To St. Pete and back

Last Wednesday I began my trip across the country to St. Petersburg, Florida for the aphotoaday.org geekfest photography conference. On the way I stopped in Baton Rouge to see mom, dropped off my prints to Coup d'Oeil Art Consortium in New Orleans, photographed for my project in Bay St. Louis Mississippi and visited Brian Diggs in Tallahassee. The conference was laid back and stocked with outstanding speakers. Nights went late with lots of photo chat and drinking, even games of shuffleboard. Thanks to Melissa Lyttle and her crew for making it happen!

Just made it back to Austin today for a corporate event I'm shooting this evening. Below are a few snaps.


Clouds in Florida.


This is what I did while trying to stay awake on the drive back to Bay St. Louis from St. Pete. Shooting photos in the fog at 80mph.



A closed store in Bay St. Louis. Part of a series I'm shooting about buildings and left behind structures across Hancock County. Shooting the landscape has become an intriguing part of this project outside of documenting the people I was with during Katrina.

More from the Katrina series to come...

New-ish shoes...

There's nothing super-photographically sound about this post, but I'm excited about a personally project I completed recently. I've been thinking about recovering my vans slip ons for some time now... finally I did after the original blue cover came completely off and massive holes opened in the toes. The right shoe (left) is left over acid wash denim I found in my friend Ian's free box and the left shoe (right) is a folded piece of a soft bandana I got at Wheatsville food co-op years ago. I used an upholstery needle, inspired by Noah, and hemp yarn to stich through the rubber sole and the materials. The soles have years left on them and I'm happy I was able to reuse the shoe.

My fingers got sore pushing through the thick rubber, but the project only took a few hours spread over 2 days. Small project, great satisfaction!

Back in Austin

It was a lot of driving, but well worth it. I had an outstanding time in Mississippi reconnecting with some of the folks I was with during Hurricane Katrina four years ago. I actually copied the list of people who were at the same emergency center as me from Brice Philips, radio guru, and have started calling to photograph those people this year. Finding all of them will be a challenge, but I shot portraits of six of them near a place of significance to them or the storm over the weekend. I also shot 2 interviews recapping the storm, the last four years of reconstruction and the meaning of the anniversary. It was outstanding to re-meet these people with whom i have a bond and I'm thankful they were so welcoming to my presence, I can't wait to go back!

This week I've been editing, firming up a few different shoots with corporate clients and shooting an assignment for the Times on Friday.

I'm also having the website updated soon with an ongoing portrait project about Texans and the installation I hang each year for UTMB Internal Medicine at Brackenridge hospital. Stay tuned.

Katrina 4 years later

I'm back in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi where I road out Hurricane Katrina 4 years ago August 29, 2005. I felt it was time to return to where a major event in my life took place and reconnect with the people who were at the emergency operations center with me. Although, I've been back previously, I feel that our story goes untold.

My goal is to photograph all of the people that were there in order to compile a photo story for next years' anniversary. I'm also trying to compile footage and shoot interviews for a documentary that will tell our story. So far I've photographed 2 of 35 or so people and have a long way to go in collection information and finding those who have relocated. But it has been a rewarding experience thus far. This morning after photographing Brice Phillips, radio guru, I was interviewed on the radio about coming back to the community by Wade Hicks, former BSL firefighter.

I'll update a peak at some photos from the project soon.

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On my way to the Bay I stopped for an evening in New Orleans and met with gallery owner/curator Ken Capone at Coup d'Oeil (catch the eye) on Magazine St. He was excited about my silver gelatin prints, especially from the 100th anniversary of Zulu, and wants to hang 4 prints temporarily with the possibility of a show in the future.

That evening I went to dinner with my family friend Wade Welch at Frankie and Johnnie's, a NOLa tradition, for the first time. Thanks!

Boggy Creek Farm outtakes

Here are some photos that you may have seen if you picked up this last WSJ Weekend Edition, or that didn't make it into the slideshow (link at right) about Boggy Creek Farm. It was a really fun assignment and Larry, Carol Ann, their staff and customers were great to work with. Thanks!

If you have time I would recommend checking out their operation in East Austin Wednesday and Saturday mornings. After 2 days of shooting and a variety of photos the editors in New York were happy. Especially, the lighting on the portraits and interiors of the house, which was built in the 1830s.

Larry tells a story about how he used a fallen pecan tree to make cutting boards, fireplace mantels, and furniture. This inspired me to build a box for my vinyl records out of birch. Although I didn't mill the wood myself, it was a rewarding project.

Always title posts

Just finished a story about Boggy Creek Farm for the Wall Street Journal's Homefront section. Pick up Friday's and/or the weekend edition if you'd like to check it out. I'll post after it publishes.

Recently: WORLD magazine published a photo in relation to a gene patenting story, the Chronicle of Philanthropy published a photo in relation to a story about giving to charity. I also had a great time assisting Jay Drowns of the Sporting News while shooting Colt McCoy.

In the mean time, here's a recent shoot at Clarksville Studios (just opened). It's Andrew, a rapper in the NY-DC based group Double Dutch Oven:

Stumptown

On a Friday in Seattle the trains were full, rental cars to expensive, and planes ridiculous... so we took a 2 buses to Portland traveling a total of 7 hours.

Portland is an outstanding city. Cycling proves a popular and acceptable form of transportation, so i bought a bike for $10 at a garage sale and rented another bike (above) for $20 for the weekend from a dude named Charlie near Tiny's coffeehouse at 12th and Hawthorne.

Maria's friends' (above) wedding included a bike parade through downtown Portland, ending at the ACE hotel where Indian food was consumed after ceremonies and pie (with our plastic bride and groom) for desert. Melissa and Drew had a typewriter for guests to write well wishes, a toast with homebrew beer and an old fashioned photo booth. Congratulations on the most unique and well done urban wedding I've ever attended

Thanks to Jason and Claire for being gracious hosts. I hope you got the bike Jason!

Seattle

Took a trip to Seattle for the first time to visit friends on our way to a wedding in Portland.

Thanks to the soon to be newlyweds Mark and Annie for being great friends and hosts!

Le Tour Project por Brent Humphreys

Go check out Brent's work from The Tour de France at Mellow Johnny's bikeshop during regular business hours or projectletour.com.

It's way better than lycra.

Paging... Dr. Miller...

Moonlight

Go to Granger

take a photo of a girl who likes horses

see a donkey named Shadow

meet a farrier named Matt

find endless fields everywhere

and remember fuzzi wuzzi.

Krause Springs

Hank's v8

If you don't like where you are

move to vermont

Women in goggles

And this is Peggy Morton... my high school journalism teacher.

Hotel Master

This is Van he does every job in the hotel there is to do... his last name is Valiant.

Black Joe

Getting more work the last 2 weeks has been a good thing... These guys, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, are really cool and fun to hang out with.

futbol

It was pretty neat to be in a culture as diverse as ours where everybody, no matter where they are from is a fan of the same thing. in this case soccer brought all these people together to support the austin team. of course not enough ink for this photo, but i appreciate them and they made my night worth while. Juan Arias above, thanks.

a story about sitting balls

red

jobless