South by Southwest 2012

While this year’s SXSW was notably less insane than last year’s, I still managed to see a lot of good music and have a lot of good times with friends.

To wit:


Black Tusk @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Black Tusk @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Black Tusk @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Black Tusk @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Black Tusk @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Black Tusk @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Train Sign & Bikes


Mohawk Dude


Myndi & Mohawk Dude


It’s a Rough Life


Shem & Dej


Myndi, Patrick, & Hannah


Failure to Ride


Rapper @ Hater Graffiti Brunch, Yellow Jacket SXSW 2012


Rapper @ Hater Graffiti Brunch, Yellow Jacket SXSW 2012


Kelly


Hannah & Patrick


Rapper @ Hater Graffiti Brunch, Yellow Jacket SXSW 2012


Rapper @ Hater Graffiti Brunch, Yellow Jacket SXSW 2012


Rapper @ Hater Graffiti Brunch, Yellow Jacket SXSW 2012


Rapper @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Gita @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Circus Performer


Circus Performer


Zulu Winter @ Mohawk, Austinist Day Party, SXSW 2012


Zulu Winter @ Mohawk, Austinist Day Party, SXSW 2012


Zulu Winter @ Mohawk, Austinist Day Party, SXSW 2012


Lauren, Taylor, Roanna


Blood Orange @ Mohawk, Austinist Day Party, SXSW 2012


Taylor & Lauren


Holy Grail @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Holy Grail @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Holy Grail @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Holy Grail @ Death Match, Scoot Inn SXSW 2012


Slowdance @ Parkside, SXSW 2012


Slowdance @ Parkside, SXSW 2012

More SXSW Photos

These will probably be the last photos that I post … I think I’ve hit on the cream of the crop.

Hystoic Vein

RoCola Bacalao

Bituaya @ The Copa

Nana Rizzini

The Just Desserts

Mo'some Tonebender

I’m not sure about that last one … think I need to tweak the levels a bit. I want more contrast between the singer and the background.

Mo'some Tonebender

Seriously, I think it’s the goal of each Japanese band to out-crazy the one before them.

Hystoic Vein

This last one’s probably my favorite. I made it the lock screen on my iPad. Just a beautiful example of what can happen when you’re paying attention and the moving subject stays still for that one perfect fraction of a second …

SXSW Comedown

It’s 7:30 PM and I’m about to go to bed. The past four nights I have been working from 6 PM – 2 AM, pressed up against the front of a stage snapping pics of bands. I saw ~24 live bands at four venues and took, oh, I’d say about 3000 or 4000 pictures total. And this of course is in addition to the 3 days I spent at the Interactive portion of the festival.

It’s been a blast, though. Right now I’d have to say that I’ll be volunteering again next year. The sheer amount of humanity, compressed into nine days, was a thrilling experience. And as a photographer with a platinum badge, a mandate to hear music all week, and an excuse to talk with random strangers, it’s even more fun.

I hope that some of you who got my business card are reading this. I promised photos, and I will deliver :-) Watch this space for updates and pictures! But right now, sleep …

Schedule for Thursday, Friday, & Saturday SXSW

  • Thursday: VICE Music showcase @ Club DeVille (Davila 666, OFF!, Black Lips, “Special Guest”)
  • Friday: Japan Nite @ Elysium (Zukuna Sisters, White White Sisters, Oh Sunshine, Hystoic Vein, Lolita No. 18, Mo’some Tonebender). This one should be interesting; I’m guessing it will have tons of attention due to the recent events in Japan.
  • Saturday: World Music Showcase @ Copa (Bituaya, RoCola Bacalao)

So the music portion of SXSW has begun. Last night I photographed the Creative Scotland showcase at Maggie Mae’s. The bands were Withered Hand, Kid Canaveral, Errors, Admiral Fallow, Twin Atlantic, and the Twilight Sad. My personal two favorites were Twin Atlantic and Kid Canaveral, although Errors was pretty good also, and Admiral Fallow and Twilight Hand really had the crowd moving. I think the hardest part was standing up for six hours. Luckily the crowd thinned out in between sets, so I could walk around and stretch my legs, and when the headliners came on (Twilight Sad), I somehow found a chair right in front of the stage to rest my weary bones. And biking home wasn’t that bad.

As is the case with most music venues, the stage lighting sucked. In general at music venues you don’t want to use flash because it distracts the performers as well as the audience. (In fact this goes for any event, really.) I decided to tough it out and see how well my 60D handles low light by shooting at ISO 800 and 1600 all night (anything higher than that I consider unusable). Most of the other photographers had full frame cameras, which have larger image sensors and thus can take in more light without looking grainy, meaning I bet most of them were using ISO 3200 or 6400. Lucky bastards. I can see now that if I want to do event photography more often I’m going to need a full frame camera, no questions. Unfortunately Canon’s 5D MKII starts at like $2500 and I’d need to supplement that purchase with the 24-70 L lens, another $1300 or so, since my awesome 17-55 does not work on full frame cameras. Ugh!

