night of shooting with Mike

A friend from Phoenix flew into Austin. He’s going to be moving here in a few weeks to train as a chef, but tonight there was no cooking. Tonight was for shooting photos around Austin, colorful colorful Austin.

 

We started with dinner at an Irish pub, where we grilled the waitress for location tips. She said to check out the long convention center. So after a few biers and some food we mosied over, cleared ourselves with the security guard at the parking garage, and drove to the top level. Out come the tripods, letting the lights of the city soak in to get this:

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After putzing around at the garage for twenty minutes we scope out a park, but the angle is wrong, so we drive up the river to try to capture the reflections of the skyline, sans construction crane:

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A few steps downstream was a statue. Mike said it was Stevie Ray Vauhn, who apparently is from Austin. I didn’t have a clue, to me it was just some dude with a guitar:

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And another random shot taken while Mike was lighting up Stevie for his shots:

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From there we drove up to the capitol building, which was lit up like it was the Macy’s parade. So bright, in fact, that I didn’t like most of the pictures I ended up getting from there. This is the only one of the building that I kept:

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However, there were some bronze statues around the building which I could let the light soak in on. Much more my cup f tea:

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By the time we finished up it was 12:30am, and it was time to get Mike back to the airport so he could catch some Zzzs before his six AM flight out. Overall it was a blast to go shooting with Mike, a totally different feel than other photowalks, and I certainly look forward to seeing what he came up with.

 

Mike as he departed my company:

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Good times and I look forward to seeing Mike again once he moves here.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Photowalkin’

I get a tax refund check. I immediately go out and spend a large chunk of it on a new camera lens. It is a silly purchase, I could live for a month on what it costs. But my other lens has a busted mount, and I’m tired of having to work around it. And honestly, it is kind of nice to splurge for myself. I’m sure I’ll regret it when funds get low again.

 

But for now, I enjoy my new toy:

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I meet up with a large group of other photographers north of Austin to shoot photos at the Bagdad Cemetery:

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I meet up with a couple of gals who have been in Austin for a few months to walk around the South 1st street area. We have fun seeing all the little quirky things:

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My accomplices on this walk:

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Tonight will be more photography around town with a friend from AZ who’s flying in for a few hours. Thursday I’ll be posing for a local photographer.

 

Other than photography – the days have been warm and mostly sunny, good for getting a little color to my skin. I’ve managed to get a sinus infection (my guess? dog hair up the old shnoz), which is making me more irritable than usual.

 

And for right now – it’s off to the dog park yet again (we go three or four times a day) to let the boy run around and sniff butts while I read. Hope all is well in everybody else’s neck of the woods.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Still in Austin

Just getting to know the city. Finding some of the backways and alleyways. I’m pretty sure I found Jesus, but he was keeping some interesting company, so I let him be:

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I saw a few cardinals in real life, but didn’t get any pictures of them. I did get a picture of another graffiti redbird though:

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My old room mate Steve flew down to see me too. He’s in Houston doing some training for an upcoming job move, and was able to fly for free into Austin for a few hours of putzing around the city. We had a good ol’ time, even if he did look far too well dressed to be hanging out with a homeless guy like me:

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Other than that, lots of time is being spent at the dog park, and searching for dancing. I went out to one of the honky tonks and made a silly attempt at country dancing. It was fun, though I’m not sure it was successful dancing. I also found the local swing dancing scene which was a blast. I’ll probably go back and check that out next week.

 

I’ll be meeting up with a few photogs this week. Today I’m going north of town to shoot a cemetery with about 40 other photowalkers, tomorrow I’ll meet up with a couple local gals to shoot in Austin, Tuesday night a photog friend from Phoenix is going to be in town for a night shoot of the city. I’m looking forward to all of these things.

 

Overall, this city is very welcoming:

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My only struggle is constantly being surrounded by people. There is simply no getting away from it. I begin to get the itch to get out by myself for a while, maybe back to Big Bend for a bit. I’m trying to put it off, to work through this irrational discomfort. I suppose we’ll see how it goes. :)

Monday, February 14, 2011

I arrive in Austin

with an idea in my brain.

