Ghostly Caldwell Pier After Dark

We decided to go out around 2Am and see if we could get the milkyway as it came up over the horizon so while waiting we decided to take a photo under the Caldwell Pier in Port A to see what we would get. We have taken this pier many times but never this long after dark. At first I thought the lights on the pier would not be good but afterwards I thought the lights made the photo more interesting as it gave the pier this errie look to the waters below. We thought the image turned out pretty nice with the this sort of ghostly look to the waters and the pier with it diminishing perspective gave it cool coastal landscape. You can see the ripple of the sand under the wave along the beach as the tide came in which just added another cool layer to the image. We love to come to Port Aransas and on this trip we were visiting with our friends from Nashville who have a beach house, but we never been to beach in the middle of the night. We sat around with our friends having some wine and once they said they were going to bed then we went out to take some photos. Always have a good time here rather we take photos or not. We expected the beach to be empty at this hour, but we were surprise to find dozen of people walking in the surf and many in the waters as you could see their flash light shinning into the waters of the gulf. I don’t know what they were doing fishing, looking for shells whatever by three most were gone. Another great night in Port A Texas.

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Under The Pier After Dark : Prints Available

We capture this image of the Caldwell Pier after Dark in Port A Texas with a unique look at night.  We have this texas coastal image that we took during the day and at sun rise so we thought why not try it after dark.  So around 2pm we went out to see what we could photograph and the pier had lights so we decided to try a shot here.  You can see where the lights of the pier cast this ghostly look over the waters below.  We had just enough light to see the surf flow over the ripple of sand on the beach as high tide came in with a long exposure, which gave a nice effect we thought. Hope you like our Texas pier beach scene at night.

Sunset Over Lake Travis

Check out our latest capture of a Lake Travis sunset. This is another capture of this great sunset over Lake Travis. Today we had a full lake and nice sky right before the sunset and gave us this beautiful sky. The Lake was built as a reserve on the Colorado river which holds excess waters from flash floods. Lake Travis is the largest storage of water in the Highland Lakes. The reserve was built in 1942 after the construction of Mansfield dam near Austin by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). The lake goes from Austin upstream for 65 miles along the Colorado river. Lake Travis was not designed for recreation use but it is one of the most populars places to boat, swim, fish, picnicking, suba diving along with many other activities because of it clear waters. This area of Lake Travis is also a scenic location overlooking the big bowl of the lake. Tourist and locals come here to try and capture one of the spectacular sunsets. This area is located at the foothills of the Texas Hill Country near Austin and it is a great place to capture a piece of the Texas scenic landscape anytime of the year. This image looks wonderful on canvas or metal prints click below to see pricing.

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Lake Travis Sunset2 : Prints Available

Lake Travis Sunset2 – Lake Travis sunset in the Texas Hill Country can be an awesome sight as the sun sets in the west and reflects back the oranges glow of the sky in the water. This image was taken a short time after the first similar one as the sunset was more intense. This lake is the most popular spot for people from Austin and other Texas cities to visit every summer. This lake is about 20 minutes from Austin and is a very popular location to come and watch the sunset, boating, swimming or whatever water activities you like. The water quality here is pretty good so in many places you have good visibility for snorkeling or diving. 

Oak Alley Plantation sunrise

Last fall we visited the historic Oak Alley Plantation and captured this amazing sunrise along the avenue of oak trees lined along a path to the mansion. Oak Alley Plantation is a historic site that is on the west bank of the Mississipp River in the community of Valcherie, Louisisana. The most unique thing about this destination or these 300 year old oak trees which create this canopy over the path from the mansion to the river. We stayed at the plantation in a 100 year old free slave cottage that was on the site and had the run of the place after hours. Being on site made it possible to capture the sunrise image as the sun poke through the trees with the early morning light and a thin vale of fog which was floating in the air added to the photo. This mansion was built in the 1839 on a sugar cane plantation. These lovely 300 year old live oaks trees which were here prior to plantations existence seem to be almost been made for this path.

