Out Their Front Door – Dave Wilson

I’m very excited to continue the ‘Out Their Front Door Series‘. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am. The goal is simple, inspire others to go out and make images close to home. I have invited a select group of photographers who’s websites I visit on a daily basis to share with us the images close (within a car ride) of their home. Next up in the series is Dave Wilson. He is a Scotland born, Austin based photographer, who not only shares his incredible images, he shares a lot of great how-to information in his tutorials. Not only will you enjoy the inspiration Dave provides, you are going to learn a bit about Texas!

You can find him here:

• Website: http://davewilsonphotography.com/
• Twitter: @dawilson
• Facebook: HDR Tennis
• Facebook: Dave Wilson Photography
• Blog: New and Views

Thanks, Justin, for the opportunity to share some images of my “photographic back yard” in Austin, Texas. I’ve been here for 17 years now but only really started photographing in the city seriously about 4 years ago when a job change resulted in me no longer travelling to exotic business locations. Left with the need to find a photography outlet nearer to home, I started looking at my home city a lot more closely and discovered that there is an almost endless set of great locations in or near Austin.
I had a hard time cutting my list of images down to the 7 you see here but this collection gives a pretty good overview of some of the best known or most spectacular locations within an hour’s drive of my home in south west Austin.

Downtown Austin is a 25 minute drive for me during the weekend or about an hour if I am silly enough to head there in the morning rush hour (folks here complain about the traffic but, believe me, it’s nothing compared to some other cities I’ve visited). The skyline has changed dramatically in the last 5 years with the growth of several high-rise residential developments. This panorama shows the skyline as it was last March and includes the iconic Frost Bank Tower (center with the lit roof) and the Austonian, now Texas’ highest residential building. Austin sits on the Colorado River which is dammed both upstream and downstream of the city creating a series of lakes offering great watersport opportunities (which, on a 100+ degree day in the summer, are very welcome indeed).

As the state capitol, Austin is also home to the Texas State Capitol building. Photographers have a treat here since our access to the building is unprecedented as far as I can tell from visiting various other capitol buildings. The Texas Capitol is open from 7am until 10pm on weekdays and 9am until 8pm on weekends and there are no restrictions on photography inside the building that I’ve ever come across. I should point out that I’ve never tried to get in with a bunch of lighting gear – that may prove problematic but tripods are definitely no problem at all. The State Troopers responsible for security are a very professional and friendly group.

Austin is also home to the University of Texas which occupies an area of 432 acres just north of downtown and is home to 49,000 students. College sports are huge in Austin and the various UT Longhorn teams are well-supported. Football is, of course, the main event and the university boasts a 100,000+ seat stadium where the Longhorn football team plays its home games. The atmosphere here when the place is full (about 10% of the greater Austin population packs the stadium for each game) is absolutely electric. Shooting here is great fun though photography restrictions are imposed on ticket- holders (as seems to be the norm for all major sporting events) so don’t try to bring any long lenses with you. I had the opportunity to shoot from the field a couple of times this season as photographer for the 400 player Longhorn Band and I can tell you that walking through the tunnel and emerging to 100,000 screaming fans (even if they are screaming for someone else) is quite an experience.

For me, the main attractions for photography in downtown Austin are architectural. With the recent building boom, many new business, residential and arts buildings have appeared. Among these is the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum with its enormous Lone Star sculpture (seen below) and the Blanton Museum of Art, both within 4 blocks of the Capitol building. Any photographer interested in grabbing great architecture pictures can be assured of a wonderful day if they spend it within a mile of the center of the city.

Photography around here is not, however, all buildings and urban sports. Austin sits on the edge of the Texas Hill Country and within a short drive you can find yourself in many interesting and traditional towns like Wimberley, Dripping Springs and Johnson City. Hill Country scenery can be spectacular and few views I’ve come across anywhere can beat Hamilton Pool, a famous swimming hole near Dripping Springs (about 30 minutes drive from our home). This place looks like paradise on earth – a clear blue circular pool fed by a waterfall tumbling over a cliff formed when the roof of an underground lake partly collapsed several thousand years ago.

Moving slightly further out (but still staying within my self-imposed 1 hour radius), Johnson City offers a wonderful place to visit with its art galleries, rather decrepit feed mill (great for some grungy urbex images) and historic sites. This was the home town of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and his ranch is now open to the public. In the grounds, you can also find the fascinating Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm which offers numerous photographic opportunities and, once again, is a very photographer-
friendly location. The farm is worked as it was back in 1918 and the staff act as both tour guides and farm workers.

1000 words and 7 pictures definitely isn’t enough to do Austin and the Texas Hill Country justice. Should you decide to head down here to take a look for yourself, we are fortunate to be served by Southwest and Jet Blue as well as all 4 major airlines so flights are pretty inexpensive and affordable downtown accommodation isn’t hard to find. You can also be assured of a friendly welcome and plenty of local photographers who are usually itching for a photowalk or outing and would no doubt be happy to show you around.

Now, where’s the phone number for the Austin Tourism Office since I’m sure they’ll want to sign me up after this.