Jann Alexander in her home studio

I visited Austin photographer and painter, Jann Alexander, to take some pictures of her with her art.  Super-saturated images line the walls of her home.  Most feature beautiful buildings and signs, details and sky.  She has several galleries online, including a terrific series of images called, Vanishing Austin.  Check her website for details on other projects, upcoming showings, and information on purchasing her art.

This Saturday, June 27th, 2009:  Gary Clark, Jr. brings new songs to the Antone’s stage.  He’s an amazing musical artist, expanding his sound.  Catch him at this show and see the evolution for yourself.  I highly recommend this show.

Photo info: ISO 100, 85mm, f/4.0, 1/250, strobe.

Private, do-it-yourself, pin-up photos have always been around.   Today’s naughty cell phone pic, yesterday’s set of Polaroids, a bygone era’s personal snapshots.  All with the same purpose in mind, to capture and share a little sexiness for yourself and someone else.

Here’s our  pseudo historical rendition of a 1960’s selfie session (pictured).

Of course, you can always get better pictures by hiring a professional.  But a few quick clicks of yourself could be a fun thing to try!

Seen on Austinist.com (Anonymous Tip feed) today:

Enough with the Lomo/Fisheye bullshit already. You’re a fucking hipster with a $80 shit-for-camera. We got it. Go away now, please.

And…

Someone is jealous of the lomo/fisheye complainer! You’re a boring ass lemming and are sad that you think the person that took that picture is awesome when really, he is super lame for following expensive trends that never should have been revived and are in no way as artful, creative, or cool.

I thought this was hilarious, and I’m not sure why!  Maybe because I like the tone of these posts combined with the fact that the lo-fi genre of photography has gotten mainstream enough for one of its cameras to be referenced as a hipster toy.  Which, in a way, it kind of is (I’ve actually seen hipsters with Lomo cameras). Funny.

This is an outstanding place to visit in Austin to see traditional and contemporary Mexican and Mexican-American artworks.  Complete with a great gift shop, and very nice staff.  More >>

Mexic-Arte Museum, Main Gallery Areas, 2009

Along the same lines of thinking when it comes to using a simple QuickSnap, or even the lo-fi cool kids’ Holga, comes this advice. A great perspective on just getting better as a photographer, using very simple, if not limited, tools.  Read Mr. Z’s article, and check out his nice blog.

Nowadays taking a photograph is easy.  Point and Shoot, nothing too it.   But we don’t want to just take photographs.  We want to take *good*, nay *great* photographs.   And *that* is very, very hard!  And often,  the very things that make it easier to take a picture, make it harder for the beginner to take a Great picture.  They become crutches, and the learner goes along relying on said crutches which is fine for a while, but hamstrings him when it is time to “move to the next level” as it were. — Ed Z, from his f/1.0 blog  Read the whole thing >>.

We’ve worked together several times.  Last night, a friend helped me with a new project I’m working on.  Of course, we had to do some portraits, too.   Here are a couple of favorites:

She’d been going without sleep for more than 24 hours. But, still looked great. Managed some nice pictures at a park near my house. I really liked the shots I found between the shots, if you know what I mean.  This is one of those.

Erica

Sometimes that’s all you need for a nice portrait.  Start with a comfortable, natural pose.  Then connect with the eyes.  Magic.

Some photos from last night’s Rare event.  The vendors were cool.  The bands were good:  Harlem,  White Denim (ready to kick the crap out of anyone with a video camera), Grupo Fantasma.   I’m sure someone has still shots of these bands.  I just have video of White Denim.

Free drinks.  Yes. Break Dancing. Yes. Great food making the rounds. Yes.

DJ kept the music pumpin'

Annie Ray rocked the photo booth

Check out Annie Ray

Spray paint art on the edge

Ok, I confess, I have some band stills, too.