Austin Parnow Landscape Design

11/05/2022

At Cal Poly, I had some inspirational professors. Omar Faruque was both a landscape architect and an architect, designed his own font, and his teenage children went to college alongside us. Joseph Ragsdale was young and could connect with students, had worked on some impressive projects and he quickly became a favorite upon arrival. But I was a Gary Dwyer guy, 100%....

A blog post reflecting on a professor that has a big impact on my education and life's work. A huge source of inspiration for my life.

10/28/2022

Flower color evolved to fulfill a very specific purpose- to catch the eye of winged pollinators. These butterflies and moths, bees and wasps, beetles, flies, bats and birds all see the colors and know that nectar can be found inside, and in return the animals spread pollen so that the plants can reproduce. Although we don't depend on them as a source of food, people are not immune to the same allure of flowers....

A look at the use of color in residential landscape design and in landscape photography.

09/05/2022

As we approach the unofficial end of summer, we hope you had a fun and safe weekend. Enjoy the changing seasons by experiencing the many forms each takes, such as this gorgeous sunset at Goat Rock Beach in Sonoma Coast State Park!

📸 by Austin Parnow at Sonoma Coast State Park via Flickr.

07/25/2022

One of the things that drew me to landscape architecture, rather than say architecture, is the organic form. Nature's designs always appealed to me more than man's. But when massed together in a forest or a garden, all of those organic forms can become a bit of a jumble, and your eye needs some help to make sense of it all....

One of the things that drew me to landscape architecture, rather than say architecture, is the organic form. Nature’s designs always appealed to me more than man’s. But when massed together in a forest or […]

05/28/2022

Welcome to my first blog post! Although in time it may meander into other subjects, I think in getting this started that there's a pretty good wealth of subject matter in how landscape design and landscape photography intersect. As I progress in photography and have a better understanding of what makes an image successful, I've discovered a number of shared concepts between the two practices, with lessons learned from landscape photography starting to inform my design work, and vice versa....

A blog on landscape design and landscape photography from Austin Parnow, a landscape design and contractor in Sonoma County, California.