Every now and then, I take a moment (or an afternoon) to just enjoy my camera, experiment with new genres of photography, and try new techniques in the nooks and crannies of the world. I feel it’s super important to maintain a relationship with my camera that isn’t purely business. I like to incorporate some fun. It is good for a photographer soul to just go out and shoot something carefree. Check out this San Antonio photo walk and this Austin photo walk!

San Antonio Photo Walk

This past January, I took one of these creative breaks with my friend and second shooter, Fred. Fred’s favorite genre of photography is shooting live music. I’ve always expressed an interest in trying this to him, so he suggested this is what we shoot. Live music.

Our first stop was La Botanica near downtown San Antonio and Eva Ybarra was performing.  She is often called, “the Queen of the Accordion.” It was evident how she earned her nickname. She’s been playing since she was four. I tell you, I like Conjunto music so my foot tapped along to her music a lot. I like the effect I got when I shot through a purple tinsel mobile that was hanging from the ceiling. This is called in-camera artistry or in my case and more appropriately, in-camera experimentation.

The second place Fred took me to is a place called Texas Pop. Until this day, I had absolutely no idea that this place existed. Officially, the South Texas Popular Culture Center is a music museum for all local music. Texas Pop bills itself as an an archive, art gallery, and performance venue.

This is when Fred made MY DAY! This man’s name is Javier Escovedo (above). He is the uncle to Sheila Escovedo… who also is known as Sheila E. (At this point, people, I’m three degrees from Prince and living The Glamorous Life! This was almost as good as the time I was 30 feet from Prince, but that’s a story for another day.) Of course, I would not have known any of this if it wasn’t for Fred educating me on this Tex/Mex rock n’ roll music. To thank him, here’s a picture of him doing his thing and enjoying his night too. He was taking some long exposure images of the La Antorcha de la Amistad (The Torch of Friendship—a gift to the city of San Antonio from Mexico) with his mirrorless Fuji X100T while I was experimenting with my MagMods.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the San Antonio photo walk:

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