Engage: Estella and Carlos!

Estella and Carlos were quiet and seemed shy, but had ideas and locations that were fabulously fun. They are the first couple willing to get into the fountain and I've asked quite a few. It was great fun and Carlos proved that his bare feet could take a lot more pain than mine by standing on the little rocks in the fountain and holding Estella. My feet can't take that kind of pain anymore anymore! This was a killer shoot and it ran into the evening making the images a little more creative. Have to think a little harder when the big ball of fire dips into the sea. YA!

Shot in the dark: Victoria Wolff!

One of my recent studio shoots was for an amazing cellist who has just finished her PhD at UT and is building a website and was in need of photographs to complete it. Soon you'll be able to find a world class cello instructor at www.victoriawolff.com. Don't wait! Go now!

Two Rings Bind Them: Stormy and Jeremy in New Braunfels!

Where do I start? So many things were fun at Stormy and Jeremy's wedding. This event took place at the old LRCA electric factory in New Braunfels which is an amazing place. It was converted into apartments with a great event center near the front with a 70 foot ceiling, multiple levels and an old industrial crane for lifting really heavy things that dangled a giant hook over the ceremony. It was wild. Instead of the traditional sit down dinner at most weddings, burritos from Freebirds and allowed most of the guests to stand and continue socializing. This is one of those weddings where the posed formals were more fun to shoot than any other part of the wedding and that's what makes up most of the rest of this blog. When the reception drew to a close the wedding party walked across the river to Wurstfest, a yearly New Braunfels tradition involving German sausage and beer. It seemed to be more about the beer and less about the sausage, but what does it matter to me since I don't drink beer and don't eat sausage. I actually don't recall even seeing sausage at all. I was there for a few more pictures with Stormy and Jeremy on the ferris wheel to finish out the evening. It was a great deal of fun!

Two Rings Bind Them: Shelley and Robert at Flat Creek Winery!

Shelley and Robert had their beautiful wedding at Flat Creek Winery out near Marble Falls. The winery sat on a hill somewhere so far away from anything that even the city lights were far off in the distance. After the ceremony was a grand feast and then something I'd never seen before: a thing called a wedding march. I've been shooting weddings for quite some time now and have never seen this before, but considering that they played very German music during this march around the outside of the reception hall, I can only assume that it might be a German thing. Maybe? After the march, the guests danced and had a great time!

Who put the alphabet in alphabetical order?

Our son Edmond is a crazy reader. He spends a good deal of his day reading books aimed at kids a whole lot older than he is. How many of you read C.S. Lewis at 7 years old. I'm sure he's going to wipe out The Abolition Of Man or War and Peace any day now.

Engage: Carrie and Nick!

Carrie and Nick were waiting in the shade of a tree in front of the Capital Building. I figured they were the couple I was going to shoot though I had never seen either of them before. I tried to think of a really cool way of introducing myself other than the traditional, "Hi I'm Travis. Are you blahdeblah?" but couldn't think of anything really creative to say. I've found I'm more an action kind of a guy rather than a real talker. These two were fabulous and fun and the pictures turned out great.

I am not a cake maker. Buy a cake from someone else!

My son Edmond and I participated in the Cub Scouts 'Lad and Dad Bake-off' where we created this bizarre contraption of culinary confusion. The deal was that we got no help from Mom which was a dangerous road to travel. My hat now goes off to the cake makers who provide elegant, beautiful memorable wedding cakes that I see at so many of my weddings. I had always figured that anyone could do it and it was only flour, sugar and butter. How wrong I was. It took us three hours to create this baked confection that nightmares are made of and ours came out of a box and was not from scratch. All in all , we actually did a pretty good job for our first try. The Cub Scouts auction off the cakes as a fundraiser every year. I suppose we'll have to plan ahead next year and learn a little more about how to make cakes. We'll have to go to Simon Lee and get some tips so we can have a killer cake next year.

Engage! Sara and Chris!

Sara and Chris were fun! We shot at the Capital, then Mount Bonnell where they got engaged, the 360 bridge and then back downtown and we happened upon a neon house that just screamed SHOOT ME! It was such a beautiful day!

Senior: Zak!

Zak was tired. He had been out until midnight playing in a football game the night before and had gotten up at 6 a.m. for his SATs the following morning. He pulled it off without a hitch though. He pushed through with a sleep deprived relaxed look for half of the shoot then shaved in his car and dressed with a little more sophistication to have a nice well rounded shoot covering all the looks.

Engage: Lauren and Justin!

These two were cheerleaders getting married in Mexico next June and they were amazing! Blue eyes all around and bright and shining despite the fact that Justin worked at night and was quite out of his element at 9 a.m. in the morning. So am I to be honest, but there is something fresh and new about morning that just makes their pictures special.