last week, i had a few days of commercial shoots down in austin.  it was great to finally get back down there.

but austin is a rapidly changing city…  understatement of the year.

i’m amazed every time i revisit this old haunt of mine.  i mean, i’m not that old.  am i?

i first moved to austin for college in 1999.  wow… last century, huh?

okay, but in the bigger scheme of things, it wasn’t that long ago.

even still, the skyline is almost unrecognizable now from those days.

at least five of the tallest buildings were not there in 2000…

towering over zilker park.  it’s really shaping up.  from a visual point-of-view at least, it’s kind of growing on me.

from south congress… still a magnificent view.

i must admit, 9 times out of 10, i’d rather see mountains.  and austin as a city has changed in many ways of which i’m not a huge fan.  but i’m not here to bash development or urban growth.

the “progress” of man is not an easy force to stop.  and change isn’t always bad.

i love that austin hasn’t totally lost it’s identity.  it’s still the weirdest, most expressive little city in our fair country.

hippie + cowboy = something pretty damn honest and (at the very least) interesting to look at.

you don’t believe me?  look at Willie.  or perhaps Kinky.  enough said.

now, all we have to do is kick all (literally ALL) of those rotten politicians out and perhaps we’d have quite the utopia…

all images and content © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2011