Archive for the ‘Texas’ Category
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
The Best BBQ in Dallas Fort Worth? I think so!
A while back I had the pleasure of working with BJ and Amber (one of my recent bride and grooms) of Anchor Marketing and Design to create images for a new website. The shoot was for a simply amazing BBQ restaurant in Haslet called Avondale Station Barbeque and I’m pleased to say Anchor just finished their new site! I cannot stress to you enough how good this place is! Avondale Station is run by Mitch Tidwell, and owner by his father Mike. Mitch went to culinary school to become a chef and apparently he learned a lot, because seriously people…this stuff is amazing. I’m from Texas, so I am kind of a BBQ snob, and I know what good BBQ is and what good BBQ isn’t. Their brisket is the most tender through and through brisket at any restaurant I’ve been too. The pulled pork is so tender that is falls apart as you take a bite out of it. The spicy link sausage has just enough kick. The fries are homemade right in the kitchen and cut from whole potatoes. This place is seriously the real deal and I have absolutely no problem driving 30 minutes from where I live to eat there.
Avondale Station BBQ
12259 Business Hwy 287 N.
Fort Worth, Texas
info@avondalestationbbq.com
www.avondalestationbbq.com
817-439-4623
Anchor Marketing and Design
I also can’t speak highly enough of the work Anchor Marketing and Design does. BJ and Amber have become great friends of ours since their wedding and I am consistently blown away by their work. They handle website design, graphic design, branding, advertising, social media marketing, and search engine marketing. Amber is also a regular contributor to Jennifer Adams Design and Lifestyle blog, so check that out to.
The Shoot
For the photo shoot, I had BJ and Amber on hand to get input for the website that these images would ultimately be for. We all had a quick meeting to go over shots needed and then we all worked for a few hours getting menu items plated and ready for their close ups.
The Setup
The set up was fairly simple. We shot the menu items on a table in the restaurant near a window that had great natural light pouring in. I set up a 4 foot, white backdrop behind the table with two 580 EX II flashes shot through soft boxes. One was at camera left shooting down at the food from a 45 degree angle, while the other was at camera right on the table shooting directly on the food. Add in the natural light and there you have it. I triggered the flashes with a Canon STE II Transmitter and then had my 1Ds Mark III (see my review here) on a Manfrotto tripod and tethered to Lightroom on my Macbook Pro. Tethering sends the images from your camera directly into Lightroom with every press of the shutter. It’s a great way to get instant feedback on the images without having to rely on the 3 inch LCD screen on the back of the camera. However, I did use the liveview function on the 1Ds to make sure the images were tack sharp and my depth of field was spot on before every shot. Ok, the images, hope you’re ready to get hungry 
…
Avondale Station’s famous smoked brisket. Mmmmm
The brisket sandwich with homemade fries and coleslaw
The Turkey Plate with Texas toast and homemade mashed potatoes
My favorite shot of the day, the Pulled Pork Sandwich Plate with fried okra, mashed potatoes and a jug of iced tea!
Yes, it’s probably the most amazing peach cobbler on the face of the planet. These guys don’t know how to make bad food!
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, Food, Fort Worth, Texas | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
New Blog Layout!
If you haven’t noticed, I have a brand new blog layout! I wanted to create a two column site with a simple design that focused on the images rather than the design around them. My previous layout and design were great while they lasted, but there were a lot of things I didn’t like about it for my style of blogging. The biggest issue was that it was only one column. If you wanted to look at a review I did on a piece of software a while back there was no easy way to get to it. You could choose the categories drop down menu and find reviews but I have a LOT of categories and the only way to get to the menu was from the top of the screen. What if you scrolled down towards the bottom? There was also no easy way to organize the most popular links of the site into one place. The new layout fixes all of that. There are a couple main issues that a certain percentage of people will have with the new layout. One is that since I added a column to the left, the blog is a bit on the wide side. 1250 pixels wide to be exact. According to my google analytics, this means that 33.5% of my viewers will have to do a little bit of scrolling from left to right if they want to navigate the side bar. While this is a concern, I know that the vast majority of you will be able to view this beautifully. You’ll be able to see ginormous images that fill most of the screen (just as images were intended to be viewed), as well as navigate the site to find reviews of products, popular links, and older posts. Another issue will be the image size itself. The images are BIG, 900 pixels across, but this is a photography blog. It’s about the images. Why would I want to have teeny little images that don’t showcase the details of my images? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the new design; good or bad.
Upcoming Additions to the Blog
If you look to the right you’ll see a section called “Reviews.” Then you’ll notice that currently that section is looking a little empty. Over the next few months I plan on adding a lot more reviews to the site for people interested in the gear I use. I will only do reviews of gear that I use on a regular basis and gear that stays in my camera bag wherever I go. I will make these reviews as in depth as possible and include both technical and layman’s term language. Some people care about specs and jargon, others just want to know if it works and how.
