New Series (!) AND I'm Presenting at Pecha Kucha!

I have some big news!  Like really big news.  I may have let the cat out of the bag to some of you, but I've been doing a pretty good job keeping my new series under-wraps - until now!  It is finally time to announce my new series, and what better way than at Pecha Kucha!  What's Pecha Kucha, you might ask?  Simply put, it's a presentation where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds.  The images advance automatically and you talk along to the images.  Oh, and did I mention it's in front of 300-400 people?  I'm trying not to think about that part right now.  Past presenters include artist/designer Alyson Fox, chef extraordinaire Tyson Cole and architect Michael Hsu, so I'm pretty honored to be part of such a great event.

For the last few years, I've been working on a personal project documenting rest areas all across the southwest.  Soon after my move to Austin, I started noticing these neat little roadside tables, and out of curiosity, did a little research on them, ultimately finding out how historic they are and that they are being demolished all over the country due to budget cuts, etc.  After finding out how quickly they were being torn down, and actually seeing it happen, I felt this need to start photographing them before they were gone forever.

So, here we are, four years later.  I've driven well over 10,000 miles (I stopped keeping track!) and have shot over 100 rest areas, and it's been an amazing adventure.  This project has been a true labor of love, and my most extensive personal project to date.  And best of all, it was all shot on good old-fashioned FILM!

Make sure to visit my website to see more from the series, and if you're in town, hope you can make it to Pecha Kucha next Thursday!

 

    

Julie Blakeslee's (of Big Red Sun!) Funky Austin Home

Even though I shot this a while ago, I just couldn't let it get buried in the archives and never seen, it's just too fun of a house!  This is the home of Julie Blakeslee of the amazing (that's an understatement!) Big Red Sun, a landscape design company here in Austin.
Styling by Helen Thompson