outside gallery doors

After watching the livestream on the computer most of the day, we decided to head down to the Capitol and document the hundreds (thousands maybe?) of SB5 protesters lining the hallways of the rotunda. The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and put strict regulations on clinics causing many in the state to close. As midnight approached, everyone waited anxiously to hear or get any update on what was happening inside the chamber. Protesters yelled out “Kill the Bill” a few minutes before midnight outside the Senate Chamber at the Texas State Capitol. After a long and grueling night, I had to get these photos out there. Ultimately, the Republicans struck down Sen. Wendy Davis's (D) 13-hour filibuster. Cheers from the gallery and rotunda stalled the proceedings just long enough for the Republicans to call a vote (17-12 to pass SB5) at 12:02 am on June 26, 2013. However, the session ended at midnight and so, constitutionally, the abortion legislation was defeated. Victory for women's rights and the protesters! For more info, check out The Texas Tribune coverage.

SB5 Protesters outside gallery doors, a set on Flickr.

Photos by Lauren Gerson.

me and dad

I love this photo of me and my dad. My grandma took it a random restaurant in Germany. I been working on archiving and digitizing a lot of these old photos and it's great to find moments like this one.   Here's to you dad, thanks for always being such a great dad!

photo by Phyllis Budzynski - 1990s

batman & friends

This weekend was pretty intense. All my family was in town, including my cousin from Arizona, to see  Paul McCartney's "Out There" concert, which was the best moment in life for everyone there. Disney was right, dreams really do come true when you wish upon a star. That and catching the announcement on the radio one day on your way to work, almost crashing your car because you realize that you found out in time to buy tickets the day they go on sale. And to top it all off you live down the street from the box office, so internet fees and waiting forever online only to timeout, refresh the page, and losing your place in line can go to hell. After years of skipping over Austin, Sir Paul finally decided to grace this great town with his presence and we got to go. Here is the culmination of the weekend at our parents best-friends-from-the-military son's wedding. Photos from Texas Photo Party.

polaroid tests

I am the dumping ground for old photo stuff at work and it makes me very happy. A while ago museum collections staff came to my space behind the patch bay at work and gave me a crate of photo stuff they no longer use and weren't sure what to do with. Until today I hadn't really gone through anything. Thanks to my trusty volunteer/assistant Lindsey, we discovered the Polaroid camera was still working and had some fun with the leftovers - expired Spectra film! Here are some of the best ones...

hi mom

Some of my first moments with Mom on September 1, 1989... Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

austin woman magazine

This month my photos of Lady Bird's office at the LBJ Presidential Library were published in Austin Woman Magazine! They didn't credit them, but they are mine. Still excited to see some of my work in print, even if it is just an exhibit. Check out the full article, including a great photo by White House photographer Frank Wolfe.

April 2013 Issue

dad, diana + the canadian

This is what happens when Dad comes to visit us and brings home a Diana Mini... and then the Canadian shows up for a surprise.

paper and strings

The Zilker Kite Festival has got to be one of the best events in Austin. Anyone take their homemade kites and can enter different kite-flying contests, everyone else just flies their store bought kites. This year we got ours at Toy Joy for a fair price, packed a picnic, and waited an hour in traffic just to find out the road was closed and we should've taken a route to the other side. Oh well, at least we got there before the sun went down and had a great time. A couple years ago I produced a multimedia video for The Daily Texan if you just can't get enough kites. I promised Kyle and Lindsey that I wouldn't be "the photographer"today. What can I say, I can't help it. Here are some photos I took with my iPhone.

Zilker Kite Festival - March 3, 2013

photog friday: the yearbook photographer

This Friday is dedicated to the yearbook photographer and taking all of those horrible pictures of us growing up. Seriously... I don't think there is a single good yearbook photo of me until maybe the last two years of high school, and even then.

I got a little taste of what it's like to be a yearbook photographer today. It was my first official time in a legitimate lighting studio with a friend that I've known since those criminal yearbook photos were taken. It was really neat to have grown up together and be able to photograph her for her first business card. Congratulations to Shan, who is now a real estate agent!

Shan - March 1, 2013

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.