I am also going to be having guest bloggers stop by every now and again. I think this is a great way to showcase other creative artists around the area, around the country, and even the world. While the majority of these guest bloggers will be other photographers, I plan on also including artists of all type. This may include musicians, painters, graphic designers, or any other creative thinker that inspires me. I have a lot of interesting and exciting things in the pipeline so stay tuned and stay connected. Leave some comments and let me know your thoughts!
Brista and Jonathan | Denton Lifestyle Photography
And now some images! I met Jonathan at a wedding back in December. I wasn’t shooting the wedding, I was in the wedding party for my good friend Chris Burrus. Jonathan was too. We all got to hang out for a few days between the bachelor party, rehearsal, and wedding day so we all kind of became friends in the process! So needless to say, I was thrilled when he asked me to do a session for him and his wife, Brista. I had heard about this new place in Denton called the Angry Friar: A double decker bus from England that drives around Denton serving fresh fish ‘n chips in rolled up newspaper. We headed to Denton and Brista and Jonathan went on a fish ‘n chips date while my wife Kristin and I stayed back and took pictures the entire night. Here are some of my favorites from the session.
Tags: angry friar, denton couples photographer, denton lifestyle photographer, denton photographer, denton photography, denton square texas, double decker, fish n' chips, lifestyle photography
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 5d Mark II, Denton, Lifestyle, Texas | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
My blog has two faces
Well, my business really. You may notice if you are a regular reader here that what my post may be about here is sort of like pot luck. One day I may do a post around a wedding I just shot, one day a tutorial on software I use, another a travel picture of a sunset in the Keys, and another a local family session. Well, my photography business has two sides to it: Travel and Portraits. The portrait side includes primarily weddings, but we also do families, seniors, lifestyle sessions, etc. The travel side includes all of my travel and landscape images, for which I travel the country and sometimes globe to create stunning images of wherever I go. These images will end up in art galleries, private collections of art enthusiasts, travel publications, other websites, and so on. So don’t be confused if you can’t figure out what type of blog this is! It’s simply a photography blog where I post whatever I am up to.
Marcus and Lupe | Grapevine Botanical Gardens Family Photography
A few weeks ago I got the chance to spend the evening photographing the Hodges family. I have known them through our church for a while now, and Marcus is one of the funniest guys I know. He’s a Fireman for North Richland Hills so he’s also a hero in my book. Most of the time when I’m on a shoot, I act like a dork the whole time (I know, pretty far fetched for me right) to make my subject relax and laugh. On this shoot, I think I laughed more than Marcus or Lupe (his wife)! They were absolute goofballs the entire time and I absolutely love that! Some people are really hard to loosen up, especially men. There is just something about getting your picture taken (and I understand this) that makes people very tens and nervous.
We did the entire shoot at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens. I have done a few shoots here before and it’s a beautiful location for photographs. In the spring and summer everything is green, and in the fall everything is even more gorgeous with the changing colors and falling leaves. Here are some favorites from the session.
Tags: family photographer, grapevine, grapevine botanical gardens, grapevine botanical gardens photography, grapevine family photography
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, Families, Grapevine, Texas | 1 Comment »
Saturday, May 15th, 2010
My Work Being Featured in Art Galleries
As many of you know, Landscape and Travel Photography is a huge passion of mine. It gives me a way to see the world, and it’s a creative outlet for remembering the places I’ve been and a way to show the world what’s out there. Well, recently I was excepted into two local art galleries and one of the galleries is going to have an art show early next month where my work will be on display. I’m still getting the details together, but as soon as everything is set I will post the date, place, time and other important details. Stay tuned, hopefully you can make it out! Here’s one image that will be on display:
Anthony’s Chiofalo | Northwest High School Senior
The day before we left for Hawaii, I was able to squeeze in a last minute session for Anthony. We had been trying to get this session done for a while but seemingly every shoot I had in April had to be rescheduled because of rain or circumstance. We did the shoot in and around the Fort Worth Stock Yards, one of my favorite places for photo shoots. Anthony is going to Southwestern Oklahoma University on a football scholarship and leaves in a month or so. Good luck brother!
Tags: fort worth stock yards senior photography, justin texas, justin texas senior photographer, justin texas senior photography, keller senior photographer, keller senior photography, northwest high school, northwest high school senior photographer, northwest high school senior photography, senior photographer, senior photography
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, Fort Worth, Seniors, Texas | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
A quick update
Wow, what a month April has been! I have been going non-stop all month long editing sessions, meeting clients, traveling and marketing. April showers have delayed multiple sessions and sicknesses have delayed an equal amount. It’s truly been non-stop and I’m loving it! Next week I will be traveling to the big island of Hawaii for a little rest and relaxation. Actually, I will probably be running around the whole time with my camera and tripod, but you know . I’ve never been to Hawaii so it should be a really exciting time and I can’t wait to get some amazing shots of the ocean and volcanoes and rain forests.
