This past weekend I had the chance to meet up with some photografriends in Austin to talk a little shop, do a little shooting, eat a lotta food, and have a whole lotta fun. It was kinda like photo camp, minus the "one time, at [photo] camp" stories. We all met at a photography workshop last year, and we've kept in touch since and decided it would be fun to get together for a little educational R...R. It was kinda like being part of a band of paparazzi for the weekend... except the closest we got to a celebrity was around midnight on Friday night when we watched "He's Just Not That Into You" on the plasma screen. Obviously Chad and I were not well represented in the movie selection process. Oh, and did I mention that my rock star friend Karen found us a $2.7M dollar lakeside house to stay in for the weekend. Yah, ridiculous, right? It's for sale in case you're interested and have some spare change lying around. Let's go on a tour, shall we? Here's a view from the upper deck on the back of the house looking down onto the private dock.

The main floor had an open floor plan. Here's the circular dining room table for 10 and part of the kitchen.

The cool lights above the dining room table by day...

... and now by night.

Our little entertainment system in the living room.

More of the living room.

The down stairs living room and kitchen.

I stayed in one of the kiddos rooms

Another bedroom. There were 4 in all.

The stairs from the top deck on the back of the house going down to the lower level deck.

Looking up to the upper deck.

Did I mention the private dock... with ducks. BTW, that's Chad.

Here's the gang in a faux-Abercrombie image. Back row: Yours truly, Chad Slander Middle row: Sharon Sheara, Michelle Neely Poole, Melissa Andries, Karen Beyer Front row: Kimbrali Boyd, Monica Paredes

We had a little view from the dock.

Oh yeah, here's the back of the house looking from the dock.

Chad playing with Lightroom... at 3:30am.

Still not sure how this thing never tipped over with 3 women drivers.

Chad + off-camera flash = GQ.

Karen + off-camera flash = better looking than Chad.

This is what happens at photo camp... geekers.

I'd wager Karen's camera weighs more than she does.

It was grueling day 1, but we made the best of the accommodations. (BTW, this was an 18 second exposure on a tripod).

More posts to come from this trip, so stay tuned...