#ladybirdgoeswest

Last week I worked on an Instagram project at work for Lady Bird's "Western Trip" to Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming in August 1964. It was fun to look through our contact sheets and scan photos that have never been digitized before. A lot of my job is fulfilling researcher requests, which are usually photos that we already have scanned or popular photos that we've all seen before. It's refreshing to go digging in the archives to see what you can find - some nice portraits of Lady Bird and beautiful photographs of America's landscape. Although I think my favorite is her reaction to the buffalo barbecue...

night at the museum

Night at the Museum - February 15, 2013

I thought this was a funny moment. This kid sat in the same spot glued to his phone for most of the evening. What was incredibly exciting for me, was not so much for him. The Briscoe Center's exhibit "News to History: Photojournalism and the Presidency" is now open at the LBJ Presidential Library, most of the featured photographers attended the opening on February 15, too. This kid missed out.

photog friday: dan winters

Photog Friday is back on track!

Dan Winters. Last Friday I got to meet Dan Winters! He was Icon No. 16 for the photography series hosted by the Austin Center for Photography. It was great to get an in-depth look and hear the stories behind some of his most famous images. Best part besides getting to meet him? The fact that he had to turn down the lights in the auditorium until we could only see his face occasionally lit by his computer screen because he was nervous. All photographers are the same in this way. We can turn our camera to the world, but when it is turned on us we hide. Where do we go? Who we are is hidden in our photographs.

The photograph below, is the closest thing I have to anything resembling a Dan Winters photograph, or even channeling him. I love this photo of First Lady Barbara Bush. This was in the Green Room before going onstage for "The Enduring Legacies of America's First Ladies: Reflections of First Ladies" on November 15, 2012. It was the LBJ Presidential Library's final program of the season and one of the highlights of my photography career. Here, she was talking to David Valdez, who was the Bush's photographer during their time at the White House. I love the look on her face, happy to see an old friend, very regal and proud, like a mother looking at a son.

First Lady Barbara Bush - November 15, 2012

overlook

Overlook - University of Texas at Austin - February 5, 2013

Hasn't this weather been crazy? It's February and it's 80 degrees in Texas right now. I'm sure a lot of people would think that's normal for us, but it's not. It's definitely not - usually this is scarf season. Although I'm not complaining, it has been lovely outside... like California weather in Texas, with Texas everything else. I snapped this one at work today while location scouting for an upcoming library project with NBC. This spot overlooks the library and is quite a nice place for lunch.

a treat from the lbj basement

Tonight the LBJ Presidential Library hosted the Tom Johnson Lectureship. Ambassador Andrew Young was the guest of honor. He is perhaps best known for working with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights movement. Young was a key strategist and negotiator in the campaigns in Birmingham and Selma that resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I took this photo after the program was over, but before dinner began. Mr. Young needed a place to sit down and I pulled him up a chair. I feel the best pictures of the night were while he was resting his feet and talking to the dinner guest. Initially this was in color, but because of the reflection of the red carpet I feel black and white does the photo better. It was truly a great night and I’m glad I was there to photograph it (even though I’m still editing in the basement).

Andrew Young - LBJ Presidential Library - January 31, 2013

a time and place for everything

A big part of being a photographer is being in the right place at the right time -- and then also being prepared for it. It's like when someone tells you you're lucky -- I've been hearing that a lot since I started my job at the library. Well, luck is a part of it, but I think the bigger part of it is knowing what to do with the luck when it happens. In my case, I didn't just walk in the door and they said here you go, here's this great job. I worked hard to get two degrees in five and a half years, got my ass kicked, and almost had to start all over from scratch. I think this photo is reflective of all of this - my past, present, and future. Yes, it's of a sunset I know, but here is why. This past year I graduated from UT (which is the subject - the Tower), I was hired as the new photographer for the LBJ Presidential Library (which is the location the photo was taken), and the photo was taken with my new Nikon D800 (which is the first piece of quality equipment that I own). But the reason the image even exists on something other than my iPhone is that for whatever reason, I decided to take my personal camera to work today, got off at six, and was almost to my car when I turned around and saw the sunset. It never quite looks like this in Austin -- El Paso maybe, but never here. This moment reminded me of why I should always bring my camera with me. You never know what opportunity will present itself, but when it does, you best be prepared.

[For all those techies out there -- This image is unedited and was taken with a Nikon D800 and manual Nikkor 35mm f/2 lens.]

Sunset - Austin, Texas - 2013

for all you birdwatchers out there

For all you birdwatchers out there -- This lovely hawk landed on the ledge outside of Lady Bird's office on the 10th floor this morning. I'd never seen a hawk up close like this before, with only three feet and a pane of glass between us. She was standing on one leg and looked right me before taking off over the Austin skyline. One of our archivists on the 9th floor thinks it might be a Red Tail Hawk. What do you think?

DIG13456-001, LBJ Library photo by Lauren Gerson

DIG13456-008, DIG13456-013, DIG13456-021, LBJ Library photos by Lauren Gerson

DIG13456-024, LBJ Library photo by Lauren Gerson

time lapse and other new year's resolutions

One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to get my photography website up and running. It's something that I've been talking about for a really long time. Years actually. So it's about time that I buckle down and start going through my multiple-terabyte hard drive(s) to pick out some images. My other tech-related resolution is to post everyday on this blog. I'm starting a project where I'm going to be talking about photography a lot and I might as well start with my own. All while keeping up with work at the LBJ Presidential Library. Which, by the way, is open again. Go see it. We've been working really hard the last few months before the doors opened again on Dec. 22. This is one of the projects I did. Time lapse is fun but time consuming... Happy New Year and cheers to all those people that follow through with their resolutions.

self portrait

I'm never too fond of posting or taking a self portrait, but this one caught me by surprise -- like most things the past month. I was lucky enough to get hired as the AV Multimedia Specialist at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum! I am their official photographer, but I also get to work with the Audiovisual Archives -- which includes about a million photographs. No joke. A million photographs. LBJ's personal photographer during his stay at the White House was Yoichi Okamoto, who was the first photographer to have unprecedented access to the President. The negatives and prints resting in the cold vault of the archive are incredible. They are true treasures -- American history preserved on thin strips of celluloid. I'm a lucky lady. Inspired, I ventured out to start my own stockpile of digital images for the Library -- and came across my reflection in the window.

Self portrait - LBJ Library and Museum - 2012