Missouri, Miami, Seattle, Fredericksburg, Austin

Sarah takes the wheel as Mitch looks over the ticket she just got on the way to Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg, Texas....63mph in a 50. Do you know why I pulled you over? (photos by Austin Photographer Patrick Meredith www.meredith-photo.com )

I think I've spent more time in a car this last week than I have the entire year...........Some photos from our trip to Missouri/Oklahoma and to Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg, Texas.


Mitch looks over the park from some giant boulders we climbed up on Enchanted Rock.

Mitch jumps from one boulder to the next. Nothing like a big gap and a 30 foot drop...

We scrambled up the side of some steep rocks to get to the highest point on a set of rocks only to get to the top and see people using ropes to climb up. Looks like so much fun.

We went into the 'cave' at Enchanted Rock and it wasn't that exciting. There was some cool light shafts that could yield some interesting shots if you were there at the right time...

Hank loves the hell out of his Christmas present. Brazos got one as well...

Christmas lights in Johnson City, Texas

If only I was a giant...squish!

A photo from my seat on the plane on the return flight from Seattle to Denver a couple weeks ago. Mt. Rainer out there....So nice. I put my website address in there because I posted this photo on my Flickr account, where my photos always get stolen. I took everything off that people may want to steal...I think anyhow..

Naked man with sword pleads not guilty!

So I was cruising the Statesman online before checking the weather and saw THIS STORY that I photographed while working at the Williamson County Sun.
The photos were never published and the editor didn't think the story warranted any photo coverage.

Here is one photo that I took from the incident and HERE is where I blogged about it in August.

David Thistle lays face down covered by his shirt after being apprehended by Williamson County Sheriffs after he stripped naked and wielded a sword inside the county courthouse in January.

Back in Austin!

Amelia and I just got back from Washington last night after spending a few days up there with her family. I can't wait to go back and photograph the mountains...I had to hold my breath and photograph them from a moving car...but that is pretty easy when her family lives right underneath them...more to come
As a matter of fact, one of her brothers, Brady, lives so close them that I shot this with a Nikon 85mm @ f4 in monochrome mode while driving to his house. The rain gave way to some fog, covering most of the hills...Everyone there says it is an everyday experience and thought it was funny I was so interested in it. Coming from Austin, it is a 180 degree change. Driving in last night all I kept thinking was, "Man, this town is boring..." ha!

VOLLEYBALL

I haven't shot anything but sports in some time now. I need to get out and shoot something else....I had another car shoot scheduled with some fellow Austin shooters, but I had to cancel because of an assignment conflict. You can see some photos a fellow Strobist_Austin shooter got HERE. And speak of the devil....Just as I was typing this, I got two non-sports assignments for tomorrow!

Caldwell's Kim Crnkovic (#17) goes for the kill as teammate Callee Norman gets set during the Hornets 3A semifinal loss to Lucas Lovejoy on Friday in San Marcos.

I've shot more volleyball than I care to talk about the last couple of days. I've only shot four games these last three days, but that is four times as many as I have ever shot. You can see more on my SportsShooter site

I also shot my first game for the University of Texas last night. It was my second Longhorn volleyball game and it was a lot better than my first. You can see images from that on my SS site as well.

All-American outside hitter Juliann Faucette reacts after the #4 Texas Longhorns closed their second game over Kansas on Saturday.

More to come

High School football...

It has been a somewhat busy time for myself taking photos here in Austin. I've got a couple projects underway and have been shooting football regularly for a couple publications here in central Texas.
As it happens to go, I didn't have an assignment to shoot Austin High's bi-district playoff game on Saturday, but I really wanted to see if the kids could keep it together for the win over Reagen at House Park.


After halftime, I climbed to the top of the press box to shoot the action from above. The sun was pretty great towards the end of the game, casting some long shadows around. It was pretty tough getting to the top of the box...The stadium was built in 1938 and I don't think the ladder has been changed since then either.

The only problem with shooting from above was the fact that I couldn't always get the face in the shot. This could have been cool....An 'almost'

Austin High ended up losing the game 20-24. It has to be tough to walk off the field for the last time as a senior, knowing you won't be playing again next season...Jay Janner, who works for the Austin American Statesman, shot some good photos of the kids outside of the locker room after I took this...Check out his blog titled "City Limits" in the upper right corner...

I wish all the games I shot were in the daylight like the ones above, but I've been shooting Thursday and Friday nights as well. Here are a few photos that I enjoyed from the last few games...

Llano vs. Bowie - Just out of reach

Liberty Hill vs. Westlake - Not enough

Christopher Koepnick, a sophmore at Bowie High School, prepares the flags as other members of the Bowie AFJ ROTC ready themselves before the start of the Bowie Bulldogs class 5A bi-district playoff against San Antonio Madison.

Bowie vs. Llano - Season end

Butter fingers

Celebration

Cheerabration

And check this out. The picture isn't great or worth printing...But what is worth noting is that I was in the opposite endzone shooting with a Nikon D300 with a Nikon 300mm 2.8 when I shot this. That is over 120 yards away...How about that for some resolution? I'm still amazed by this new technology nearly every time I pick up this camera.
And I'm over 50,000 shutter clicks on this D300. I got it 372 days ago! That is roughly 130 frames a day!

New photos

I shot the Texas vs. Baylor game here in Austin on Saturday. See more of the photos at www.sportsshooter.com/meredith

ninth street jam photos

Let me preface this by saying that I didn't really edit these photos except cropping some... Pretty much straight from camera. woooo. In no particular order....

Amelia put my dog in a pumpkin suit.