Fall at Bull Creek
I love Bull Creek Preserve in Austin - and I love Fall!
I really do love Bull Creek. It's sort of my "home" park, if you will. I love to run on the trails there (I used to run trails a LOT and am trying to get back into it), and I love to photograph it. Though usually since I am there for a run, my photos are done with my iPhone...and while I really enjoy iPhoneography, nothing compares to capturing a scene with my full frame Nikon.
Updated "Best Places to take photos in Austin" list!
I just added this spot as well as several more to my "Top Photo Spots in Austin" list here on the blog, which you can find here. I've been meaning to do this for a long time, and well...now I finally have! Take a look!
Anyways, this is a great spot. In addition to taking a morning run over here, we hike here sometimes on weekends as a family. I feel like I know this place like the back of my hand, and that of course means I also know lots of cool spots there to shoot, and I have quite a few more to share from this area.
Austin is pretty dry through the summer, and we've been experiencing a drought for a few years now that is pretty severe. But recently, we have had quite a bit of rain, and I knew that meant the water here would be running pretty well. So one morning last week I headed out just after sunrise to grab a few frames.
I was really fired up to be here all alone, just the sound of the waterfall and the ritual clicking of my Nikon. And to top it all off, I never even realized I might get a little bit of Fall color in the scene. Gotta love Mother Nature!
The secret waterfall in Austin
Well, this may not be a secret anymore now that I'm sharing this!
I've stumbled upon an awesome little spot in Austin with this incredible waterfall in it. That is, there's a waterfall after some good rain, but I have been here when it's been dry too, obviously in the depths of our summer heat. But we've had some rain recently, and this little spot is flowing nicely!
This is located at Bull Creek Greenbelt, near the dog park. If you park there, this is across the road from the parking lot, and downstream across the bridge. Just walk off into the woods there and you climb around a little and get rewarded with this secluded little oasis - great fun! Now, don't go tellin' everyone ok?
I was there for sunrise one morning last week, and as you can see there was some mist and fog coming off the water as the sun warmed it up (it was a bit chilly that morning). Unfortunately a lot of the visibility of the fog gets lost through HDR processing, and so I added some back in - the beauty of software tools!
The beauty of Hamilton Pool
A beautiful waterfall just a short drive from Austin...
Hamilton Pool is one of the most awesome spots to go shoot here in Austin. It's a natural grotto that formed thousands of years ago when the dome of an underground river collapsed on itself. The 50 foot waterfall coming over the edge is a nice touch too. Thanks Mother Nature!
I love the place, but the truth is that I haven't been there in a really long time. I took these shots a few years back, but came across them in the library and took a stab at reprocessing them. I rather like the results here. Though I shared them here a long time ago, it was before anyone came here to see my shots. Timing seemed good to share them again! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Bull Creek flow
I love this little spot in Austin - it's near the house, is quite beautiful, and when there is water these falls are just wonderful to watch and shoot. I don't do enough of this sort of thing. Waterfalls are fun to shoot. And contrary to my normal work, I generally just shoot these as a single long exposure, skipping the HDR process entirely.
The waterfall at The Grand Wailea
With all these photos I have taken, sometimes I get really behind in processing and sharing them. It’s hard to keep up, actually. That might sound goofy, but I just mean that my library has grown so much over the last couple of years that I may never catch up. Then again, that might be a good thing. It gives me something to work on when I am not traveling.
If you follow my page on FB, you may recall that I posted some iPhone shots from a trip in April out to Maui, HI. It’s an incredible place and I have also shared a few of my photos from the trip here on the blog. Well, here’s another one!
We stayed at the Grand Wailea, which is a great property. I was very happy to find this beautiful waterfall out front. I stood there and shot it for a while. It required some lens cleaning (and photo retouching) to get all the water drops off, but it was worth it!
Flow
Just a simple shot from the Fort Worth Water Gardens. This place sits downtown and is well worth a visit. Water descends from all angles and meets in this central pool at the bottom. It's a great place to take photos! For this one, I waited until the lights came on around dusk. It adds a bit more interest and mystery to the shot in my opinion!
The waterfall at Bull Creek
I love Bull Creek Greenbelt here in Austin - it's one of my favorite spots in the city. I hike there, trail run there, and sometimes take the Nikon out there for some photo work. On my last photo excursion there, I opted to snag a few long exposures of this little waterfall. It's small, but packs a lot of awesomeness for it's size!
Bull Creek waterfall
I had a few spare minutes before sunset one night last week, so I hurried over to the Bull Creek Greenbelt, which isn’t too far from where I live in Austin. It’s a great little park with a creek running through it. It’s where I do my trail runs, when I find the time and energy. :-)
I was hoping for an incredible sunset, but despite some great clouds that were passing by, an incredible sunset never materialized. That happens. But when life (or Mother Nature, in this case) gives you lemons, make lemonade, right?
So I hiked over to this little waterfall and shot away. I had been here before, but only with my iPhone. I was eager to get some nice silky long exposure action. Sometimes things work out just like you need them to!
