Sunrise Clouds

Just wanted to share a quick shot I took this morning at sunrise from the Palmer Events Center. I've been chasing a cloudless sunrise for a few mornings now with no luck; at least the cloudy sunrises have a few nice moments!

A Midnight Fog

In a city with over 300 sunny days per year, a pervasive fog shrouding the entire region is quite rare. Such conditions descended upon Austin in the early hours of March 4th, 2015.

Conditions were calm and visibility varied from 200-500 yards depending on local ground moisture.

The Long Center produces a faint glow in the midnight fog.

On a clear night Lou Neff Point in Zilker Park offers one of the best views of the Austin skyline. Move the slider below to compare foggy conditions against a clear night.

fog_before fog_after

The Great Lawn in Zilker Park, still moist from a light evening drizzle, produced a dense and static ground fog.

The Zilker Park Great Lawn shrouded in fog at 3AM.

A giant Zilker Park tree against a backdrop of fog at 3AM.

Spring Is Finally Here

The grass is green, the flowers are in bloom, and the clouds are neatly distributed across the sky. Fluffy, yet well defined. Not all spring days look like this, but in my mind, they should.

This shot was taken last Friday at the Texas State Capitol.

Selections From the Backlog

Having not posted in over a month, I've accumulated quite a few still frames in my backlog that I wanted to share. I've also got a few incomplete blog posts waiting on me to process and scan a batch of B&W film when I get the time.

I spent an evening a few weeks back testing out some in-car camera mounting techniques, giving me a chance to pay homage to one of my favorite scenes in Koyaanisqatsi. I was pretty happy with the results, and I was glad I could figure out such a solid mounting solution. Previous attempts nearly a year ago had been plagued by camera vibration.

Last week I stopped off at Zilker Park after a day of shooting hyperlapse footage. The view from the Great Lawn is always nice, especially after sunset. I highly recommend checking it out on a warm night if you feel like just sitting around with some friends in the dark and having a few drinks. The view of the skyline is excellent, and there's a quiet contemplative feeling to the whole place.

The hours and minutes before and after a big storm can yield some spectacular and dramatic views, creating a powerful backdrop for the skyline of any city. This first shot was taken from Castle Hill right after a huge rain/hailstorm rolled through town at the end of March.

Getting out there in the right place before (as opposed to after) a storm is the tough part. Enabling the desired image composition for an incoming storm largely comes down to luck because the weather forecast is typically useless when it comes to small scale local phenomena.

Today I had a bit of a lucky break. I saw what looked like the beginnings of some awesome undulatus (wavy base) clouds forming overhead as I was on my way home (iPhone shot at right) and decided to immediately head out to the side of the freeway to try to shoot some footage of the clouds with a wide, unobstructed view. By the time I got there, all the undulatus-like formations had dissipated or moved on; instead, I was treated to quite a show from the backlit cumulonimbus clouds of an approaching thunderstorm. This storm was particularly intense, with hail, extremely heavy rain, and high winds.

Finally, I'll leave you with the fruits of an attempt to take some cliche bluebonnet photos of my dog friend. As she was being completely uncooperative and constantly looking at traffic, I settled for taking a portrait of the Metrorail instead.