Posts Tagged ‘austin’
A month! Where have you been!?
So there I was, stuck in the jungles of Borneo fending off the attacks of never before seen lovers of longpork and the delightfully disgusting dance of durian when …
Wait, that’s not it.
So there I was, sitting in first class on my way to grand Paris when the co-pilot rushed out of the smocking cockpit proclaiming the need for a professional geek. I, being a professional geek, raised my hand and …
Wait, that’s not it either.
So there I was, wondering how I was going to explain to my wife that I’d been arrested for trespassing in some rancher’s field while trying to get my nude, feather wearing model to mount a cathartic bull when …
Nope, nope. Not it either.
Ok. I admit it. I’ve just been busy. The month of August, while blazingly hot, has been nothing but work, work, more work, hey, look it’s work! and … lastly, more work. Mixed with a bit of fun, mind you.
I did manage to get out and do a brief photowalk early August. I ran across a troupe on the south mall up on campus. What drew me to them was the taiko drum thundering through the six-pack as I walked near the tower.
They were practicing a routine with one of the traditional Chinese lions. Bright, golden yellow was the color of their costumes. The dancers were engaged in what was going on and paid no attention to me, lurking some yards back. One thing struck me as I watched: the troupe was well-polished and practiced. You could see it in each leap and weave, each bow of the lion’s head, each rhythmic strut following the beat of the drum.
As the taiko thumper pushed the pace faster and slower, the troupe had dancers diving in and out from under the lion. The troupe lead was shouting them on, encouraging them to keep it tight and smooth.
The drummer went slower.
The lion paced.
When the last thump of the drum was heard, all the dancers emerged, lined up, and gave the lead a bow. All in time, as if they were saluting a lieutenant.
I packed my camera and walked off. I thought about giving them my card, but when I went back a few minutes later, they had gone.
Fireworks or Bust!
If your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand … you might be a redneck. — Jeff Foxworthy
I, of course, don’t want to own a fireworks stand. Now, I’m not knocking those who do, but that aspiration just isn’t my style. Nevertheless, I did my photographic duty yesterday and camped out with the hundreds of thousands of other people at Town Lake in the blazing July heat. Yes, that fantastical Texas heat. As if the showering sparkles of gun powder laced in burning smoke, the army of fire ants, and warm drips of sweat weren’t enough.
For all my heat-induced bellyaching, I have to say I did enjoy the show. I made the colossal mistake of parking close this year. You know, to save time getting to the show. Because I’m Lazy. Yes, with a capital “L”. Hung out with a few friends before the show so I could suck up some of their marvelous air conditioning. It was like seeing one of those signs out in the desert, “Last chance for gas, 180 miles.” You knew you’d better stop and partake of that brilliant resource before you found yourself out in the middle of nowhere, miles from relief and help, while pissing into the wind.
By 8:45, I knew I had to get over to the park or I’d miss my chance to etch the pretty sparklies onto a flash card for posterity. Say goodbye to Mr. A/C. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
I found a spot on the hill in front of the Palmer Event Center. It’s a shame it was the wrong spot. See, what I neglected to realize in my excellently sketched out plan was … well, you’ll see. Sadly, leave it to me to draw this plan out on the back of a napkin. When the ink soaked in like a bloodied pool, I discovered error of my ways. What was so wrong?
Well, everything was fine with the playing of the 1812 Overture. The guns were booming, people were jumping up in fright. And when the fireworks started, they … were. not. in. front. of. me. No.
They were off to my left. Right behind a lamp post. It was at that moment I wished I had one of two things: a rifle and scope or Dumbledore’s lamplight killer thingy. To say I was annoyed would be the understatement of the moment. Shame I had already unpacked all my camera gear and dug in to my little photo foxhole. I was fully engaged and had nowhere to escape to. So, I did what any good photographer would do.
I shot.
