#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...

photog friday: elliott erwitt

Elliott Erwitt. He is probably what made taking funny pictures of our pets so popular. The subtle humor in his photographs is unmatched by anyone. He is best known for his humorous photos of dogs. Mr. Erwitt is a member of Magnum Photos like Eli and shoots exclusively in black and white (to be accurate, at least, I've never seen a color image of his). If you are ever having a bad day check out some of his photos, or just troll cat videos online as they have taken over the internet and don't even care. Anyway, the thing I like to think about when looking at Elliott Erwitt's photography is how do you even come upon so many moments like these? For most of us, it doesn't happen that often. Photography-wise, it's only happened to me once. My grandma was in our backyard trying to get her dog, Charlie, to come inside the house. Of course, he wouldn't listen so she tried to pick him up herself and at the same time he tried to wiggle himself away. Luckily, I had my camera and caught this lovely moment on camera. Don't worry, I helped her get him inside immediately afterwards.

Dog Gone Mad - El Paso, Texas

low light special

Frontier Bar - Austin, Texas - January 28, 2013

Friday night out at Frontier Bar, we got to watch Lindsey dance with the West African class she's joined since moving to Austin. This musician performed after they finished and I got a couple snaps. This is the reason why I love my new camera. The light was incredibly low, but I was still able to get good definition in the shadows with no grain all while keeping it in color. I really hated having to make a good color photo black and white just to increase the exposure so you could see what was happening in the image. Not to mention the D800 handles bright reds really well. Can't wait to see how it deals with neons and bright magenta and cyan during SXSW.

photog friday: eli reed

Eli Reed. He is a mentor, a friend, and one heck of a storyteller. What Eli taught me, I take with me every time I put the camera up to my eye.

Outside the Festival - Austin, Texas - January 21, 2013

This was the last photo I took for the MLK Day festival. I was done for the day and we were walking back to our car. Just outside the festival grounds at the University is a residential area. I heard this woman yelling to kids inside the house, while raking leaves in her yard. She seemed strained from the loud music that was blasting half a block away.  Without even really thinking about it, I lifted up the camera and snapped one picture. I think she might have heard it, but I just kept on walking with my sister and the woman kept on with her yard work.

Street photography isn't something I usually do and it sometimes takes me a while even in a controlled environment to get up close. It wasn't until I got home and zoomed in real tight that I realized she's looking right at me. At first I was quite proud of myself for getting out of my comfort zone and taking pictures just to take pictures, but now I feel very much a coward.

This picture is not representative of Eli Reed's photography at all. I feel that it is the opposite, but I'm posting it because it reminds me of an important lesson that Eli taught me that I forgot on this day. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" Courage is not something they can teach you in the classroom, it is something to be inspired by and then found on your own. Eli has travelled all over the world taking pictures, and the most important thing in his "camera bag" is his courage. He has no fear of getting up close. This is something that I admire greatly about him.

Eli Reed is currently the clinical professor of photojournalism at UT. Check out some of his work here.

photog friday: constantine manos

If you guessed Constantine Manos for yesterday's trivia question, you were right!

Constantine Manos. He is best known for his photography book American Color, a collection of color photographs capturing the eccentricities of American life. The thing I love a about these particular photos besides the obvious - color - is the composition and the found in between moments. I can imagine the photographer walking by, snapping the photo, and walking away, the subject never aware that their image remains on Kodachrome celluloid.

Here is a link to some unpublished photos from the American Color collection and a video of the photographer discussing his book.

Folsom Street, San Francisco - September 26, 2010

Folsom Street, San Francisco - September 26, 2010

mistake photos

I like mistake photos. I like going back through and editing photos when you haven't looked at them since you shot them. This is one of those. I was a little ambitious in my "year in review" blog post for today, but this is related. In October, we were driving on our way to Liberty County and hit a deer, totaling my car, injuring my wrist, and denting my computer. Kyle and my new Nikon where fine -- thank god. (More pictures to come tomorrow.) On our crazy journey back to Austin, we stayed with my dad who happened to be staying at the Hyatt in Houston for work. I feel that this image defines that week. Kind of a blur, but clear enough that you can remember everything.

Hyatt - Houston, Texas - 2012

#birdythecat

Oh, how I love Instagram. For a photography and film lover, it's the perfect combination. And it's fast. Take a picture, pick a filter, post it on your social media mogul -- all on one device. The photography world is changing so quickly. When I entered college five years ago, there was no such thing as an iPhone. Now, it's the camera that I use everyday.

Everyone knows that the internet was invented for cats -- cat photos, cat videos, nyan cat, cat fails, and the list goes on. So it's no wonder that cats have invaded our Instagram feeds, too. It's no surprise to me either, that of all the photos I post, the ones of my cat, Birdy, are the most popular. So here's to the Bird, and her very own hashtag on Instagram -- #birdythecat.

lisa

Happy twenty-third birthday to my dear friend Lisa! This is from my trip to visit her in San Francisco two years ago. I had just bought a Diana mini downtown and lots of film to go with it. This one was taken under the bell tower on the UC Berkley campus.

Lisa - Berkley, CA - 2010