Then I come back for about a month, only to leave again to Cancun for what’s going to be a gorgeous, unforgettable wedding! Life is crazy good right now and God has blessed me beyond comprehension by allowing me to do what I do. I am so grateful! Being self-employed isn’t easy. It’s an infinite increase in responsibility and determination but you just take it one day at a time, and slowly it grows. I have been blessed this year with the opportunity to travel the country, shooting weddings and travel shots, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else! It’s so much better than my previous life, sitting at a desk all day making someone else a living! So to all my clients, past present and future, thank you. Thank you for your support, your kind words, your referrals, and most importantly, your friendship. It means the world to me that I get to develop such great relationships with you all .
The Forest Road | Tyler State Park
This past weekend I got the opportunity to travel about 2 hours east to Tyler State Park. I went to photograph the Barber family who had the entire family travel in from Texas and Louisiana. We shot for about two hours by the lake and under the beautiful trees. The park is absolutely gorgeous! It feels like driving into Colorado in the middle of Texas. The roads through the park are surrounded by a huge pine forest with trees towering over the roads. The campsites are nestled in little valleys in the middle of all the trees and are incredibly secluded. Can’t wait to make it up there soon to go camping. While I didn’t get a chance yet to take a ton of shots from this great place, I did get this one on the way out. Enjoy
Tags: the forest road, tyler family photographer, tyler family photography, Tyler State Park, tyler state park photographer, tyler state park photography
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, Families, Texas, Tyler State Park | No Comments »
Monday, April 12th, 2010
Tags: aggies, college station, college station engagement photographer, college station engagement photography, college station photographer, college station photography, college station wedding photographer, college station wedding photography, fort worth photographer, texas a&m aggies, texas a&m photography
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 5d Mark II, Engagements, Texas | 2 Comments »
Monday, April 5th, 2010
What a great Easter weekend! God has blessed us with such great friends and family and this weekend was a blast because of them! Friday afternoon we met at Cedar Hill State Park by Dallas to go camping with our friends Paul, Bethany, Daniel and Courtney. We had a great time cooking burgers, building fires, burning things we probably shouldn’t, telling stories, fishing, and just having a great time. Here is a collage of a few pics we took on the trip.
You’ll notice that Paul is laying on the ground in one of the images under a tree. Well, he thought it would be a manly thing to do and impress Bethany by climbing a tree monkey style with his bare hands. His plan was to get about half way up, swing down with his hands and legs, then land safely on the ground. Well, he got half way up but when he tried swinging around the bark of the tree tore the skin off his finger tips and he fell about 5 feet flat on his back! I think it was still pretty manly. Men don’t care if we get hurt, as long as our ladies are watching us do it!
Joe Pool Lake at Sunset
Cedar Hill State Park is located on Joe Pool Lake. The park has somewhere around 1400 acres of state protected land and Joe Pool lake is part of it. This is an absolutely great place to go camping for the weekend. The lake was beautiful, and the sunset was picturesque. During this image, I was half way taking pictures, and half way fishing. Erm, or trying to fish. I didn’t catch a single thing the whole time 
. But every now and then the winds would die down and I would set up for another shot and drop my fishing pole. Here’s one I made by our campsite.
Tags: cedar hill, cedar hill camping, Cedar Hill State Park, cedar hill state park camping, cedar hill state park photography, joe pool, joe pool lake, joe pool lake camping, joe pool lake photography, lake, Texas, texas sunset
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, Cedar Hill State Park, Dallas, HDR, Texas | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
I love the Stockyards. I grew up here in north Texas and Fort Worth in general has always been one of my absolute favorite places. I could spend my life just hanging out in Sundance Square and the Stockyards. If there ever was a place that screamed Texas, it would be the Stockyards! Old, red-brick roads, Texas flags, daily cattle drives, old steam engine trains, weekly rodeos, cowboy boot shops, barbecue. If it’s Texas, it’s at the Stockyards. If your ever in the area and need a unique place to stay, check out the Stockyards Hotel. It’s been in business since 1907 and hasn’t stopped since. There are 3 floors of rooms, the top of which gave shelter to the infamous Bonnie and Clyde! The hotel is incredible; the architecture, the furnishings, the feel of the place. They even have a saloon! And even better, they can do weddings here! Brides, this would be an amazing place for a wedding if your after that rustic Texas theme. Here are a couple images of the hotel from a couple weeks ago while chasing the Texas sunset.
