LOCALE: Zilker Park Botanical Gardens

[Abel]

Zilker Park Botanical Gardens
2220 Barton Springs Rd
Austin, Tx 78746
http://www.zilkergarden.org/

more info coming soon

[vibhav]

Here is one from the zilker park botanical gardens...

[mrs.wildman]

FYI - they charge $50 to do shoots out there - as in "people shoots" like bridals/families/etc.

Such a bummer.

[CincoJoe]

What if you just shooting your own family but happen to have professional equipment? Still $50?

[mrs.wildman]

You might be able to get away with that, however friends have told me that staff has walked up to them shooting a couple and asked them to pay and register as a photog. Obviously something like bridal portraits would be pretty obvious, but you could get away with shooting some families.

[murdog]

Does the $50 fee only apply to the Botanical Garden?

I have a couple who might want to shoot in another area of Zilker Park but not if there is a fee.

[mrs.wildman]

As far as I know, yes. Just for the botanical gardens. You might also want to check before going to shoot at Umlauf sculpture gardens to see if they have a fee there, but the rest of the park should be free to shoot at. (based on what i know)

[digidragon]

I went a couple of weekends ago. The early spring flowers were blooming. It was beautiful.

[Driver]

I live about 3 blocks from Zilker. The Zilker Nature Preserve is between me and The Gardens. It seems everything about the new policy hinges on "Professional". I don't see how this would affect anyone with their kids or wife in tow just firing off personal shots. Tell em to take a hike no matter how much gear you have. Just because one drives a Z06 Vette or Enzo doesn't make them a Race Car Driver. Even if you are a "Pro", if your still doing personal stuff, honing your craft, and your not doing a paid shoot then I'd tell em to take a hike.

[tx20d]

I was just there this weekend with my wife and daughter. I had the 20D, tripod and backpack full of gear and no one said anything to my. I'm with Driver on the "pro" thing. I'm no where near pro and don't do paid shoots, so I'm not registering as a photog.

[joedanger11]

great pic Kyle! I went about a week ago and it so hot, I left after about 20 minutes. I wasn't too impressed since I didn't see much of a garden.

I may go back again.

[Carebear73usa]

I went last year to shoot some pictures for my cousin. I just had my Kodak Z612 and they asked me to register and pay a fee. I told them I was just shooting pictures of my cousin. The guy followed me around the park for the next few hours spying on me. My cousin had come from out of state and fell in love with the park so she wanted some pics to show at home. I felt very uncomfortable being followed.

[Casper]

I was there last weekend, hot but plenty of good photo ops. The paid staff were friendly and answered my questions. The rules are posted and they mostly stressed no tripods in the plant beds.

The volunteer (?) staff didn't have a clue about the photography rules and gave answers all over the place. Read the rules and make sure of who you ask.

The Austin parks really have it going on, it was worth the trip.

Steve

[stephges]

Here's the "Photographer Guidelines & Required Registration" info on their website:

http://www.zilkergarden.org/gardens/...l#photographer

BTW, I went a few weeks ago with my husband and dog. I mostly shot the flowers but did take a couple of pictures of the DH and dog together. Didn't have any problems.

[richardsfault]

Is the fee payable in advance and only good for a certain day?

Can it be used on a different day if the shoot has to be cancelled due to weather, unreliable model, day job issues, etc.?

Such fees have a very chilling effect on new talent that may appear to be professional but is actually working TFCD (trade), and are not even certain the shoot will happen until the model shows up.