There’s a scene in Wild, Wild West where Artemis, acting as the President, is chastising West on his investigative style: “Shoot, shoot again, shoot some more, and then ask questions.” This thought bubbled up to the front of my mind as I laid on the camera trigger and didn’t stop shooting until the last explosive pot launched above the Austin skyline.
And as quickly as it had begun, it ended. Fifteen minutes to get in and find my spot. Fifteen to setup. It took me two to pack, and ten to hoof it out. I wanted to beat the rush. Sadly, I, like every other optimistic party-goer in Austin, decided that they would beat the rush too. Dave Mustaine kept my company the rest of the evening while I … moved a foot, stomped on the brake. moved a foot, stomped on the brake. Moved three feet … stomped on the brake.
Fireworks shows put on at Town Lake are an exercise in patience. But, only at their end. There are only five major north-south thoroughfares through Austin to get over the lake: IH35, Congress, South 1st, Lamar, and Mopac. South 1st is always shut down for big events. And the rest, well … imagine a parking lot. Only with pissed off drunk people. And it’s 47 bazillion miles long. It goes without saying that I wanted my bloody hovercar last night. I even called my wife and asked here where my hovercar was. I bet she stole it from me just to make me suffer.
But I digress.
Eventually, I made out of the area and onto IH35 wherein, I stomped on the gas, popped some Digital Underground into the CD player, and cruised through the city at high speed, deftly avoiding the drunk yahoos and their mishmash of weaving and bouncing off the concrete walls.
And that, my friends, was how I spent 4th of July in Austin.
If you’d like to see bigger versions of the photos below, check out my Fireworks Slideshow on Flickr.
Whoops! and Give in to Sin
Ok. Shame on me. It has been not quite a month since my last posting. I shall hang my head in shame. But fear not! I’ve been taking photos like nobody’s business. I promise I’ll be keeping it more steady and catch you up on what I’ve been doing.
Last week was Give in to Sin. This was a benefit for Sinsations in Austin. Their lease expires in less than two months and the owner of the property has decided not to renew it. Morgan wasn’t expecting it, so a bunch of people helped get this benefit together for her so she could have the funds to move. Morgan does quite a bit for the local community with the other benefits she puts on, so it was time to give back.
The show was at Red7. There were bands, burlesque, boobs, beer, art, and spankings. It was a pretty great show with lots of interesting folks walking around in not so much. Met some cool people too. Here’s some more of the evening.
The full set of photos can be found on my myspace page (mostly because I was lazy and didn’t want to use flickr).
The art:
The comedy:
The fun:
The burlesque:
The flames:
The bands:
How do photos affect you?
Last night, a friend and I went to an exhibit of Fritz Henle’s photography at the Harry Ransom Center. Excellent exhibit; you should make the trip down there to see it while it’s still in Austin. While going from one photo to the next, we began discussing how there’s a natural flow to some photos that makes them appealing … or quite the opposite: turning your stomach because they’re composed in a way that’s just so utterly jarring to the natural order of things. I didn’t pay much attention to the discussion after we left the exhibit until today at lunch when having a discussion about one of my recent photo shoots (last Tuesday’s in fact).
I’m not exactly sure what drove me to do this. I’d seen the idea some place else and wanted to expand on it. 
Basically, I wanted my model completely wrapped in plastic. Tightly. We covered her head to toe in a cocoon of pallet wrap, split open a small hole to breathe from, and I went to town with the camera. One of the photos I took was a closeup of her exposed lips. This was soon after the model started getting a bit claustrophobic because the breathing hole was too small. No biggie, rip it open a bit more, and we continued on.
Today, I was talking with another friend at lunch about this photo. Her reaction to the photo was one I had not expected: she said she immediately got lost in it, got claustrophobic, and then had to force herself to look away and breathe to calm down. I can see how this photo goes against the norms of society (who wraps a person in plastic for fun? :-) and can be utterly jarring. I just didn’t expect the photo to affect someone that deeply.
