Texas Monthly, our new state’s premier lifestyle magazine, just published a photo spread featuring 18 new Texans from Austin, Dallas and Houston in their April “Welcome to Texas!” issue. Houstonia magazine’s design director passed on my name and recent transplant status to one of their reporters. I’ll tell ya, the karma here is never-ending. I’m in the bottom right corner there. “What are you looking at?” asked my wife. “You look ridiculous!”

So, about this photoshoot. I offered to convert our dining room into a makeshift studio for Austin-based photographer LeAnn Mueller and her crew; she was able to set up shop for the afternoon, feel right at home and deftly direct and capture the daring souls as if she was in her Austin studio. Having been behind the camera directing shoots for 30 years, it’s always fun for me to be in front of the camera and take someone else’s direction. One by one, the three other featured newbie Houstonians showed up at the front door. They too were photographed, we had a few laughs (the guy touching his chin was cool) and then each person returned to their busy lives after a few short minutes in the spotlight. That’s a wrap!

*LeAnn Mueller (center) and crew set up in our dining room after driving three hours to Houston from Austin. After the shoot, they drove back.*