The Longhorn Band is the official band for the University of Texas at Austin. They play, of course, at the football games and other events around the UT Campus. Since I don’t go to campus often, and rarely attend the football games, it’s a treat when I get to see them. Especially up close like this.

I made these pictures during SXSW in March. As I walked the streets, scouring for interesting subjects, I happened upon the band. They were setting up for their short but exuberant march — maybe about five blocks — through the heart of 6th Street.

There is nothing like a marching band to liven the place and stir up patriotic feelings, even if I didn’t attend the University. I was one of many photographers, some professionals and a squadron of smartphone-wielding onlookers.

I’ve dropped hints about my new camera for the last several days. It’s called the DXO One, an ultra-compact, a truly unique camera that is no longer made (though you can still find new and used units). It was a neat concept but ultimately did not do well in the marketplace. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad camera. It does surprisingly well, in fact, particularly under certain use cases. I’ll talk about it in detail tomorrow.

The DXO One is a little bit unwieldily — I won’t use it if I need to maneuver. And, maneuver I did, chasing after the band to get the best angles. I switched to my Canon G7X Mark II, a compact camera that I can one-hand and shoot quickly. The Canon G7X Mark II and the DXO One share one key feature, but the similarities end there. The two cameras are quite different from each other.

I haven’t created Cinematics for a while, my wide angle pictures with a movie like aspect ratio. These Cinematics are the weird and lucky byproduct of using the Canon G7X Mark II with my Capture One software. It doesn’t work with most cameras, including the DXO One.

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