Do some photos do that to you (in the “I have to turn away right now or I’m going to pass out” sort of way)? What was it about the photo that did it? (And I’m not really concerned about the photos that are blatantly fucked up … I’m more interested in those that, at first blush, seem ok until you really look at them and get dragged in).
It’s a bizarre curiosity for me, I guess, understanding the design dynamic that goes into making a photo that’s sole purpose is to tweak a person in what may be perceived as a negative way. I mean, it doesn’t take much to make a photo that someone looks at and gets turned on by. But to make one that has a subtle but gnawing detail in it that sticks in your subconscious and eats at you? You know the kind of image I’m talking about … it’s the train wreck one. You just have to look at it to figure out what went wrong, when, and where.
I think a lot of it just comes down to wanting to know how to affect the mood and emotion of the viewers of my photographs in any way I choose. Like I said, it’s easy (in my opinion) to make something that warms a heart. I think it’s harder to do something that turns one frigid or throws chills up your spine because we naturally don’t wish to encounter those things. They’re potentially painful.
As an aside: I recently got access to a well stocked library again (and one that should have some excellent photographic resources), so I think I’m going to spend some time going through to try and understand where this idea is coming from. Just something for me to think about.
The model here was a trooper. We had her wrapped up for over an hour or so, pushing her this way, shoving her that way, rearranging her until she fit the light the right way. Apparently it’s hard to move around when your body is mummified in plastic. Who knew?
Oh, and Fritz Henle? Yeah, you really ought to go see the exhibit. It’s free at the HRC and worth the 30-45 minute walk through. Excellent work (although, I’m really not big on his fashion photography … but I digress).
Austin Hangouts
Every Thursday I go to hangout with friends after work. Nothing fancy, just a group that likes to sit down, have some dinner, maybe some coffee, and bullshit for a few hours. Invariably, we all tend to haunt the same dives in Austin for our merriment. Figured I’d at least share some of the better places to go kick around.
Spiderhouse: one of my local haunts for the last few years. Spiderhouse is rather … eclectic. Even for a coffee house. Spiderhouse wasn’t so much designed as organically grown. Most of the seating is outside either under the porch awning, out on the brick patio, or under the gigantic pecan trees out back. They food is ok. It’s mostly vegetarian. Not particularly my thing. But I don’t go there for the food, I go there for the occasional good DJ playing while we’re relaxing with friends, the decent cup of hot chocolate or apple cider when it’s cold, or the pint or two of Liveoak Heffe that’s needed when it’s blazingly hot out.
Ruby’s BBQ: Ruby’s is a stone’s through from Spiderhouse. If you’re a meatasaurus rex and you’re craving meat, it’s the place to go if you’re up near campus. Another one of Austin’s hole-in-the-walls, the place looks like it’s about to fall apart. The tiny one-toilet men’s room is covered in graffiti and you have to squeeze your fat ass into the door because it’s just so damn tight. But the staff is good, the brisket is better, and the cobbler … pretty damned tasty.
Dirty Martin’s: I found out about this place a few months back. If you could throw a stone and hit Ruby’s from Spiderhouse, you could hit Dirty Martin’s with a bow and arrow (“I fire an arrow into the air and where it lands I know not … ooooh! damn, it hit Dirty’s”). Yet another greasy spoon in Austin. If you have a heart condition, this is probably not the place for you. Serving one of the best quadruple bypasses in the city, Dirty’s is the place to go for hamburgers and fries. This is one of the line cooks. I never caught his name, but his expressions are hilarious when you catch him listening to conversations. Nice guy. Sit at the bar if you can. One of the more classic diner feels in Austin. Oh, and the milkshakes aren’t half-bad either.
Austin Music Awards circa 2009
Whew! What a busy week. You may remember that I mentioned the 2009 Austin Music Awards a few weeks back. Well, the show has finally come and gone and it was definitely a blast! This year’s lineup included Bob Schneider and the Fireants, The Dicks, Augie Meyers, and many, many others.
