art, photography, random thought, travel, writing

new austin skyline

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

photography, random thought, travel

tELL(E)uride

well, it’s that time of year again; heading to telluride for my best friend’s birthday… no complaints here.

and this year, it gets even better. i was able to share telluride with Elle for the first time!

wilson peak is beautiful, even socked in with snow.

the wine started flowing as the birthday celebrations kicked off…

we took the gondola from the mountain village back to town for some late night fun in telluride.

blurry telluride from high up on the mountain…

the next day i got to spend some quality time with one of my old friends, kona, a gorgeous chocolate lab.

it was a great time as always, and a refreshing quick trip up to the mountains for both Elle and me. it feels like it’s been too long. i’m really looking forward to the mountain trips planned for the summer and fall…

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

art, photography, random thought, travel, writing

south louisiana red fishin’

a few weeks ago, i had the priviledge of fishing the gulf for reds.

my good friends and clients took me on one of their corporate retreats to capture the activities of the weekend.

i didn’t fish much, but as you can image, i shot a ton. it was just too much fun…

we landed in new orleans, one of my favorite cities. but after a long cajun lunch and a few beverages, we headed south. way south.

in fact, i didn’t even know where we were going actually existed. thought it was all marsh land. no highways, buildings, people, etc.

i was obviously wrong. happens every once in a while…

we stayed at woodland plantation, a fantastic old set of 100+ year old structures.

one of which is the famous house on the southern comfort bottle.

local cat and mouse game.

but that mouse bites back.

so the next morning we rose early to a dense, eerie fog over the gulf.

we headed out, deep into the byways and bayous of deep south louisiana. the light was gorgeous for me. bad for fishing.

the fog finally cleared in the afternoon and we started catching a few fish.

back at the plantation, we could see the massive ships coming up the mighty mississippi river over the levee.

there it is… recognize it?

spirits hall was a 138 year old church, converted into what else… a bar!

beautiful on the inside.

the next day there was still plenty more fishing to do…

and alligators to watch…

it was a fantastic experience.

meeting these guys, the great food and drink, and of course that famous south louisiana hospitality.

i love my job.

art, family, photography, random thought, travel

honeymooners

well, as they say, the honeymoon is (technically) over… however, it doesn’t really feel that way.

now i’m not just trying to score points here, i promise. the first month has been a total blast. it hasn’t been without it’s rough patches, but overall i’d say, the honeymoon has seemed to continued…

the night of our marriage, elle and i got to stay at the historic adolphus hotel in downtown dallas. totally cool. and a great view from our enormous balcony!

sipping fancy coffee in the morning by the big windows…

it was a relaxing morning for sure. luckily we didn’t have to rush… our flight to mexico wasn’t until that evening.

so then we arrived on the mayan riviera in mexico, and it did not disappoint! white sand beaches, crystal blue water, all the amenities of the caribbean, but much better prices. we had a blast!

and yes, of course i had to try a star picture over the caribbean…

may the honeymoon last another 50 years!!

art, photography, random thought, travel

new years: bongos and puke

elle and i went to inks lake state park near austin to camp for new years this year…

it was kind of a disaster. some college kids pulled in next to us late the first night. no big deal, i thought. they’re camping for new years… i’m sure they’ll be respectful of our space and peace. expectations crushed.

they were playing bongos until 5 0’clock in the morning. awesome.

and to top it off, i must have undercooked our bacon wrapped jalapenos, because elle got violently sick in the middle of the night.

it was an interesting way to ring in 2011.

but, we still managed to have a good time, strangely enough. and i get the feeling it’s a precursor for what the rest of our lives might be like: shattered expectations, sickness, rude people, etc. rolling with the punches.

in spite of it all, we enjoyed each other’s company, and were glad that we had one another with which to share this incredibly odd time.

here’s to 2011!!