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Sunrise at Oak Alley : Prints Available

This is the view of sunrise at Oak Alley plantation in Louisiana. We loved the light as it came through this canopy of branches to frame the path to the house. This mansion was built in the 1839 on a sugar cane plantation. These lovely 300 year old live oaks trees which were here prior to plantations existence seem to be almost made for this path. 

Stars over McDonald Observatory

We capture the stars over the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis Mountains in west Texas from a distance away. The stars began to come out over the observatory and we used our largest lens to capture it from a good distance away. We capture a sun set over the Davis mountains earlier and felt like a long wait for the night sky to finally get dark enough but we were finally rewarded with these wonderful stars over the McDonald Observatory in the distance. The McDonald Observatory is located near Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, with additional facilities on Mount Fowlkes, approximately 1.3 kilometers (0.81 mi) to the northeast.[1] The observatory is part of the University of Texas at Austin. It is an organized research unit of the College of Natural Sciences. were happy were were able to capture this close up image of the Otto Struve Telescope on top of The summit of Mt. Locke, dedicated in 1939. It was the first large telescope built at the observatory and next to it is the The Harlan J. Smith Telescope that was completed in 1968.

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Stars Over Telescope Dome : Prints Available

We capture this last shot of the astronomical observatoryTelescope Dome as the the night stars were just coming out at McDonald Observatory in the Davis mountains in far west Texas. This area is considered to be one of the darkest skies in Texas so a perfect place to look at the stars.  This image may print slightly darker than seen here.

McDonald Observatory Sunset 2

Another great sunset image with the McDonald Observatory and the Davis Mountains in west Texas in view. The high and dry peaks of the Davis Mountains make for some of the darkest and clearest night skies in the region and provide excellent conditions for astronomical studies but also have some nice sunsets and sunrise. We capture this sunset while we were waiting for the stars to appear. It seem like the sky was never going to get dark but once it did it was very dark. The McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near the community of Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The observatory is managed by the University of Texas. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, with additional facilities on Mount Fowlkes, about 8 miles away. . Included in this image is a close up of the Otto Struve Telescope on top of the summit of Mt. Locke, dedicated in 1939. It was the first large telescope built at the observatory and next to it is the The Harlan J. Smith Telescope that was completed in 1968. Today at the McDonald Observatory is reasearch into a wide variety of topics, including planetary systems, stars and stellar spectroscopy, astronomy and many other topics.

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McDonald Observatory Sunset Glow : Prints Available

McDonald Observatory at sunset as the clouds light up with these colorful pinks and oranges over the tops of the two observatory in the skies over the Davis Mountains.

Sunset Over McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis Mountains

Sunset Over McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis Mountains – Sunset at the McDonald Observatory in the Fort Davis Mountains in west Texas. While we were waiting for the stars to appear we captured this colorful sunset over the mountains and the two observatory telescopes. In the image is the Otto Struve Telescope on top of The summit of Mt. Locke, dedicated in 1939. It was the first large telescope built at the observatory and next to it is the The Harlan J. Smith Telescope that was completed in 1968. This image shows the Davis Mountains with two of the the McDonald observatory as the sun was setting over the mountains near Fort Davis. The observatory is run by UT and is located in one of the darkest area of Texas. This observatory is used for astronomical research of the planets and stars and stellar along with other interest.

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McDonald Observatory Sunset : Prints Available

 McDonald Observatory Sunset –  We captured this wonderful sunset image of the McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. We loved this with the Davis Mountains sunset with two of the McDonald observatory sitting on top of Mount Locke just after sunsets. The dark skies in this area is why the McDonald Observatory is located here and on top of this mountain you have two telescope domes the Otto Struve and the Harlan J. Smith in view. This area of west Texas in the Davis mountains is known for having some of the darkest skies around it why it was located here and is run by UT. This observatory is used for astronomical research of the planets and stars and stellar along with other interest.  Down below they host regular star parties using smaller telescopes but be sure to make reservation as it is on only on certain days and it may be limited in how many people are allowed.  

