Austin Suggestions

[digitalpixels]

I am thinking of visiting Austin for a long weekend soon, and was curious if anyone on here had some photo suggestions. I haven't been to Austin in years, and this is definitely the first time with a camera.

I'm basically looking for good places to capture skylines, the capitol, UT, Lake Travis, etc, for some city life and possible night time photography.

Is the UT stadium open to the public? I'd like to get some shots of that, but not sure where a good view would be.

I also love urban texture, and abandoned stuff, so if there's any suggestion there as well, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

[AncientPC]

There are some of the more well known places like Mount Bonnell, Pennybacker Bridge, city skyline from Zilker. There's also Oasis / Lake Travis as well, and bluebonnets may still be in season down south.

UT campus is open to public, but I'm not sure about the stadium. I've walked through there a couple times but as a student and not lugging gear around. From my experience you must have permission to shoot within UT buildings.

There's also quite a bit of graffiti around Austin, I only know of them around the drag or S. Austin.

[digitalpixels]

Ok, thanks, that helps!

I wouldn't really be lugging gear around, just 1 camera. Probably just walk around & see what I get.

[phillip ino]

Hey, we should make this into a mini TPF Austin meetup! What weekend will you be visiting?

[AncientPC]

The Dragon Boat Festival is also going on this Saturday.

[herenaustin]

Good suggestions. The Oasis is great for sunsets over the lake - and you can have dinner too! Not the best best mexican food in the area - but can't beat the view.
You can get great skylines from many many places. If you want to be fairly close you can get some great shots right from Town lake. The lights at night are awesome.

There is always something going on in Austin - once you decide when you ae going to visit our fair city I recommend hitting the link below (click on the calendar tab). It shows all the events going on....

http://www.austinchronicle.com/

[digitalpixels]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely check The Oasis out. I'm definitely looking for sunset views.

I will probably end up going in late May, around Memorial Day.

[wattsbw2004]

Here is one of the Pennybacker bridge and another of the Oasis View. I've only been there once and although the food was not great but rather decent, the view was pretty sweet!

[kazak]

how do you get up there?

Originally Posted by wattsbw2004

Here is one of the Pennybacker bridge and another of the Oasis View. I've only been there once and although the food was not great but rather decent, the view was pretty sweet!

[wattsbw2004]

To the left of the bridge there is a foot path up a ridge to get to this spot. Most days you will see a car or two parked there on the side of the road and you can just follow the trail to the top.

[texfoto]

Originally Posted by kazak

how do you get up there?

You can go up the left or the right of the Bridge on the North side. This picture you are talking about was from the right side. There are cliffs on each side where you get the elevated view.

[kazak]

I'll have to go there sometime soon. Looks like a nice spot!

[ronzorelli]

Check out Bull Creek too. There are many different spots along the road to stop and check it out. It's north/east of the Pennybacker bridge on Loop 360 (the road you see in the picture of the bridge). Two of my favorite spots on the creek are near Spicewood Springs Rd & Old Spicewood Springs Rd., and also by Winding Ridge Blvd. If you Googlemap them you'll see they're easy to get to.

The State Capitol Building is always good for shots.

Anywhere along the hike and bike trail on LadyBird Lake is great. There's the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue down there.

The Austin Botanical Gardens is a nice place to shoot as well. It's right there near Zilker Park.

Barton Creek Greenbelt is cool too, near Mopac (Loop 1) and the Barton Creek Mall.

[thirdspacephoto]

I recently helped out with a shoot on E 6th street, at the new Rail stop. I love that area of town for it's "urban" setting. Great textures, great piles of things everywhere. A photo professor at ACC has his studio right on 6th and Navasota, sharing a parking lot with a carpentry business/wood mill. It's built in sets, everywhere.

[digitalpixels]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions - they really helped out & I can't wait to go back.

Here's a couple of my favorites, for the full gallery you can go here.