A couple of weeks ago, I spent a weekend camping with our youngest and his Cub Scout pack. Our camp location was a new one for us, Enchanted Springs Ranch near Boerne, Texas. Close to our camp site, the ranch's main attraction is a western-style town built, I suspect, as a movie set but now set up as a tourist attraction with various cowboy and western-related exhibits and an exotic animal ranch tour.

It was a great place both to camp and visit and we all had a fantastic weekend. I even managed to take a few pictures on Sunday so here's one of the "Silver Spur Saloon" which is now a front to one of the large rooms in which shows are put on.]]>

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a weekend camping with our youngest and his Cub Scout pack. Our camp location was a new one for us, Enchanted Springs Ranch near Boerne, Texas. Close to our camp site, the ranch's main attraction is a western-style town built, I suspect, as a movie set but now set up as a tourist attraction with various cowboy and western-related exhibits and an exotic animal ranch tour.

It was a great place both to camp and visit and we all had a fantastic weekend. I even managed to take a few pictures on Sunday so here's one of the "Silver Spur Saloon" which is now a front to one of the large rooms in which shows are put on.

I sat in the grandstand for the second V8 Supercars race last Saturday and noticed this mechanic from the Motorsport Holdings team resting against the barrier towards the end of the race. I suspect his work was over for the race because both his team’s cars had already completed their mandatory pit stop.

The Austin races were reasonably short – 27 laps or 100 miles each – and each car has to make at least one visit to the pits for a tire change during this period. Oddly enough, it seems that there are particular laps that are more popular for the stop than others so the pit lane became rather crowded about half way through the race.

While watching some practice stops on Friday evening, I couldn’t see who was responsible for jacking the car up as the wheels were changed. On closer inspection, I noticed that the cars themselves included integrated pneumatic or hydraulic jacking systems. When the car stops, the driver engages the jack which lifts the car about 6 inches off the ground giving the pit crew the clearance they need to replace the wheels.

The livery on the V8 Supercars was great. Here's a detail of one of the SP Tools Racing Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG cars seen during the pit lane walk on Friday, May 17th.]]>

The livery on the V8 Supercars was great. Here's a detail of one of the SP Tools Racing Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG cars seen during the pit lane walk on Friday, May 17th.

The large stars were back at Circuit of the Americas last weekend so this shot just had to be taken. For F1 and, as far as I can remember, MotoGP, these were painted out for some reason. Rumours suggest that Bernie Ecclestone, F1 supremo, was worried that a blatantly nationalistic display such as this wouldn't impress the international sponsors of his worldwide sport but, regardless of the reason, the trackside art was all stripes during my previous visits.

In this shot, Jamie Whincup of Red Bull Australia is seen driving towards turn 19 during the first of four "Austin 400" V8 Supercars races held at the track last weekend.]]>

The large stars were back at Circuit of the Americas last weekend so this shot just had to be taken. For F1 and, as far as I can remember, MotoGP, these were painted out for some reason. Rumours suggest that Bernie Ecclestone, F1 supremo, was worried that a blatantly nationalistic display such as this wouldn't impress the international sponsors of his worldwide sport but, regardless of the reason, the trackside art was all stripes during my previous visits.

In this shot, Jamie Whincup of Red Bull Australia is seen driving towards turn 19 during the first of four "Austin 400" V8 Supercars races held at the track last weekend.

I spent a fabulous day out at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, taking pictures at the inaugural "Austin 400" V8 Supercars race. Although this racing series is practically unheard of in the US, it's Australia's equivalent to NASCAR and is enormously popular down under.

In this shot, we see Jamie Whincup of Red Bull Australia driving his Holden Commodore towards victory in the first of 4 100 mile races. Whincup went on to win 3 of the 4 championship races at the event.]]>

I spent a fabulous day out at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, taking pictures at the inaugural "Austin 400" V8 Supercars race. Although this racing series is practically unheard of in the US, it's Australia's equivalent to NASCAR and is enormously popular down under.

In this shot, we see Jamie Whincup of Red Bull Australia driving his Holden Commodore towards victory in the first of 4 100 mile races. Whincup went on to win 3 of the 4 championship races at the event.

I'm still working on editing the 2000 or so frames I shot yesterday at the V8 Supercars race at Circuit of the Americas so, until I have some pictures ready to go from that race, here's another from the last event I attended at the track - MotoGP.

This shot shows Bradley Smith of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riding through the S curves at the track.]]>

I'm still working on editing the 2000 or so frames I shot yesterday at the V8 Supercars race at Circuit of the Americas so, until I have some pictures ready to go from that race, here's another from the last event I attended at the track - MotoGP.

This shot shows Bradley Smith of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riding through the S curves at the track.

Another portrait of Larin and Jason from last Saturday's engagement shoot at Dunvegan Keep.]]>

Another portrait of Larin and Jason from last Saturday's engagement shoot at Dunvegan Keep.

Time for another racing picture, I think, given that the Aussie V8 Supercars are in town this weekend. This is one of my favourites from MotoGP weekend at Circuit of the Americas back in early March. The rider here is Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati.]]>

Time for another racing picture, I think, given that the Aussie V8 Supercars are in town this weekend. This is one of my favourites from MotoGP weekend at Circuit of the Americas back in early March. The rider here is Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati.

Last Saturday morning, our photowalking group decided to try something different. Chris brought a bunch of fancy lights, Julie brought her friends Larin and Jason who had recently got engaged, and we all shot portraits.

Our location (not that it really mattered for this particular shot) was Dunvegan Keep, a fascinating wedding venue tucked away in a suburban neighbourhood of south Austin. The owner has spent the last 20 years transforming his large back yard into a fantasy land containing medieval-looking structures, follies and other wonderful photo backdrops. Add to this a large swimming pool, a wedding chapel and an amazing little suite with stained glass and frescoes and you have a superb location for a very memorable shoot.

This picture was taken inside the gazebo seen on the Dunvegan Keep web site. It was a bit busy, so I chose to use a long lens and grab some tightly-cropped shots. I wasn't using Chris' mega-lights here, just a single off-camera SB900 bounced off a Rogue Flashbender acting as fill.]]>

Last Saturday morning, our photowalking group decided to try something different. Chris brought a bunch of fancy lights, Julie brought her friends Larin and Jason who had recently got engaged, and we all shot portraits.

Our location (not that it really mattered for this particular shot) was Dunvegan Keep, a fascinating wedding venue tucked away in a suburban neighbourhood of south Austin. The owner has spent the last 20 years transforming his large back yard into a fantasy land containing medieval-looking structures, follies and other wonderful photo backdrops. Add to this a large swimming pool, a wedding chapel and an amazing little suite with stained glass and frescoes and you have a superb location for a very memorable shoot.

This picture was taken inside the gazebo seen on the Dunvegan Keep web site. It was a bit busy, so I chose to use a long lens and grab some tightly-cropped shots. I wasn't using Chris' mega-lights here, just a single off-camera SB900 bounced off a Rogue Flashbender acting as fill.