The two differences from last year is that I was allowed access backstage during the show thanks to the work of my friend Scarlett and the graciousness of Margaret Moser. Since I wasn’t officially part of the staff crew, when I arrived, I had Scarlett walk me around backstage to introduce me to the key folks I’d be encountering. These were the people I wanted to make sure I paid attention to! If they told me to get the !@#$% out of the way, I wanted to get out of the way. 
Second, my friend Quentin loaned me his Nikon 80-200 f2.8 lens (practically insisted when I waffled on it). I must say, while that lens is heavy … it’s about 3lbs I think, not including the camera body … it was worth it; damn, is the bokeh on it creamy like butter. I was getting great separation of elements in my photos this time.
Thankfully, nothing happened. I went back several times throughout the show but didn’t camp out. The space was rather tight and people were moving too quickly to get good candid photos (I did get a few!) so I focused on staying frontstage.
About halfway through the show, I started walking around to find a different vantage point for the photos. That’s when I noticed that there were two balconies above the stage on either side. An adventure awaits! The first balcony I went to (stage right) I got politely rebuffed. They were partially using it as a dressing area for the women helping musicians and entertainers across the stage. My second attempt, which had me over on stage left balcony was fruitful. I walked up to the security guy, asked if I could get back there, flashed my staff badge, and voila! The Pearly Gates parted, harmonious music was playing, golden light … wait, that was from the set being played on stage. But, you know what I mean. 
I had an excellent view of the band looking into the crowd. The bad news: it was from the side (but that’s ok!). The good news: I had maneuvering room! By the time I got up here, The Dicks were playing and that’s when I noticed the mad rush of the crowd and fans towards frontstage despite security’s ability to do anything about it. I wouldn’t have been able to move at all.
But, again. That’s ok. I had a vantage point that no other photographer was going to get (thanks to Scarlett and Margaret)! I ended up there a few more times throughout the evening.
In all, I ended up with just shy of a thousand photos from the entire evening. I’ve whittled it down to 166 really good ones and uploaded them to flickr. 
Nothing as dramatic as the photo I got of The Judy’s lead singer throwing water into the crowd, but I got some extremely good ones of The Dicks lead interacting with the crowd and some good ones of Augie Meyers.
Feel free to check out the 2009 Austin Music Awards photo set on my flickr stream.
I hope you like ‘em as much as I do. I’m looking forward to shooting the Awards Show again. If you want, you can jump straight to the slideshow!
Oh, and before you ask, I don’t know who some of the musicians are. I have to work with Scarlett to make sure I get everything noted properly on the photo descriptions.
I won a gold Austin ADDYs award!
Well, ok, I helped win an ADDY to be more precise. A gold one, at that! A few months back, I got contacted by John Livingston via flickr. He’s art director for nFusion here in Austin. It’s a local advertising and marketing firm. John happened across a photo I took a year ago on a photowalk.
I didn’t think much about the photo at the time. It was a red bike with a sign on it discussing what it was worth to someone with AIDS. I sat down on the ground, framed, clicked, and moved on. Fast forward to December ’08. John contacts me, tells me about his involvement in the campaign and that he wants to use my photo as part of the submission to the 2009 Austin ADDYs Award.
Sure, why not? At worst, nothing came of it. At best, I get a bit of recognition out of it. For a photo that I didn’t expect much out of after taking it, what could I lose? So, after a bit of discussion, I licensed it to them for use in their submission.
Today I received this email.
Travis,
Hey this is John Livingston from nFusion. I thought you might like to know that the picture you contributed was part of a gold award-winning campaign at the 2009 Austin ADDY awards. I just wanted to thank you for allowing us to use your great photograph.