McDonald Observatory Sunset 2

Bluebonnet Sunrise on the River

Bluebonnet Sunrise on the River – We capture this image early one morning at sunrise as the sun rose along the Colorado river with this field of Texas blue bonnets. The Texas bluebonnet or also called the Lupinus Texensis were wonderful this morning. I am not a morning person but this morning we were up at 5am and drove an hour to this special spot to capture this field of bluebonnets at sunrise along the river. After trying 3 days in a row the sky finally looked like it was going to be the one so we dashed out to this morning hoping to capture the image at dark thirty in the morning and got there just as the sky was starting to lighten up. We quickly got setup and waited for the sun to pop up over the hill side. The buebonnet or lupine are distinct to this area and is also the Texas state flower. High quality prints are available just click on the image to go the print order page. http://www.beecreekphoto.com/blog/bluebonnets-and-texas-longhorns/

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Golden Blue Bonnet Sunrise : Prints Available

Golden Blue Bonnet Sunrise – Captured this at sunrise as the sun came up it cast this golden glow over the clouds and river with just a hint of light on the bluebonnets.  We thought it made a nice texas landscape image of this great field of blueblonnet at the lake in the texas hill country. Springtime in Texas is my favorite time because of the wildflowers we can all thank Lady Bird for help in making spring special every year.

Heavenly Bluebonnet Sunset

Heavenly Bluebonnet Sunset – We pulled this Texas bluebonnet image from the archive where we captured an amazing sunset that day we only have our memories of this place as it gone for good now. This field was full of bluebonnets as far as you could see is gone for ever, it is now the new site of the PEC corporate office just north of Marble Falls that is next to the famous bluebonnet farm house that every one has images of. However a photo of bluebonnets is always a bluebonnets image which is always a good day. In Texas we love our bluebonnets here.

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Heavenly Bluebonnet Sunset : Prints Available

Heavenly Bluebonnet Sunset – Just came across this image of the field of bluebonnets we took several years ago next to the old farm house in Marble Falls. Unfortunately this field is gone forever now as they are building the New PEC office there. I had not put this out here but since it the last memory of this bluebonnet landscape next to the old farm house it deserve to be seen. Love the sky which was a swirl of clouds at sunset and the sky picked up the reds and pinks colors and cast a nice glow over this bluebonnet landscape as the sun set.  

Big Bend National Park Bluebonnets

In this image in Big Bend National Park and state park out in west Texas and we found a few Bluebonnets patches along the side of the road. There were not many and appeared to be in clumps but what we did notice is they were taller than any other lupine we had ever seen before in Texas. The big bend bluebonnets grow to be 3-4 ft high and are a much deeper blue than other lupine wildflowers. In 1901 the Texas legislature made the bluebonnet the Texas State flower. However, in 1971 the Texas legislature made all Texas lupines as the state flower which include the Big Bend variety. The bluebonnet in Big Bend National Park and Big Bend State Park are a different variety of flowers from the rest of texas wildflowers the are taller and my drought toleriant and have a deeper blue color. http://www.beecreekphoto.com/blog/texas-bluebonnet-sunrise/

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Bluebonnets in Big Bend : Prints Available

Bluebonnets are all along the roadside in Big Bend National Park. These are some of the tallest and deep blue bluebonnets. They are some sort of hybrid wildflowers that will only grow on in this desert area.

http://www.beecreekphoto.com/blog/texas-bluebonnet-sunrise/

Bluebonnets and Texas longhorns

Here is one of our favs from past images with longhorns family in the bluebonnets. This image we captured with 2 adults and one baby longhorn who was just too cute with its small horns starting to grow. The bluebonnets were good this year and you could find them everywhere even on this cattle ranch in the Texas Hill Country. The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns which can grow very long especially in steers and cows. They are descendants of the first cattle in the New World, brought by Christopher Columbus and the Spanish colonists, and have a high drought-stress tolerance. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring, and can be any color or mix of colors, but dark red and white color mixes are the most dominant.

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Texas Longhorns and Bluebonnets : Prints Available

Texas Longhorns and Bluebonnets – We capture this image with this family of Texas Longhorn and her calf plus friend who stopped to pose for this picture in the bluebonnets. The mother is on the right and when we came the first time she took her calf as far away as possible from us. The second visit I guess did it. We loved all the different version of horns and this calf with his little horns were just too adorable in this field of bluebonnets.