What a great way to start August off (and 4 weddings in a row this month) with Melissa + Ryan getting hitched at The Allan House last Saturday. It was an inspiring couple, a beautiful day, and a whole lot of visual interest. See the slideshow below or click here for a larger version.
I’m currently processing the wedding I documented a few days ago at Allan house in Austin.
I was definitely blessed with a beautiful, animated, genuine, relaxed, and rockin’ couple.. and I just loved the light coming in the dressing area. So here’s a preview with more to come soon.
While sorting through many years of images today, I gathered a few images I like that slipped through the cracks.
A stir fry chef at the IFEC convention in Austin, TX
Petri dish for UT Focus on Science Publication
KDH Dance Company’s modern dancers at One World Theatre
Despite the many months since meeting Mary Ellen Mark, the experience and insights are still vivid. And I’m realizing I didn’t get too much down in the last post.
The question I asked MEM at the Texas Monthly Talks Q&A was how she got around in India during her many months in India for her Falkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay assignment, how she met her contacts, and if she used a fixer to gain access to her subjects. She first reminisced on the luxury of being on a magazine assignment for three months and how a long and open assignment like that is non-existent today.
Mark hates using fixers and didn’t employ any for that assignment. (Although she did admit the project would not have been possible or the same if she tried to it today, as people are much more camera aware and wary than they were in the 1970s) She believes hiring a fixer changes the dynamics of her relationship to her subjects and makes them less genuine.
Mark spent days across the street of the brothel she was hoping to document before making a few friends with the prostitutes who eventually brought her in and gave full access to their lives. (This was after 10 years of trying to take pictures there, being met with aggression and anger) She befriended and listened to the stories of the madams, the transvestites, and cage girls of Falkland Road. Her images portray the honest and explicit lives of her subjects in a thoughtful and intimate way. The magazine that sent Mark out to India, GEO, decided not to use the images in their American publication as they thought they were too explicit. They did however publish 13 pages of images in their sister publication in Germany, Stern Magazine.
Daylight Magazine produced a great tribute and informative video on the life and legacy of photojournalist Helen Levitt:
Earlier in the month, there was an inspiring day of events with Mary Ellen Mark in Austin.
The new Austin Center of Photography brought Mark to town for their Icons of Photography lecture series (to be followed by Alec Soth in June).
The more interactive and introspective event was the Texas Monthly Talks interview I sat in on at the KLRU studios.
Mary Ellen repeatedly lamented on the current state of publications–how much of her work wouldn’t be possible for photographers to get assigned to today (such as essentially being granted by a magazine to cover prostitutes in Bombay for 3 months). She’s disappointed that magazines very rarely publish lasting images, reminiscing on Life magazine publishing W. Eugene Smith and Robert Capa images regularly. She believes most of today’s magazines aren’t interested in reality, they are interested in commercial illustrations, and are underestimating their audience. It was insightful hearing her articulate the difference between reality based reportage photography and illustrative photography. To stay faithful to reality, Mark often uses a Polaroid 20×24 camera with 2 assistants (since it weighs 235 pounds).
Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy: Los Angeles, Califorinia, USA 1978
tbg inc., a landscape architecture firm, hired me to photograph some informal headshots of their employees in their backyard.
i made use of a westcott sunlight reflector and a diffusion panel for lighting these portraits. it was nice to be without cables, cords, and clutter of strobes while making use of available light.
The Knot Texas featured a recent wedding I photographed with Sharon Nicole in a 5 page editorial feature.
See the online story here.
Many thanks to my 2nd photographer Sharon for providing some of these great images and to the event planner Carmela Hartman for pitching the story. It was a beautiful wedding at The Wildflower Center with aspects of a traditional Chinese ceremony.
product shoot for a national candle company based in austin, lights out.
the brushed metal and metallic labels made for some nice and shiny images.
add a plate of acrylic underneath and you get a subtle reflection as well
ok, time to catch up on the many months of silence.
prepare yourself for a plethora of updates in the next day or so.