 

It’s time to stop driving from town to town. Time to stop and get to know one place. Austin is that place for me. Why?

 

It’s warm, the economy is good so if I need to work there is a good chance of me finding it here, it has a large young population, and it is a fairly liberal town which means lots of weird fun things happening.

 

I’ve been here for almost a week now. I have wandered, walked, hiked, talked, and lost myself here.

 

There is an odd mix of overstated wealth:

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And goofy counter culture:

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Of course, the artsy bits of town get some very interesting graffiti, which I love:

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But everywhere I look there is something to see. I walk around the capitol area:

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I see churches and construction:

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I walk by food trucks, which are super trendy here and far outside of my budget:

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I meander through the university campus, and enjoy the sculptury bits that I find:

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I meander along the river, and see the skyline of a city:

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It is a dog friendly town, so we spend hours each day in the different dog parks. The dog runs loose, meets everybody, calms down a bit. I think he is realizing that there is a routine building here. I think I am too.

 

It’s a bit lonesome yet, walking alone with camera to eye. People are friendly, conversations come easy, but part of me holds back. I’m looking for a place to be alone, and I”m not finding it. Everywhere I go there are other people, the sounds of the city, evidence of man. A far departure from the serenity and solitude of Big Bend last week. It is hard, but that is why I do it.

 

I went to the local ballroom dance this past weekend. It was fun, but there was nobody my age there. Still, it was nice to dance.  I’ve joined a gym, more for the shower that it affords me than the weights. I’ve found a few refuge coffee shops where I can find a little slice of quiet.

 

For now I just walk around and try to figure out what I am looking for here:

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Saturday, February 12, 2011

Just a cross reference post.

For anybody who wants to follow me on facebook, which gets more up-to-date info than the blog, and also a lot more useless stuff, I’m located at:

http://www.facebook.com/tombocheck

 

For anybody who just wants to see the pictures I take (more than what shows up on the blog, and without all the annoying words which I sometimes like to think are witty or meaningful), checkout my flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/tombothetominator

 

 

Other than that, I am currently in Austin, have been for four days now. Trying to get a feel for this city, and highly considering hanging out here for a few weeks/months. More to come as I get some usable pictures of the area.

Friday, February 11, 2011

San Antonio, TX!

I pull into San Antonio refreshed from my days in Big Bend. I have no expectations for the city, the only thing I know is that my dad told me to check out the river walk. I drive around for hours first, trying to get a feel for more than just the downtown of the city. I see graffiti, or course, as soon as I am out of downtown:

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I’ve arrived in the late afternoon, and snag a parking spot for an hour, I walk along the river walk for a bit, but there is so much more than I can explore in one hour. I commit to come back in the morning when the parking is free and see a bit more. For the evening I opt to go out to the missions to snap a few quick pics.

 

The first one is at the Mission of San Pedro, with a piece called the ‘rose window’:

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Unfortunately the mission is under construction, and so I lose my inspiration to photograph it quickly, stopping only to check out some of the sculptures that surround the walls:

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As I speed towards the next one, the sun sets. I arrive at the mission de San Juan just as the light fades:

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And with the darkness I locate a walmart and park for the night. I wake up before dawn and head downtown, hoping to get a few hours of walking in. And so I head down and do just about all of the river walk, where the hotels and shops line the walking path along the water:

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I pop up in time to watch sunrise reflect off of a tall hotel:

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I pop through Hemisfair park:

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I walk to the ‘Towers of America and grab a shot of it as the ambient light begins to fill its folds:

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From there it is putzing around the downtown district, shooting random things like the Buckhorn museum of texas rangers:

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And an old brick building with a statue of blind justice out front:

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I stop and see the Alamo, but the dog isn’t allowed inside so I just get a quick shot of the front:

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And then a snap of the cathedral downtown:

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I find a nice coffee shop (Local Coffee) on the north end of town, and sit for a few hours editing photos, reading, writing, and listening to the good house music. Then I hit the road again. It’s time for Austin… which might just be a long stop.