WTF happened?

Thanksgiving means…

…it’s Opening Day of Christmas Card Picture Season.  The joy of bribing kids with chocolate to get them to put on clothes “they hate,” then having them go outside and do things THEY NEVER DO, like hold hands and hug each other and smile and pose and stand close to each other and then all hell breaks loose when one of them can’t hold the nutcracker and then you let her hold it then he breaks down into a toothless crying fit while the toughest art directors in the history of photography your wife and mother-in-law stand over your shoulder making things worse get the kids in the position they want.

Ledge Stone

Sunset off the back deck at Ledge Stone, yesterday.

StarCite

Here’s a shot we did at the Fosforus studios yesterday for a project we’re working on for StarCite.

Sideline shot from last night in Oxford, Mississippi

Les Miles singlehandedly screwed up what could’ve been one of the best college football games in history.  Go back to the Big 12, Les.  If anyone will have you.

Jack Nicklaus and Carlton Wade

Most of you thought you’d see those two names right next to each other, high up on a yellow British leaderboard.  Gotta go, Jack’s jet arrives at ABIA any minute.  He’s flying me down to play an exhibition at Lost Tree.

Heiferdite found alive and well

If you’re wondering what happened to Heiferdite, the friendly, fit, female bovine creation of Goddess Fit there on Burnet Road, we’ve found her.  She’s still fit, fun and happy, but she now grazes the fertile pastures of Johnson Ranch near Bulverde, deep in the Texas Hill Country.

2010 Texas State Fair

Fosforus is in the planning stages of next year’s food craze for the Texas State Fair, and I believe we’ve got a finalist here with “wearable food,” for those of you who have had enough fried this-and-that.  Recipes vary, but this particular one here is a cheese-baked ciabatta roll, buttered on the inside for easy slip-on.  Special thanks to hand model Will Wade.

Johnson Ranch

Just returned from the initial shoot down at Johnson Ranch near Bulverde, a beautiful working cattle ranch (Herefords) that’s being developed into residential and retail by DH Investment Company, the folks behind Southern Trace, Cordillera Ranch and Ledgestone.

I suck at golf

But this guy does not.  In fact, Jhonattan Vegas will be one of the best golfers to ever play the game.  I’ve played with great golfers (Brian Bateman, Bill Rogers, Joe Ogilvie, Wes Short, Brian Gay, Omar Uresti, Bob Estes, Tony Jacklin, Steve Stricker and a bunch of great players you’ve never heard of), but I’m not sure any of them have or had the potential this guy has.  I know Coach Royal said something like, “potential just means you ain’t done it yet,” and he’s right.  JV here ain’t won the US Open or the Masters yet or a whole bunch of majors, but he will.  Why?  Because he has a rare combination of power, finesse, desire, intellect and attitude. He’s extremely likable.  He’s kind, funny, smart, authentic and plays golf on a completely different level than 99% of everyone else.  I’m not sure what he shot yesterday out at UT Golf Club, where we played in their 2009 Pro-Pro-Scratch-Scratch with UTGC’s Corey Lundberg and Longhorn golf team junior Bobby Hudson (who’s also a terrific player, genuinely kind man and UTGC course record holder), but JV played the game with confidence, power, talent and intellect.  And he played like a kid, having fun the whole time.  I could write a good-size book about the few hours I spent with this guy.  He finished 63rd on the Nationwide Tour money list, which means he’ll be back there playing the 2011 season, unless he makes it through Q-School.  He’s playing in China in a couple of weeks for his home country (Venezuela) in the World Cup. (This shot of him was taken four years ago at the 2005 Austin Men’s City Championship at Morris Williams GC.)

You suck at golf

You heard me.  So go see this handsome fella here.  Yep, that’s Chuck Cook, and he has joined the instruction team out at UT Golf Club.  I watched him give some tips to the boys there on how to use all that technology they have out there, and it was a sublime combination of technology, experience, hard work, intelligence and simplicity.  I wanted to put down the Nikon and get strapped in.  But I prefer to play the game instead of study the nuances of my golf swing.  At least right now.  The minute I make a bunch of putts and shoot 80 is when I head out Quinlan Park Road and hang on to Chuck’s pantsleg until he agrees to diagnose me.

Congratulations to The Shady Grove!

I never even knew this was a contest, but evidently, at The Shady Grove down there on Barton Springs Road, you can sit in (and tweet from) the first ever “Tweet Seat Champion Chair.” Evidently, Twitter’s GPS functionality can identify from exactly where the most tweets have been sent, and to think our own little Shady Grove is such a hotspot for the twitterazzi, having broadcast over 71 million tweets in 2009 alone.  Congratulations, Shady Grove, and thanks to Twitter’s media people for the use of this shot.

Thoughts on equipment

Professional photographers would never shoot with a D80, yet I did for about a year and made some significant revenue with it.  It’s now the camera I take on vacation and to kids’ parties and such.  I shot this one with my old D80, a cheap Tamron zoom lens attached, through a commercial airliner window, behind the wing, through the thrust of the engine.  So the next time the asshole at the camera store starts telling you about image quality, restrain the urge to thank him with your middle finger.

Name that golf course

From a consumer marketing standpoint, here’s a good reason to avoid aerial photography of golf courses, at least in the Hill Country.  I don’t care who you are.  You can’t tell me that this shot does anything for anyone (except maybe a developer or a homebuilder.)  I hate the word “standpoint.”

LUV

Southwest knew what it was doing when it selected its ticker symbol.  I’m sure it was because of its home base there in Dallas at Love Field, but I luv that company.  Strange that they seem to be able to operate so well, so safely, so happily and so profitably when others cannot.  People sure bitch about Southwest, and I think there was even a TV show based on travelers’ complaints, but if there’s a choice, I fly Southwest every time.  This here’s a shot of them bringing me back from Vegas, with money in my pocket and no hangover.  The three guys behind me who were celebrating a buddy’s return from Iraq?  Not sure if they had any money left, but they were not feeling so well.