First Look: A Photographer’s Love Letter to Texas

Austin-based photographer Kenny Braun set out on a quest to capture the ultimate portrait of Texas, traveling 268,581 square miles and taking photographs of each region’s landscape to show the state’s geographic diversity and natural beauty. The end result is As Far As You Can See: Picturing Texas, a stunning coffee table book coming out in May by the University of Texas Press. “When I started my career in photography, I was innately drawn to nature as subject matter,” says Braun, a University of Texas graduate who began taking photos professionally in 1996. “Some of my earliest successful images were made the year I started my career, when I returned to places that had so much influence on me in my youth.” The book features one hundred color and black-and-white images and features a foreword by Austin’s S.C. Gwynne, author of books including Empire of the Summer Moon and a longtime contributor to Texas Monthly. Braun’s previous book, Surf Texas, captured the surfing scene on the Texas coast. Here is a preview of some of the beautiful landscapes in this photographer’s love letter to the natural wonders of Texas.