Al Braden Photographer

Photos, pictures, images, of vibrant and creative Austin Texas. Austin Texas is happening! That's the main sense of the pulse of this town: Austin City Limits Music Festival, South By Southwest Music Festival, night life and lights, every kind of restaurant and lots of activity on the water at Town Lake now known as Lake Lady Bird after local benefactor, Lady Bird Johnson, wife of the former President Lyndon Johnson.

Photos, pictures and images of Austin's vibrant City Hall - Austin's other capitol, the Austin City Hall was designed by world class architect Antoine Pedrock. It is an amazing dance of limestone, copper and glass with hardly a right angle to be found. Careful design concepts and planning earned the building a LEED Gold Medal in environmental conservation. The city hall, completed in 2004, provides a civic enter in keeping with the energy of Austin, Texas.

Austin's dramatic skyline, Colorado River and bridges make an ideal landscape for Mavic 2 Pro photography. This gallery features panoramas and tiny planet views of the Austin skyline.

Barton Springs is the heart of Austin - as the center for gathering, swimming and environmental activism. Here are aerial photos of Barton Springs.

Massive Tesla Gigafactory is operating in East Austin starting with production of the Model Y electric car - followed soon by the Tesla Cybertruck and over the road Tesla Semi. The plant is the second largest building in the world by volume - second only to Boeing's Everett, Washington 747 assembly building. It is 1,166 meters long - nearly 3/4 mile or about 15 city blocks - with 10 million square feet of floor space and an interior volume of 338 million cubic feet.

Massive Samsung semiconductor chip plant under construction south of Taylor, TX. This $17B investment will have 6 million square feet of space on a 1,200 acre site and will ultimately employ 2,000 high tech and support workers when it gets up and running 24/7. Great to have more chipmaking in the U.S. Of course resource demands are equally Texas sized - over a million gallons of precious Corrizo-Wilcox ground water a day from Milam County and over 100 MW power load round the clock. Residential development along FM 973 from Manor to Taylor is equally out of sight.

Photos, pictures, images of Christmas in Austin, Texas. Christmas at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas is a light show to remember. The Trail of Lights winds through the park featuring hundreds of displays of the themes of Photos, pictures, images of Christmas in Austin, Texas. Christmas from the sacred to the commercial. To top it all off, the light tree at the top of the hill is a traditional gathering spot and a place to spin around under the lighted tower until dizzy with the images of Christmas colors.

Austin celebrates the Fourth of July in a big way, with fireworks over the downtown skyline and Lady Bird Lake. Crowds gather at Auditorium Shores to hear the Austin Symphony and then enjoy the display fireworks.

Photos, pictures, images, of Inner Space Cavern, just north of Austin in Georgetown, Texas. Inner Space Cavern was discovered by a road crew that was boring test holes near Georgetown, north of Austin, Texas during the construction of Interstate 35. This has grown into a very popular attraction where an easy hike shows kids the wonders of the underground caverns complete with stalactites and stalagmites.

Photos, pictures, images of the Elizabet Ney Museum in Austin, Texas. Elizabet Ney was the first lady of Texas art at the turn of the century. Her work is on display at the museum in the Hyde Park section of Austin, Texas that was her home. Her best known works are full size sculptures of Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston that grace the entrance to the Texas State Capitol building in Austin. These photos are from an assignment for Texas Highways Magazine.

Muller neighborhood in central Austin represents a major development for housing, entertainment, hospitals, stores. And a great opportunity for drones. How often can you fly right up to the airport control tower without special permission? This gallery features aerial photos of the Muller area.

The Grove development in our neighborhood is a massive project, ideal for drone photography. Here is a gallery of aerial photos during its construction.

Aerial views of Austin Texas show the city bursting with growth in 2008 - only a hint of what was to come. Compare to current photos to see the exceptionally rapid growth of Austin. New condo towers fill the skyline as does the new Long Center on the south shore of Town Lake at Auditorium Shores. The Colorado River weaves through Austin, past down town, the University of Texas and Barton Springs, forming a visual focus for the Capital of Texas. Check the photo dates to see the rate of change.

All of the magic happens from 6:30 to 8:30 as the sun sets west of Austin. These studies take with a Mavic 2 Pro drone capture the changes in light. The camera took a grid of 3 x 3 images to compose the final photo. This gallery features 12 images taken in a sequence as the sun set over Austin.

All of the magic happens from 6:30 to 8:30 as the sun sets west of Austin. These studies take with a Mavic 2 Pro drone capture the changes in light. The camera took a grid of 3 x 7 images to capture the width of the cityscape. This gallery features 5 wide panoramas taken in a sequence as the sun set over Austin.

In 2019, this bright mural was unveiled on Wood Hollow Road, October 2019 by artist Bill Travis. It was funded by Austin's Art in Public Places program. It is expected to be in place for a year.

Some of the last days of the Hope Graffiti Park before it closed. A new graffiti outdoor exhibit space is planned on land near the Austin Bergstram Airport to open in spring 2019. This urban space on the corner of 11th and Baylor near downtown Austin has become a mecca for graffiti artists and the community. It is now closed for redevelopment as the ever-growing Austin spreads out from downtown.

New Sweden is a traditional farming community on the edge of ever expanding Austin. These photos show the historic New Sweden Evangelical Lutheran Church and Manda Schoolhouse.