Springtime waterfalls
Springtime in Austin means waterfalls!
Summer's coming to Austin - run! ;-)
I love Austin, but man the summers here can be brutal. I'm talking about 100 degrees for weeks in a row - with high humidity too - kind of brutal. You just want to stay indoors with the AC cranked up. I generally think about being elsewhere. Sometimes I actually am elsewhere. I'm still working on a plan for THIS summer, so I will let you know. It *should* involve me taking some photographs. ;-)
But springtime in Austin? Well, that's a different story entirely.
Austin is like a completely different place in the springtime. I love the spring here. It's nice outside, and you can stay out for a whole day if you are so inclined. The days are warm enough, but not yet hot. You might need to wear jeans out to dinner (not that it's required anywhere, but it might get a little chilly). Oh, and we often get rain (YAY!). We're always grateful for rain, believe me.
Rain is the thing, you see. Not only does it give us some nice green grass and those oh so famous wildflowers, but all of our creeks start rocking, and guys like me get out and photograph them. It's not something we can generally do year-round, so you have to act fast. I try and do so every spring. Plus, I just love waterfalls.
Can you blame me?
I feel like I am in Oregon when I'm out shooting this, but it's only 10 minutes from my house. I can do this on a whim (which is exactly what led me here last week). I don't need a multi-hour photo excursion or a lot of planning to make this happen. I just grab my stuff and go, and I'm clambering over rocks and down the trail in 10 minutes. Can you beat that?
My daughter, who is 13, is interested in photography. So I recently purchased her an Olympus OMD EM-10, which is a pretty nice camera. It's got some great features and is something she will hopefully get to spend a lot of time on (and it's great to have a sidekick!).
So one evening last week, we headed over here after dinner, hoping for some waterfall shots and crossing our fingers for a decent sunset. Luckily, we got both in spades, and she was hooked. Today you get to see the waterfalls - I haven't had enough time to work on the sunset shots yet, but I believe they will turn out pretty nice. You'll just have to come back and see, ok? ;-)
And by the way, I recently published a lengthy, detailed review of Aurora HDR Pro, which is something you may have already heard about, or perhaps you read one of my previous posts about it here on the blog. It is such an incredible piece of software and it has really blown me away. I have changed (and simplified) my workflow in light of this, and all of today's shots were processed in Aurora. All are 3 exposure HDRs. And rather obviously, I was experimenting with some different looks between these photos. I think the top one is still my favorite. You?
You can find my Aurora HDR Pro review here. I would love your feedback on it!
And before I forget to mention it, this is from the Bull Creek Greenbelt in Northwest Austin. Such a great spot!