The Stockyards Hotel
109 East Exchange Avenue
Fort Worth, Texas 76164
1-800-423-8471
Tags: Fort Worth, fort worth stock yards, hotel, stock yards, stockyards hotel, Texas
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, Fort Worth, HDR, Texas | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Last weekend my wife and I went down to San Antonio to watch my cousin Amber graduate from the Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base (congratulations Amber!). Unknowingly to us, it was also spring break all throughout Texas and everyone in the state seemed like San Antonio would be a good place to go for the weekend! I have never seen so many people in one place! We went to the river walk the first night and it was literally standing room only. At one point I was walking along the edge of the river with my camera and tripod over my shoulder, about 6 inches away from falling in with people all around me shoulder to shoulder. It was pretty nerve racking! So the next day after the graduation we decided to escape the madness of San Antonio and head north to the Natural Bridge Caverns, about an hour away. The whole drive was quite peaceful, until we got there. Apparently everyone else had the same idea as us! The wait to buy tickets for the cave was about an hour long but eventually we made it in. The cave entrance is actually a natural bridge spanning about 60 feet over a sink hole. The cave is also still active so unlike most caves where the temperature is in the 60′s, this cave had 95% humidity and felt like about 90. So basically we were packed into a 90 degree, 90% humidity cave like sardines, shoulder to shoulder at some points with other tourists. The cave was still interesting but I would strongly suggest going at a down time!
About a third of the way through the cave, and 180 ft below the Earth, we reached a room called Sherwood Forest. The formation gets it’s name for the many stalagmites coming from the ground reaching towards the ceiling. One of my favorite things to find in caves are the springs. The water is absolutely flawless and pure, and still as can be. For photographers, this is a 5 exposure HDR shot with a Canon 1Ds Mark III and a 15mm fisheye lens. The fisheye was the only way I could get this massive formation all in one shot and I really like the way it turned out. The anchor (middle exposure) was taken at f/5.6 for 2.5 seconds at ISO 200. Here’s the image
After passing through another couple rooms we came to a formation called the King’s Throne. Seen below. I wasn’t really listening to the tour guides that much so I can’t tell you why it was called that. I know the formation hanging on the right side was called “Chandelier.”
The Natural Bridge Caverns were a fantastic place for any photographer or tourist. If you pay $100 you can actually go on a caving expedition and crawl through little man holes, rappel down massive tunnels, and see things everyone else never gets to. I would have been up for it if I didn’t have my camera gear with me. Cheers!
Tags: Canon 1Ds Mark III, cave, natural bridge caverns, river walk, San Antonio, sherwood forest, stalagmites, the kings throne
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, HDR, San Antonio, Texas | No Comments »
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
Eye Contact with Man Eating Beasts
A few weeks back we took a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo. I wanted to test my 1Ds Mark III out and what better way than wildlife? The Fort Worth Zoo is one of my absolute favorite places to go, every time I go I feel like a little kid again! There’s just something about the environment, the trails, the animals, that just takes you straight back to a simpler time. It was rather chilly that day so we only stayed long enough for a quick walk through. However a quick walk through at the Fort Worth Zoo takes a couple hours at least. My favorite spot has always been the cheetahs. They are so elusive and hard to photograph. I’ve been there several times in the past and not been able to even see them because they were laying behind the bamboo in the back. This time was different though, the cheetahs were hungry, pacing briskly back and forth across the entire grounds they were kept in. I couldn’t help but notice that one was eyeballing me the entire time, and I got a fairly uneasy feeling when I noticed the only thing separating me from this guy was a 8-10 foot fence that I was looking over. 8-10 feet doesn’t seem like much for a cheetah to clear does it?
After the cheetahs we headed over to the lions, my second favorite! Now that I think about it, I seemed to have the attention of quite a few animals that day. And the look on the lions face below doesn’t tell me he wanted to play. At least with the lion there was a 30 foot trench separating us. I’m still pondering that cheetah fence in the back of my mind. I really think he could clear that fence if he had his mind set on it. But maybe the zoo people are smarter than I am about man eating carnivores and there acrobatic skills?
Here was a brief second he took his eyes off of me to clean his prize lioness.
And finally a quick shot of a little meerkat, not quite as ferocious as the cats above but again this little guy locked eyes on my lens. So cool! Did you know meerkat’s are part of the mongoose family? The live in the Kalahari Desert and South Africa primarily and live in groups called mob’s or 20-50 members!
Tags: cheetah, Fort Worth, fort worth zoo, lion, meerkat, wildlife, wildlife photography, zoo
Posted in Canon 1Ds Mark III, Fort Worth, Texas | No Comments »
