dear bird

photos from the LBJ Presidential Library

February is over! I can't believe tomorrow it will be March. Since I dedicated a whole week to Valentine's Day, I thought it would be nice to post about a last minute assignment that I worked on that week. On Feb. 13, our Supervisory Archivist Claudia Anderson talked to press about the 1934 courtship letters between LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson. The letters have been released to the public, check them out here if you're interested.

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.

thank you, mr. president...

...For all the things you've done.

I've had this song stuck in my head all day. I love the way Marilyn Monroe sings it, even though the audio quality isn't the greatest. This music video by Lana Del Rey is also a great interpretation of Marilyn's original performance.

In the spirit of President's Day, this week I will be posting photos that I've taken since starting work at the LBJ Presidential Library. These two photos were taken just this weekend at the Cen-Tex History Fair that was hosted at the library. I was on my way to photograph the awards ceremony and these two boys were playing hide-and-go-seek around the pole and I had to snap a couple of pictures.

Hide and Seek - February 16, 2013

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

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

Obamanos!

Texan reporters were everywhere when Obama came to town, and we bring it all together with a stop motion recap of his visit to Austin and UT.

Produced by Lauren Gerson
Photos by Jeff Heimsath, Nasha Lee, Bruno Morlan and Derek Stout
Sound by Nolan Hicks