Returning back to the Vox Media venue and the 3M booth, here’s Kimberly. Kimberly is from Dallas and came down to Austin for several days to work the SXSW events. From my experience, many of the people who work these are local to the area. It makes sense. I’m sure the out-of-town companies subcontract most of the “infrastructure” positions to local Austinites. It saves time and money.
I’m featuring just three SXSW portraits this year. Though I did make candids of characters in costume, which I’ll feature later. They were mostly on Rainey Street and part of a big Amazon Originals promotion. East 6th, also known as Dirty 6th is always an attraction at night. I like the color, not just of the buildings but of the people who partake in Austin’s most famous entertainment district.
I suppose it’s inevitable that I shoot less photos as the years progress. SXSW doesn’t change too much from year to year. Events start blending together and while Austin continues to grow, it’s not necessarily challenging to make pictures of the same things. Am I getting more selective or just losing interest? I’m not sure. I’ll have to see if there’s a growing trend, in subsequent years.
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I actually walked around SXSW a bit this year. Out of character for me but I was down at Parmer for an expo and thought what the hell. I didn’t see much interesting down there myself, although I didn’t know that a lot of the party had moved to Rainey Street. I didn’t go any further east than the convention center. I left thinking that SXSW has jumped the shark and is kind of fizzling out. Dirty 6th was every bit as nasty and smelly as I remember. I see you’re still managing to find pretty faces down there. 🙂
Many have said the SXSW has jumped the shark years ago. Though, from what I read, the attendance continues to rise.
Of course more people probably means just more mainstream, which probably scares away the early adopters.
I just go down for the spectacle and the free drinks and I do my part to document what I find interesting.