Speaking of other photographers, I spent most of the night dodging them. It sometimes seemed there were more photographers than audience members!! I met quite a few of them, talking camera stuff and sharing small war stories, stuff like that. I don’t have a ton of friends who are into photography so it’s always fun and liberating when I can find someone to bullshit on camera stuff with. Plus most of them have interesting stories about the publications they’re shooting for, how they got the assignment, where they’re from, etc. The other fun thing was that BBC2 had several cameras floating around because they’re filming a documentary about the Scottish bands at SXSW. I’m going to look for that when it comes out and hope that, because I spent all night at the front of the stage, I’m in it.

The best part was definitely hearing Scottish and English accents all night :-) I’m so easy to please. I ended up with over 700 pictures, which I think is a new one-event record for me.

Madness at SXSW

I’ve been having lots of fun at SXSW 2011 so far. I think my favorite part has been getting to spend time with friends I run into down at the convention center, some of whom I haven’t seen for years but who’re in town. My second favorite part is feeling a part of this atmosphere of buzzing creativity. I also really like being a volunteer photographer, so far. I typically have to shoot a panel and then have an hour or so off before shooting the next one. To give you an idea, I had to shoot 3 panels on Sunday in the span of nine hours “on the job”. So I had quite a bit of off time. I use this off time to text friends to meet up, get some lunch, attend other panels I’m interested in, or just wander around the convention center and people-watch :-)

Shooting the panels themselves is interesting. I’m always paired with another photographer, all of whom have been really nice so far. We’re supposed to shoot the panel participants, obviously, which can sometimes be tough because of the room arrangement. For example in Room 15 of the Convention Center, there’s very little room in between the front row of seats and the stage, so I’m always climbing over chairs and ducking a lot to avoid blocking anyone’s view. I don’t have a telephoto lens, which is something I need to rectify, so I need to be rather close. However, I try to be as inconspicuous as possible, which sometimes means turning up ISO so I don’t have to use a flash. But I do have a “job” to do so I’m not very shy about popping up in front for a quick barrage of shutter-pressing. Taking interesting photos of panel participants is challenging, because they are literally just sitting there and talking. So I try to see whether they’re the type of people to tell jokes or laugh and look out for moments like those. The trick is getting a photograph without the damn microphone in the way!!

I also like to shoot the attendees. I look for ones who are smiling or who look super involved in the discussion. I try to get groups of them with at least one in the foreground and in-focus, the closer-up on their faces, the better. I ignore people who are on their phones or laptops as that obviously doesn’t convey interest. If a panel’s crowded, I’ll get a crowd shot — but I shot a panel yesterday that was super empty, so I didn’t want to convey the lack of attendance with such a shot.

After the panel’s over, I’ve taken to asking the participants to gather underneath the SXSW banner that hangs behind them for a group photo. So far everyone’s been nice and obliged me, although they certainly don’t have to. But I just smile and say “Hey, I’m an official SXSW photographer …” and ask politely. Our “bosses” told us to get as many shots as possible that include these banners, as they’re good publicity for not only SXSW itself, but also all the sponsors whose logos are on the banners, so there’s a higher chance of those shots being used somewhere.

I have four panels to shoot today (Monday) and then I’m off tomorrow, going back to “work” on Wednesday at 6 PM. I’ll use the off time to browse through the photos I’ve taken and eliminate the duds in advance of the April 1 deadline for turning these photos into SXSW. So far I’ve done some of that but I’m concerned about leaving all the “cherry-picking” work until the last minute, which will leave me browsing through thousands (literally) of photos in about a week. I’d rather front-load the work and do some of that selection/editing early so I can be prepared.

More to come! Stay tuned!!

My SXSW Schedule for Monday, March 14th

Here are the panels I’m photographing tomorrow. Come say hello!

  • 11 AM – noon: The Future of Storytelling: DEXTER Fans play Killer, AT&T Conference Center, Grand Ballroom
  • 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM: Terrorism 2.0: Al Qaeda’s Online Tools, Hyatt, TX Ballroom 5-7
  • 3:30 – 4:30: Better Living Through Cloud Computing, Convention Center Ballroom B
  • 5PM – 6 PM: Too Soon? Timing Topical Web Videos, Hilton, Salon F/G
  • 6PM – ??: Nuclear Tacos, Brush Square Park (I’m not assigned to this, I just know the NT guys and want to see them having fun)

So far I’ve been having a great time. The panels have been really interesting and I’ve met some really neat people in addition to running into a ton of friends. I’m also getting some really good pictures! It’s all I can do though to download them off my camera in my spare time. Once Tuesday comes, I’ll have a full day to weed out the best ones and post a few. I’ll likely continue doing so each day until SXSW is over.