Read Austin Diary, Part I here)
Bill and Jess’s Austin adventure continued bright and early on Friday with Texas Photo Roundup‘s Negotiating 2.0 Panel, held at The Blanton Museum of Art. Jess sat on the panel, moderated by Allegra Wilde of Eyeist, which also included WM photographer Adam Voorhes, PhotoShelter Co-founder Allen Murabayashi, rep David Laidler, and JWT art producer Kaia Hemming. Each panelist gave a 15-minute presentation before moving on to Q&A. As with most photo industry events, this part was hit or miss. While there were a number of good questions asked, many were hyper-specific, but Bill jumped in with a few good ones himself, and overall the panel went really well.
After the panel, everyone broke off for lunch and Bill and Jess ate with another great group of creatives, including Adam Voorhes, Marta Alexander (Big Picture Reps), Shannon McMillian (AP at GSD&M), Anna Alexander (DOP at Dwell), Ally Godfrey-Caulder (AB at The Marketing Arm) and Allegre Wilde. Bill then headed off to check out books at the portfolio reviews, while Jess left for Katie Hayes Luke‘s studio to check out the Chris Buck Workshop he’d been hearing so much about.
After scoping out the joint, chatting with Katie, and saying hello to some other Wonderful Machiners, Jess headed back to The Blanton to meet up with Bill for the Dan Winters talk. When he arrived, Bill was still reviewing portfolios and while waiting, Keren Sachs of Shutterstock introduced him to photojournalist Jennifer Whitney. So Jess did a little impromptu review of Jennifer’s book as Bill was finishing up. Then it was on to a quick bite at El Mercado before catching the Dan Winters “Icons of Photography” lecture and book signing.
Bill and Jess ended up in the second to last row; the place was packed. It was worth it though, even if they were in the nosebleed section, since Dan is such a unique photographer and a fantastic speaker. Of course, he showed the meticulous celebrity portraits in that he’s famous for. But he also showed a lot of more personal pictures and even drawings that were just as interesting. There were even a couple of moments when he got choked up – after being introduced by long-time photo editor and friend Karen Frank, and again, tenderly recalling fleeting moments with his son.
After the event, Bill and Jess headed to a Wonderful Machine happy hour at Lustre Pearl, where they met with photographers Wade Griffith, Craig Washburn, Tania Quintanilla, Andrew Pogue, King Lawrence, Jonathan Hanson, Ryann Ford, Buff Strickland, Justin Clemons, Jeff Wilson, Nathan Lindstrom, and Jody Horton. Jody’s assistant Kate also joined them along with food stylist Meghan Erwin, and producer Matthew Slimmer.
After a late night snack at the Gyro Food truck next to the Pearl, Bill and Jess made their way back to the hotel for a brief night of sleep before an early morning departure. Lucky for them, Philly avoided much of the nasty Nemo weather and a sunny day greeted them as they landed—a fantastic Texas trip behind them.
Special thanks to Jasmine DeFoore, the Austin Center for Photography and the Austin/San Antonio ASMP for for putting such a great event and inviting us to contribute to the 2013 Texas Photo Roundup.
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