Mountain City Secret

Modest in size, but big in luxury, this 2700 square foot home is tucked away in a small community near Buda, Texas. Some of the features and details in this house are high-end, such as transom openings above interior doors, limestone trim throughout (yes, all the white trim is actually machined limestone, not cast faux stone), stained concrete floors and lighting galore.

As with most properties, this home presented some challenges for a real estate photographer. The house was rented and vacated about a day proir to the shoot, and while the carpet was new and the interior paint fresh, the windows were still dirty and a fresh coat of wax on the concrete floors was highly reflective. The views out the windows were of no significance, so I exposed them to bright to to hide the dirty film. The rooms with reflective floors were saved until the sun dropped low enough that it didn't shine directly into the windows.

Outdoor Living in Steiner Ranch

When shooting real estate, a photographer doesn't have much control over weather conditions; you shoot when you are scheduled to shoot, and make the best of it. If you can't get a break from the rain, you return another day for the exterior shots. If you are lucky enough to catch a break, it can actually work in your favor since trees, plants, concrete, etc look better when it's wet.



I was lucky enough to get such a break for this house, and while the cloudy skies aren't particularly beautiful, they did solve a potentially big problem: the house faces due north and I was shooting mid-day, which would normally result in harsh shadows and a back-lit subject. In this case though, the clouds diffused the harsh light and eliminated shadows.

The owners of this 2 story home in Steiner Ranch were a very sweet older couple; the kind of home owners that this profession even more enjoyable. In addition to their pleasant, friendly personalities, they also had a wonderfully eclectic decorating style!

Driftwood Luxury

In small community just southwest of Austin, Texas, this tasteful home provides a great deal of luxury in a modest size. At just 3500 square feet, there is little wasted space, yet you'll find features such dome ceilings, timber beams and headers, and limestone interior walls.

This home proved to be something of a photographic challenge; the front of the house was bordered by a cliff, requiring a wide angle lens (which I don't like to use on exteriors) to capture the elevation, and preventing me from using my roof-rack rig to photograph from the top of my SUV. Other challenges were presented by dark wall and sloped ceiling colors upstairs, making some rooms difficult to light, and warm colors on the first floor that presented a tad of a white-balance challenge. These things resulted in a little extra time spent on the property, but the end results I think turned out pretty well.

Lajitas Adobe

As an architectural photographer, occasionally you get a real treat and an opportunity to photograph a truly unique home. This 600 square foot adobe house is off the grid in Lajitas, Texas and is self-sustaining. All construction materials, including doors and windows, were either taken from the site or made in nearby Ojinaga, Mexico. Electricity is generated via solar and wind and water is provided by two 1800 gallon rain catchment tanks. Perched on a cliff, the owner affords beautiful views of mountains to the east.

Hidden Glen

Offered at just below $395,000, This Texas style home in Round Rock, Texas appears unassuming from the street, but packs a bit more luxury than expected once you enter it's full height foyer.




There often some challenges in real estate and architectural photography. The two biggest challenges on this home were a very large powerline tower behind the house and the whole family being home at the time of the shoot, which slowed things down considerably. Since my policy is to not modify or remove any permanent features or issues in post-processing, my approach is to minimize the problem; for most front exterior elevation shots I prefer to move back and use a "normal" lens, however in this case it resulted in the powerline tower looming over the top of the house, so this time I chose to photograph it using a wider angle lens, allowing me to get closer to the house which blocked the tower from view, with only the powerlines to the left telling the story.