I’ve recently put out a press release! Hopefully it will end up in the Austin American Statesman. And I’ll become instantly famous!

Former tsunami volunteer to open wedding and portrait photography business in Austin.

The classic story of boy meets Austin girl across the globe, boy and girl fall in love, boy moves to Austin, boy and girl get married, and boy opens wedding photography business.

Austin, TX, (For Immediate Release) February 23, 2008 – As the death toll continued to rise after Christmas 2004, William Bay, Photographer and Candidate Architect, watched on in shock. He knew he was witnessing a powerful event. It became clear that William had to go to Thailand and help in whatever fashion he could.

After closing down his wedding photography business, he flew to Thailand and started right away on a construction site in Khao Lak, the hardest hit area of Thailand.

Four months later he met Austinite Heather Burt, who was also volunteering, teaching English at Thai schools. They hit it off and had a short time together before she left back to Austin.

Eventually William moved to Austin and began working for a local engineer as a CAD drafter. They have since bought a house, become engaged and most recently married just this past summer.

Soon William’s desire to start shooting weddings again began to bubble up.

“It was when I was talking to fellow photographer/friend from San Diego when preparing for Heather’s and my wedding that I remembered the excitement of shooting such a huge day for a couple. It’s a great job! Who wouldn’t want to do that?”

In addition to weddings William has a very unique style of portraiture that is much in line with his personal views on life. No stuffy indoor studios, William insists:

“All of my portrait work is done in natural light, and most often in natural surroundings. Stripping away man-made elements as much as possible to get to the essence of the person being photographed.”
About William Bay Photography

William Bay Photography is now available for wedding and portrait commission work. He likes to discuss wedding plans or portrait ideas with potential clients over margaritas, music and good photos.
Contact:

William Bay

William Bay Photography

512.438.9662

william@williambay.com

http://www.williambayphotography.com

I have been wanting to get some of the images up here since we got married back in July. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out at Chapel Dulcinea where we got married. Heather Van Gaale, a good friend from San Diego, flew in to do the photography. I think she did an amazing job. This shot of Heather is everyones favorite.

It started off a little hairy, I was actually late to my own wedding! I had to stop at a country store on my way out for gas since I was on empty. It hadn’t occurred to me until after I got back in my X-terra that I hadn’t turned off the ignition while filling gas!!! Holy Moly!
I can hear the sherriff informing Heather now: “I’m sorry to regret that your fiance will not be able to make it to your wedding because he blew up due to his own stupidity.”

Once I got out there things calmed down a bit and the small ceremony got underway. It was so beautifu. Heather looked awesome! My mom and sister were there, Heather’s parents were there. Chris, my best friend, officiated the ceremony.

I’ve posted a few of the best photos here, they were all taken by Heather Van Gaale (the other Heather in my life). The other 200 of the good ones are here.

The Barton Creek Greenbelt has been beckoning for a little over a year for Heather and I to come back and take the hike down to Sculpture Falls. We had gone a couple times before with our good friends Amber and Sarah (We’ll be visiting them in South-East Asia this summer if we can wrangle up some duckets).

With the wild outdoors calling and our winter-leaguered & pent up dogs, Moen and Luke, Heather and I decided to use the weekends to walk on dirt instead of treadmills.

Barton Creek Greenbelt and Sculpture Falls.
This is a beautiful hike that can be approached 2 ways. One is from MoPac and 360, and the other from a few miles west off of 360 through a residential area.
Hiking in from MoPac is probably the way to go unless you take supplemental oxygen, as the hike back up to the residential area is about a 10-15% grade for about a quarter of a mile.

The dogs love to cut loose at Sculture Falls. Luke, our Chow/Corgy (Chorgy), goes maniacal! He has two speeds fast and faster, that is until he hits a rock or slips on rocks, for about a second, and then he’s off again.
Moen’s slowed down a bit over the past 2 years, but still enjoys trotting along and getting wet.

We’ve also taken the dogs out to Bull Creek and Lake Georgetown. They were nice in their own right. But Barton Greenbelt such a great hike, and if someone was enterprising enough they could start a Sherpa outfit on the backside of this hike and make a pretty penny!

Here is a great resource for hiking in Austin 

I started giving it some thought as my own wedding approached. I had the other Heather in my life, Heather Van Gaale from San Diego flying in soon and we were talking often. We would reminisce about the hijinx we would get into while shooting weddings together. That’s fun. That’s exciting. That’s why I started shooting weddings, for the energy and the great photos you can get from each wedding. Maybe it’s just one photo that blows your mind from any given event, but every Saturday you photographed was one of the best Saturdays ever for a group of people. And that was fun to be a part of.

After being gone for a year in Thailand, and living in Austin for another 18 months I recognized I missed it.

In that light I’ve decided to throw my hat back into the ring and dust off the camera, and possibly document some of those Saturdays.

I saw an interesting article in the Statesman the other day and I realized that I had a much better photo than what they had.