Behind the Scenes: Captivating Photos of the Zilker Train Delivery Process

Having kids in Austin has indirectly exposed me to some of my very favorite things in Central Texas. One of those things was the Zilker Zephyr before it shut down in 2019. Though the Zephyr shut down after 60 years, what has happened in the previous two and a half years are a huge number of track repairs and improvements, new signage, new branding, and the Austin Parks Foundation taking over management of the fabled train… and also a new name: The Zilker Eagle.

Thanks to previously working with the Austin Parks Foundation, I was asked to photograph the delivery of the new train as it was being unloaded from the semi that hauled it from Arizona. Truly, it was everything my 39-year-old heart could have hoped: shiny cars, electric engines, forklifts, and an awesome group of Austin Parks Foundation and Austin Parks Department folks working together to finish up a project that will keep Austin wonderful for the next 60 years.

Dream 3 (in the midst of my life) Music Video

I had the amazing pleasure of watching Max Richter perform his 8-hour Sleep composition at SXSW in 2018. One song in particular, “Dream 3 (in the midst of my life)”, stuck with me so much so that I wanted to make an unsolicited music video for it. The album is meant to be listened to while sleeping and the song, which is 10-minutes long, is a classical music meditation to be slept through more than something in need of a music video.

Undeterred and equipped with my incredible friend, dancer, and choreographer, Alexa Capareda, she was able to express an enormous range of emotion interpreting Dream 3.

In the video below, Alexa dances around a crowded overlook with the skyline of Austin blurred in the background. The video was always meant to be a dream sequence atop Doug Sahm Hill overlooking Ladybird Lake and the Long Center originally meant to symbolize the clarity and fuzziness around the edges of our dreams. However, while filming we realized that Alexa would begin her dancing atop a giant Texas carved into the ground.

Though the Texas map was a surprise, the imagery is ripe with symbolism in today’s Texas and the United States: the imagery of Alexa passing along the Texas borders, the blurred and unreachable skyline of affluent Austin, the promise of opportunity, coupled with the vulnerability of the immigrant/asylum seeker, the role of bystanders to suffering, and our responsibility to bear witness for what is being done in our name in today's United States of America.

I want to again express an enormous “thank you” to Alexa Capareda for lending her immense, immense talents to this project. She’s incredible and her dancing is truly a gift!

…And, thank you for watching!