Here’s a link to the brochure they made with the winners. Look for your name on page 19 under the Red Bike Campaign:
http://www.austinaddys.com/2009austinADDYsWinnerBook.pdf
Unfortunately they didn’t feature your picture of the bikes in the book, but your image was used in our entry.So now you can say you won an Austin ADDY ward. Nice job!
-John
And, sure enough, I downloaded the PDF and found an attribution.
Woot! It’s not much, but what the heck. A bit of exposure for something I likely wouldn’t have done anything more than keep in my flickr stream. I think that’s a fair exchange for the amount of effort put into the photo.
So yeah, I’m happy claiming I helped win a gold Austin ADDYs Award.
Hooray Music!
Wow, awesome news! Last year, on a lark, I got invited to the Austin Music Awards by my good friend Scarlett. I asked if there was any chance I could bring my camera to the show. She poked around and got the OK from the show director. I ended up having quite a bit of fun and got some amazing photos of musicians like The Judy’s, Gary Clark Jr., Billy Gibbons, and many others. My photos apparently made the rounds of the event staff and were well received.
The other evening, Scarlet called me up after having just gotten out of the first volunteers meeting for the award show. I’m getting to come back to the show and take photos again! I’m so looking forward to this! And with luck, I’ll have my D300 by then so I’ll have even more fun.
You can see my photos from the 2008 Austin Music Awards on my Flickr stream.
CBS 42 contest update!
Just an update on a post I made a few weeks back. Sousa Williams, the web manager over at CBS 42, contacted me today to inform me that the rules for the contest had been updated. Apparently, the management didn’t realize the rules were written in such a way that strips a photographer’s rights to the submitted photos. The rules now read:
You represent that you own all copyrights in the photograph. As a condition of submitting your photo, you grant to Four Points Media a non-exclusive license to use the photograph for twelve months from the date of submission as follows:.
Four Points Media may, at its sole discretion, publish or otherwise use any photograph submitted by you. Such publication or other use may occur on television, in books, in newspapers and magazines, on the Internet, and/or in or on any other medium of communication now or hereafter devised, and may be for advertising, promotion, the use of trade, and/or other commercial purposes. By submitting a photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) consent to such publication or any other use. As a condition of submitting your photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) unconditionally and irrevocably waive all claims to compensation for use of the photograph by Four Points, and/or any rights with respect to such use you may have under copyright law, the right to publicity, the right to privacy, the law of defamation, and any other common law or statutory claims under the laws of any jurisdiction.
You represent that you have been given the authority by each individual depicted in a photograph to bind such individual to these release terms.
You must be 18 years of age or older to submit a photo.
It’s that first paragraph that really strikes me as being photographer friendly. I don’t yet know if it’s a panacea of photography goodness, but it’s certainly better than the absolute rights grab they were doing before. I’ve contacted the guys at Pro Imaging to get their input on this change because of their previous work in getting contests to change their rules for the betterment of photogs everywhere.
So far, the Austin Flickr community has received the notice with mixed reviews. Some still feel the new rules continue to abuse the photographer by not setting terms on what that license constitutes. Others, like me, think it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
More to come as I hear it.
Scouting Dunvegan Keep
For the past few months, the Strobist Austin group has been meeting up to do some off-camera lighting work. In preparation for our April 27th meetup, some of us drove to Dunvegan Keep in South Austin. Dunvegan Keep is another “odd” Austin feature. It’s in a residential area, built upon the grounds of a home owned by Craig Turner. The site is rather large, including a chapel, several courtyards and archways, a Roman-style pool, and several other amenities built around the theme of medieval and ancient eras. The site is primarily used for family portraits and weddings. Today, we happened to walk in upon a workshop dealing with bridal photography.
I grabbed a few photos of the place to scout out some areas for my team. The place is simply stunning. It’s been completely designed and built by Craig over the last few years. He’s a wonderful artisan. I’m definitely considering the site for some of my other ideas once the meetup is over (especially when you take into account the very inexpensive $45 fee for personal /family stuff).
