Royal Palms Resort

The Royal Palms Resort in Phoenix is just amazing. It quickly became one of my favorite places to photograph at. Here are just a few photos of the unique resort that offers my vote for the best romantic getaway in Arizona.

A wonderful view of Camelback Mountain


There are so many tiny nooks around the resort that help you get away from everything.




The fountains illuminate the outdoor patio just outside of the banquet rooms.

Naegelin's Bakery is seriously the best!

I just had to share my love for this place. The pastries are simply the best I've ever had.
Naegelin's Bakery is the oldest continuously running bakery in Texas and they're still cooking the same divine treats they have for decades.

If you're ever in New Braunfels, TX (north of San Antonio), you definitely need to stop by this place. They were also recently featured in a Bank of America commercial that shows a guy going into a bakery.

Visiting Austin

My friends Chris and Troy came to visit me in Texas so we decided to take a day to visit Austin. One cool place to check out is the Austin Capitol building.


A few quick facts:
-The capitol building was completed in 1888
-It was paid for with land, around 3 million acres, not dollars
-It stood 15 feet higher than the US Capitol building in 1888



Here is a friend I made in the garden


These door hinges were unique and apparently weigh over 7 pounds.


The house chamber


Just chillin'

Friday Night Lights

Last weekend I attended my first Texas high school football game. Football is huge in Texas and especially in a small town like New Braunfels, where I've spent my summer. It was homecoming for New Braunfels High School and my friends Chris and Troy were in town from AZ so I figured it would be a fun evening.



It was a beautiful evening for a game.


The stands were packed.












There was of course some drama in the stands about who would be crowned King and Queen. It happened that the football player was crowned king but his girlfriend was only crowned princess and not queen. She's in the black dress and as you can tell she wasn't having a very good time and he knew not to look to happy either. Oh, the drama...
(UPDATE: I received a message from Katherine[in black] and she mentions that her boyfriend only ran for King to support her. Good man! Sorry you guys didn't win as a couple.)


New Braunfels making a run in the 3rd quarter.


Chris and Troy had a good time hanging out.


Here's the whole group.

Austin Pictage User Group

Wednesday evening I attended the Austin Pictage User Group led by the lovely Suzi Q.

We started off the evening by photographing each other so we would all have updated photos to include on our websites. Then I led a discussion on website content and design. We learned a lot about important things to include on our websites and some things we can strive to work on.
Is there anything that you wish I included on my website?

Here is another fun Austin PUG photo from a previous meeting.

Mozart's Coffee in Austin

I walked into Mozart's Coffee Roasters the other day and they were busy roasting up a batch of Espresso Roast. The smell of roasted beans permeated the air as I worked on the outdoor deck overlooking Lake Austin. It was a great afternoon.

Send Chris to Bali

A few weeks ago I photographed a night of arts and music to help raise money to send Chris Luna to Bali for missions.
Chris and his band Leviathan did a great job and played a killer version of the original version of "The Wonderous Boat Ride" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Chris is on the far right.




Mikie was busy on the sound board.


Chris


I don't even know what to say about Joseph in the bunny suit.


Patrick busy on the Xylophone


Ben


It was a fun evening and enough money was raised to cover Chris for his first couple of months over in Indonesia. He left in early November.

San Antonio Riverwalk and more

My friend Jessica decided that I better see some of San Antonio before I moved back to Arizona, so we headed out for an afternoon and evening of walking around the city. We started off at a marketplace that was just shutting down so we headed down to the famous Riverwalk.
On our walk over I noticed this sign and it seemed so weird for Goodwill to have a cafe, but they do here in San Antonio.


Can you guess why I took this photo?


Ahh...the river walk. Its a great place to walk around and then grab dinner at.


Then the Alamo


After the Alamo we headed over to Hemisfair Park which I had never seen before. There were a number of old buildings in the park and the Tower of the Americas which had some cool fountains around it.


On our way back to my car we ran across a cool restaurant and a small village area.



We both thought this was a funny sign. Not tacky at all to have on the front door!

Comal County Fair Night

I went to the fair on Sunday night with a friend and none of my photos turned out. I was actually thinking that I was shooting video while on the rides, but found out afterwards that I was just shooting stills. So here's my favorite from a night a the fair.

I think it tells the story well.

Comal County Parade & Fair Day!

Last Friday was Fair Day here in New Braunfels, TX. All of the schools had a half day and the city hosted the county parade.


It was my first time experiencing a parade in Texas and it was quite a site. For one thing, the parade was 2 hours long! The second thing that had no problem standing out was the number of tractors included in the parade. They would come in in packs like deer, only these Deere were making their way to the fairgrounds to show their stuff.

This was an interesting tank in the parade.


More tractors.

Speaking in Austin on Oct 15th

I'll be speaking at the Pictage User Group in Austin (more info) coming up on October 15th. I'll be guiding a discussion on photography websites. We'll talk over what has content helps sites and also what is best to leave off. And then we'll jump into some of the local photographers sites to discuss how we can make all of our sites better.


This group of photographers is welcoming and always open to others joining in.

We're starting earlier than normal so that we can all take headshot of each other, so bring your camera and come dressed for having photos taken.

Join us at 5pm Oct 15th at
Jennifer Nichols and Sarah Q's wedding studios
1601 East 5th St. #104
Austin, TX 78702

pizza and beverages will be provided