Hill Country - Willow City Loop

redleash

I took a drive on Willow City Loop yesterday--I'd never even heard of it before this week but I'm glad I found it! It's a 13-mile drive up in the hills about 90 miles north of San Antonio. The views were incredible. Here's a sample.

black mamba

That's a gorgeous shot, Lauren. That's exactly what I had in mind when I encouraged you to include in your work some of the wonderful elevation changes that the Hill Country has. I'm enjoying this.

Tom

redleash

Tom - I thought about your suggestion the whole time I was making that drive. I kept telling myself, "that's what he meant!" when I saw different views of the hills. I also looked for smaller landscapes like you suggested, ones that typify the Hill Country. Unfortunately, all of the land on that drive is private and most of it is posted. I did stop numerous times to get some shots but wasn't able to make a lot of the shots that would have been truly beautiful or interesting. I've heard that 95% of Texas is privately owned, so that makes it hard for landscape photographers. Fortunately, we have some great parks to visit!

Thanks for your encouragement always!

Scott_Quier

redleash wrote:

Tom - I thought about your suggestion the whole time I was making that drive. I kept telling myself, "that's what he meant!" when I saw different views of the hills. I also looked for smaller landscapes like you suggested, ones that typify the Hill Country. Unfortunately, all of the land on that drive is private and most of it is posted. I did stop numerous times to get some shots but wasn't able to make a lot of the shots that would have been truly beautiful or interesting. I've heard that 95% of Texas is privately owned, so that makes it hard for landscape photographers. Fortunately, we have some great parks to visit!

Thanks for your encouragement always!

Two thoughts ....

I'm wondering if that beautiful color shot would look better in B&W - there's so much texture there it might be quite wonderful.

As for permission to enter property. Is there any hope of locating the owner(s) of the property and asking permission to photograph? Might need to sign a waiver or something, but the worst that can happen is they deny you permission. Just a thought.

redleash

Scott - I hadn't thought about B&W for this one; I'll try it and post later. As for seeking permission, it is definitely possible--sometimes. Lots of driveways are really dirt roads that lead a long way to the house, and many of those are also gated or chained. So, it's sometimes not so easy to get access to the owner to ask permission. On this particular drive, there was also a sign that said "no stopping for 13 miles," or words to that effect. I even overheard someone comment about my stopping to get a shot, as they rode past on a bike. On this day, I found myself in the midst of a group of cyclists doing "Texas Hell Week" and they stopped a lot to take shots also. We kept passing each other so often that I felt like part of the group.