Austin, Texas treads it's own path no matter how it's viewed: location, weather, people, politics, or food (trucks), the city is alive and buzzing top to bottom with eclectic energy and creativity on all fronts. Upon wrapping a project near the Lone Star capital this past spring, we set out on South Congress Avenue to capture a series of portraits; faces that represent a city that shirks convention and embraces the "Keep Austin Weird" persona. We set up our makeshift studio in the parking lot of the famed Hotel San José. A simple yet visual backdrop caught our eye as an ideal location to accompany the varied people we spent a few minutes getting to know and profiling for this personal project.
"There is no dress-code in Austin. How you look and what you’re worth typically have little to do with each other here. In central Austin, it is quite common to see some scruffy, smelly hippie with dread-locks, tattoos and piercings driving a new Lexus or Mercedes. People in Austin like to look weird. The woman you see walking down the drag with the tattoo of a dragon across her back and the purple hair may be your child’s kindergarten teacher. Your congressman might be a leather-clad biker. And the girl in the coffee shop serving you a latte may have a Ph.D. in astrophysics. Don’t judge a book by its cover here." A few thoughts on people, dress, and how they commingle from the website Texas Funny.
As summer winds down, we look forward to sharing a variety of still & motion based projects that have been sunning and are near completion. Here's to a fresh start for all walks, whether work, school, or extended vacation...
