My Houston Portrait Route

[Steelsun]

I often get asked where would be a great place for portraits (seniors, engagements, etc) in Houston. I always respond "It depends on what you are looking for" (i.e. gritty, classic, urban, etc).

But most styles can be found along a route I use most often (and will probably use this weekend for my latest session):

I start either Downtown or Hermann Park and end up at whichever one I didn't start at. Let's Assume I am starting Downtown and head towards Hermann Park, here are some of my locations:

1) West Downtown area - so many great places for shots. My favorites:

• Sam Houston Park - old houses, shaded pond, bridge, old church, skyline, hill, gazebo, flowers, benches, fountain, etc - you can get everything here.
• Sesquicentennial Park - waterfall, arches, walls, etc - great place
• Tranquility Park - water sculptures, walls, skyline, etc
• Areas between those parks - the front of the library (vibrant colors, and nice building with awesome doorways), city hall reflecting pond, Hobby Arts Center sculptures, city sidewalks, etc.
• Hill on Allen Parkway across from the Police Memorial - awesome backdrop of downtown skyline.

2) Graffiti Wall - about halfway between the 2 points - near Crawford & Elgin - is an auto parts building covered with fine graffiti. These make awesome backdrops, especially with shallow DoFs, for portraits, and the area is relatively nice (not a scary ward). And across the street is a park with beautiful large trees, including some with large horizontal branches near/on the ground that beg for posing on.

3) St Paul's United Methodist Church - corner of Main and Binz/Bissonnet. Cool large stone church done in the european gothic style - awesome backdrop for wedding and engagement photos. Very friendly about external shots, but you need permission to shoot inside.

4) Mecom Fountains and nearby areas - The traffic circle where Main & Montrose meet is a common place to see engagement, wedding, and all kinds of portraits being taken - and just to the east across the street are other nice locations - a gazebo and a fountain with columns.

5) Hermann Park - The rose garden, lake, bridges, huge trees, etc make a prime nature area for classic shots. The Japanese Garden used to be great, but now they run off people with "Pro" looking cameras unless they have a permit (that is a pain to get).

There are a few other places along the route that are great to shoot, but I'll leave you to discover them yourselves.
And if you don't want to do all that driving, every place (aside from the Graffiti wall & Allen parkway skyline view) is a quick walk from the rail line.

Hope that can help some of you.

[gmarblestone]

great information ... thanks.

G

[photonewb]

Originally Posted by gmarblestone

great information ... thanks.

G

now if only I knew where half of those were:o

[12stones]

Thanks for putting this together, Brian. I've shot at a few of these, but I've been looking for a good grafiti wall.

[shaggyrockmer]

of those places which ones do you need a permit?

[my3peas]

5 * post!!

[Steelsun]

FYI: The wife and I went by the Graffiti Wall (& park) this afternoon:

The park had a couple doing engagement shots in it, did not recognize the photogs (thought for a second it was Paolo though).

The Graffiti wall has had some of the Graffiti replaced in the last 2 weeks, notably the north side (which was a plain red & white mayan design 2 weeks ago) is now a color explosion.

[Steelsun]

Originally Posted by shaggyrockmer

of those places which ones do you need a permit?

Technically, any city owned property where you shoot commercially requires a permit (i.e. Sam Houston Park, etc), but rules and interpretations are very conflicting.

I have found that if you are not in anyones way and not using setup equipment (i.e. lightstands, etc), you don't usually have a problem (except for the Japanese Gardens).

[Corrie]

This is really helpful.

[vipastyle]

I haven't been by the Allen Parkway hill yet but seen it in other pictures, but always wondered what lens is needed to get a great shot.

[hoolaking]

Hmmm...I'll have to check out some of these spots.

Thanks a lot for making this list - definitely helpful to a new photographer to the area!

[thebeginning]

excellent, thanks!


now I just need to make up a map :)

[lyttleviet]

awesome post!

[kayumangi]

You are a God send Brian thanks for the list.

I've been trying to come up with one of my own but haven't had the time to do so.

[khanhfat]

great post i know only 3 places that you mentioned . The rest i need to discover more :D