See the entire Annual Report

The 2007 Germania Annual report was really, really fun. I came up with the theme, "Uniquely Texas," after several rounds of brainstorming and rejected themes. Once the theme was finally set, I decided I wanted to use imagery that iconically represents Texas, such as stars, Texas flags, cowboy hats, boots and cattle. In addition, I wanted to showcase locations that you can't find anywhere else but Texas that help to give Texas its unique flavor.

Every photo contained in the 2007 Annual Report was shot by me except six (I dare you to find them all). I set out early one morning in March with a rough idea of where I wanted to shoot. I knew I wanted to go to Austin to shoot the capital building and some of the "Texasy" details there. I didn't get very far down the road before I started noticing Texas stars and Texas flags everywhere. I blew through two sets of camera batteries and a flash card in Austin before I stopped to buy more.

I shot a lot of detail shots and I felt a lot like Rain Man taking shots of what seemed like really random things. SXSW was going on and I'm pretty sure I almost knocked over James Cameron on the third floor of the capital when I was rushing to get a shot.

That day of shooting took me to Luckenbach, Fredericksburg, Bastrop, Kerrville and San Antonio before I headed home. I wish I could have used more of the shots I took. There was one really good one of the San Antonio Riverwalk that I decided not to use because I already had a night shot in San Antonio of the Alamo, which is obviously more iconic. The attached PDF is a good representation of the final product with the exception of the nicely embossed cover, which subtlely simulated saddle leather.

I was very pleased with the finished product, as was the management at Germania. I even got compliments from the heads of some of our competitor Farm Mutual Insurance Companies.

Once again, San Antonio freelance writer Julia Rosenfeld wrote the copy and I did art direction and layout.