Rockin' at Multnomah Falls
I loved shooting at Multnomah Falls. It’s huge, popular (read: crowded) and everyone shoots it, but I just didn’t care. Last August, I came all the way out to Portland, OR from Texas, where we couldn’t even get a slight chance of rain, much less witnessing a waterfall this majestic. It’s truly a sight to behold in person (and this was my 2nd visit, the 1st being ~10 years ago). It’s just beautiful. Go. See. It.
Given the chance, I would go back and shoot it again. I believe that you can improve your photography by shooting the same thing many times, because each time is different. In this case, due to the crowds, I had to work for creative compositions so that I didn’t have a thousand tourists in my shoots. That just ruins the whole thing for me.
So, after taking a few shots from the lower falls, I walked up to the bridge which gives you a nice view of the upper falls. I put on the zoom lens and opted to focus in on the bottom of the upper falls. Finding that big rock sitting there was just a bonus. :-)Horsetail spray
Multnomah closeup
Back from the UK!
As some of you may know, I was recently in the UK and in addition to hosting a great photowalk in London, I also got out and shot a whole lot in London and Dublin. It was an incredible week and I have about 3000 images to get to at some point, and some fun stories to tell. I'll be sharing that stuff with you all soon!
Daily photo - Multnomah closeup
I captured this image at Multnomah Falls, which is on the Columbia River Gorge outside of Portland, OR. If you are ever even near Portland, I highly recommend this area for photography or just general tourism. It is beautiful and along the Gorge there is an entire stretch of waterfalls - it's quite a lot to enjoy!
Wispy Multnomah
Today, I am moving onto a waterfall (and no, there is not really an order to the shots I am sharing this week). But this isn't just any waterfall, it's Multnomah Falls! If you aren't familiar with Multnomah Falls, just know that it is the tallest waterfall in the state at a total height of 620 feet (though it is split into 2 sections).
I had seen this waterfall years ago when I was in Portland, and knew it was at the top of my list of shots I wanted when I visited recently. The thing is that at 620 feet it's pretty hard to get the whole thing in a shot, not to mention that the area is incredibly crowded most of the time.
So, I did the sensible thing and walked up to the mid-way point and out onto the footbridge. I set up my tripod and leaned against the stone railing, in hopes of avoiding getting bumped by all the tourists. I got bumped anyways. :)
But, I also got quite a few shots of the upper falls, from various angles. I wanted to start with this one, just because I like it!
Olympic Park waterfall
Featured on Fuel Your Photography:
The nice folks over at Fuel Your Photography have a weekly feature where they highlight the work of an indie photog and I am happy to say that this week it is me! Head on over there and check it out, and let me know your thoughts, thanks! And thanks to Fuel Your Photography!
Here's the link: http://www.fuelyourphotography.com/indie-spotlight-jim-nix/
Daily Photo: A waterfall at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, GA!
Centennial Olympic Park is a public park in the middle of downtown Atlanta, GA. It's surrounded by CNN, The Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola and more. Honestly though, I thought it would be bigger. I guess since it is so well-known I just expected...more space. But, no big deal - it's still a nice place to wander with my Nikon. One feature that I really liked was these waterfalls - they cascade down one section of the park, so it gives you a lot of opportunities to fire some shots. I took those opportunities!
Technicals: Nikon D700, 7 exposure HDR, f/13, 14-24 wide angle lens (at 24mm)
Software: Photomatix, Color Efex Pro, Aperture
North Texas torrent
Have you used the app Zite? It's my current favorite. I look at it daily on my iPad. It's essentially a news app (a personalized magazine, really) - sort of like Flipboard - but it learns what you like and gets "smarter" over time. Oh, and it's free! Click here for the iTunes link.
Daily Photo - North Texas torrent
I usually like to mix things up a bit by varying my photos - which is to say, I usually don't post back-to-back shots from the same town. But today I just could not resist. Yesterday I posted a shot from Fort Worth, TX and when I was in my Aperture library I came across lots of brackets I shot over at the Fort Worth Water Gardens. For this shot, I was standing down at the bottom of the Water Garden, looking up at one of the numerous waterfalls. Initially I processed this as an HDR, but eventually decided that I just preferred this single exposure, which was about 1/15 of a second.
iPhone fun on a trail run
I used to run on trails all the time, but somehow got away from it. I am trying to get back into it, for a lot of reasons. One reason is the obvious health benefits of exercise, but another is that being out in the woods is restorative for me in a number of ways. Plus, I get to bring along the iPhone so I get in a little photo work too!
Yay, I'm being productive! :)
Bull Creek here in Austin is a great little trail and has the added benefit of being close to the house. This Spring has been productive for us in terms of rain, so I am doubly happy to have waterfalls and a full creek running through the area now. It's usually gone by summer, so this is the time to enjoy it!
Here's a collection of iPhone shots from my recent visits to the Bull Creek Greenbelt here in Austin...and in posting these I discovered that I shoot with my iPhone in portrait mode more than landscape mode - interesting! That's the complete opposite of my Nikon.
Thanks for stopping by and hope you like my iPhone shots this week!