Grand Canyon

May 7, 2012 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

I finally made it to the Grand Canyon! During my last visit to Las Vegas we decided to drive to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. We decided to take the Maverick Helicopter Tour and it was AWESOME! Our pilot Matt was a great guy, there was only the three of us on the flight and words can not describe the experience. This is one experience I plan on doing again!

All of the photos in this post were shot using a hand held, 3 exposure technique and then processed in photomatix for the HDR. I used a Canon 5D with a 24-105mm f/4 lens.

Inside Grand Canyon West Rim 1

Sky Walk - West Rim - Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon West Rim - Eagle Point

Guano Point - West Rim - Grand Canyon

Standing on Guano Point - West Rim - Grand Canyon

Inside Grand Canyon West Rim 2

Inside Grand Canyon West Rim 3

Trisha

April 12, 2012 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

I have recently shot some high school senior portraits. This was a new location for me and we had the opportunity to use a 1938 Ford Fire Truck with a flat head V8 for one of the settings. Special Thank You to the volunteers at the Round Rock Fire Department Museum for allowing us this wonderful opportunity.

Trisha with 1938 Fire Truck

Cowgirl Style

Josh Hamilton

February 3, 2012 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

I shot this photo on May 21, 2011 while Josh Hamilton was on his rehab assignment to the Round Rock Express. Josh Hamilton spent his time before the game signing autographs and being hounded by fans for a glimpse of greatness. Josh has battled in the past with his demons and there is no one that can say that they “know” what he is going through. We can only assume, speculate and guess what he was thinking. This wasn’t the first time I saw Josh at the Dell Diamond. The Rangers played the Express in a preseason game. I witnessed Josh before the game spending hours autographing numerous items. He made sure that it was a safe environment for all the younger fans in the front. He stayed signing item after item, taking pix with each fan that asked until the last possible moment. He made every effort to please every fan possible. Until you walk in someone else’s shoes then don’t judge them for their actions. The media is always ready to publish news articles that bring them the highest attention. No matter what really happened in Dallas, at a bar, TxSportsPix will always be a fan of Josh Hamilton.

Lauren – 2012 Senior Portraits

January 23, 2012 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

Sydney and Whitney

January 12, 2012 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

Sydney is a friend of mine who played volleyball with my daughter. I was asked to shoot some photos of her and her sister Whitney the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was cold and windy but we made the best out the the short amount of time that we had to shoot. I shot the entire session with the 70-200mm and one 580exII flash.

Sydney - Canon 5D Mark II - 170mm - f5.6

Whitney - Canon 5D Mark II - 200mm - f5.0

2012 Tour of Texas Warmup Volleyball

January 9, 2012 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

With the 2012 club volleyball season now fully underway now, we went to the Austin Convention Center to check out some of the action. I have the all of the photos posted at http://txsportspix.com/texaswarmup2012/ Photos shot with Canon 7D and 85mm f/1.8 lens.

Prints are available for purchase. Here are a couple of my favorites.

2012 Senior Whitney Nunez - Setter - Texas Eclipse 18 Green

2012 Senior Anissa Smith - Middle Blocker - Austin Juniors 18 Toro

Shock Top Party

May 26, 2011 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

Shock Top Earthwork HDR - © Copyright 2011 - TxSportsPix.com

Canon EOS 7D, 24-105 f/4L, 60mm, F 16, ISO 400

I had the opportunity to photograph the Shock Top party held by Brown Distribution in Austin Texas. The highlight of the event for me was to ride in a helicopter to get an aerial view of the Earthwork by the international artist Stan Herd. Shuttles were provided and I was transported off to the site. There were three helicopters available for use to view the earthwork. I chose the open door as to get better photos of this amazing work. This work took several months to complete but the end result was truly awesome. This artwork is about 5 acres in size and various types of natural materials were used. The green in the sunglasses are limes! Once back at the party I was able to meet Stan Herd and he is truly a genuine, down to earth person. If you judge an party by the amount of fun to be had by everyone, this event was a HUGE success. Everything from the food to all the various types of entertainment was truly incredible.

Click here for Shock Top Party Photos

Stan Herd & Agnes Fuccello - © Copyright 2011 - TxSportsPix.com

Josh Hamilton visits Round Rock Express

May 24, 2011 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

Canon EOS 7D, 70-200mm f/2.8L, 175mm, F 2.8, ISO 3200

Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers made a brief trip through Round Rock, Texas to play three games with the Express baseball team. He is always a crowd favorite and spent a lot of time prior to the game signing autographs for the fans. Hamilton hit this homerun in the 3rd inning with 2 on and 1 out. The Express defeated the Sky Sox 9-4.

Busy as a Bee

May 13, 2011 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

Canon EOS 7D, Canon 24-105 f/4L, 105mm, F 5.0, ISO 200

I think we could all learn a bit from the honeybee. We need to work on our craft everyday and put an effort into getting better. Take a little time each day to practice on your skills. It can be a full blown photo shoot or as little as catching a Kelby Training video online. Just like with everything else, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” I carry my camera with me constantly, hoping to catch that magical one in a million shot. Work a little each and every day and you will constantly get better. You will become more familiar with your equipment and how to compose and shoot a great photo. Tasks that you had to think about will become second nature. If a little bee travels an average of 1600 round trips in order to produce one ounce of honey, up to 6 miles per trip and to produce 2 pounds of honey, bees travel a distance equal to 4 times around the earth, how much are you willing to work to catch that magical moment with your camera?

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

May 5, 2011 by TxSportsPix | Leave a comment

Zac Brown Band Full Moon Dell Diamond Round Rock TX

Canon EOS 7D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L, 80mm, F 2.8, ISO 3200

When I listen to music my first choice isn’t country music. I am a classic rock kind of guy but I will admit the Zac Brown Band put on an amazing show in the Dell Diamond Stadium. I was familiar with a few of their songs but wasn’t sure what to expect for a performance. It
was a long frustrating few days trying to get proper photo access. I finally talked to several people and was told that I could shoot the event but my official pass was missing. This left me out of the photo pit but once I saw the photo pit back at the sound board I was glad I wasn’t stuck all the way back there.

The stage setup was the largest I have ever seen at the Round Rock Express home field. The opening act was Blackberry Smoke and I would classify them as southern rock. It wasn’t a long set but the music was pretty good. The crowd continued to grow during their performance and over 10,000 people were expected to attend. After sunset the temperatures dropped slightly and the breeze was just enough to keep things cooled down. I wandered around from side to side waiting for the moonrise. I had seen the full moon the night before and had planned for this event. What I was planning for and what happened were two different things. I was planning to get a shot of the band on stage with the Dell Diamond logo and moon over top of the stage. What happened was the moon arose from the right of the stage not even close to the band. I was already trying to shoot between cowboy hats to get a clear view and that was becoming more difficult as everyone pushed towards the front of the stage. I was standing in general admission trying to shoot photos through the crowd, when several members of the band walked out onto the runway to sing “Toes” (most) everything lined up perfectly! I finally had an improvised shot, Zac Brown and a full moon in Round Rock, Texas. With all this being said every planned shoot isn’t going to be perfect every time. You will face numerous obstacles and unforeseen circumstances.

To quote one of my favorite actors (Clint Eastwood) and movie lines (Heartbreak Ridge) , we must “Improvise, Adapt and Overcome”.

Blackberry Smoke performs at Dell Diamond Round Rock Texas

Canon EOS 7D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L w/ 1.4x, 280mm, F 4.0, ISO 1600