For this post I want to talk about my SXSW 2023 and also a review of how my photography has changed since last year’s SXSW. On the photography side, last year I was just getting into film photography and ended up shooting 2 rolls of film across the 28 acts I saw (including the pre-SXSW non-official Side One Track One). This year, I ended up shooting just about 4 rolls of film, one of which was half frame, across the 33 artists I saw. Clearly I shot more this year, even on an adjusted per artist basis (14 acts/roll last year vs 8.25 acts/roll this year ). On the music side, I also saw more acts this year than last year. So let’s talk about the differences and what I might aim to do next year.

Let’s start with the music side since that’s what I really went to SXSW to do. Last year, there were a couple of things that restricted how many artists I could go see. Importantly, I had a flight on the last day of SXSW so that was a good 6 or 7 artists I simply couldn’t possibly see. Also, as I mentioned in the Pastel Ghost post, I had an awkward night there that simply meant fewer shows on that night, though you could also say that both my Monday and Wednesday nights this year were a bit shorter than usual too. If you discount Side One Track One, last year I saw 22 acts which pretty much lines up with a missed night and some shorter nights. One important thing to note about the musical selection this year is that it was a lot broader in general. It included more different genres and more countries of origin than last year. Some of this can be attributed to the festival being bigger and a bit broader than last year due to pandemic restrictions largely being gone. Some of it I think is just that I valued different acts more and in different ways to last year. Looking at the entire grouping of artists I was interested in, it was a good bit larger than last year at 221 this year vs 149 last year. Another important thing is that this year had zero duplicates. Last year I saw fuvk, Pastel Ghost, and Haru Nemuri twice while this year I saw no act twice. That also lends itself to having more diversity of music.

One other important difference this year as opposed to last year was that I didn’t get into every show I wanted to this year. Again part of this may have been due to the festival just being bigger and more attended this year than last year. But I think it also may have been because I happened to want to go to certain acts that were higher priority than I expected. For reference, the acts I didn’t end up seeing because of lines and not wanting to wait were 9m88 and Elephant Gym, both Taiwanese artists that couldn’t come last year due to pandemic restrictions, Chihiro Yamazaki and Graham Reynolds who were both playing at the Elephant Room on Friday which ended up being more busy than expected, and Die Spitz who ended up creating a pretty big following (for good reason). Ultimately, I don’t regret going to the alternatives I planned (or in Die Spitz’s case not quite though I did enjoy where I ended up, Austin based Lola Tried). Another thing about this year that wasn’t as much of an issue last year was technical delays and issues. Most notably at the Miss Grit show, but also just volume and mixing this year was a bit all over the place. While in general it was ok, there were some extremely loud shows like the ones at The Creek and the Cave as well as the River Boy show at Las Perlas. There was also maybe my most disappointing set of the festival for the last show of the festival which was fuvk’s. Not only were there delays due to an issue with the drummer and also some miscommunication concerning teardown, but the mixing was entirely all over the place. The volume wasn’t consistent and it was just a mess that ruined what is usually a fun and relaxing show. It was also pretty clear that fuvk was really frustrated and it wasn’t a great way to end the festival for anyone.

So let’s talk photography. As I said above, I shot twice as many rolls this year as last year and shot fewer artists per roll meaning each one tended to have more space given to them. I think this comes down to two things in particular. First and most obviously, I’m a lot more comfortable shooting film this year than last year. I’m more confident on what a picture will look like and that allows me to be more free with pressing the trigger. I still don’t take that many pictures per act, with the largest number being dedicated to Shooks on that half frame roll at 15 pictures. What I will say on that point is that I pushed pretty hard to take pictures on that roll in general since it’s kind of hard to get through a half frame roll and I was still trying to adjust myself to the format and camera. Both CHAMELEON LIME WHOOPIEPIE and Steam Down also had quite a few pictures taken, 13 and 11 respectively, but I attribute that to trying to finish the roll in prep for the last night. Pretty much, the way I organized was to say I’ve got about one roll per day which ends up being in that 6 - 7 pictures range per artist that I think is entirely reasonable for where I think of things.

Second, and I think this is pretty apparent when you look at the pictures from this year as opposed to last year is that I’m thinking about more things in my pictures. In that way, they’re more complex and involved than last year. If you compare the CineStill800T roll from last year to the last roll I shot this year, the 3rd roll of Portra 800, it’s pretty clear how different they are. Some of this comes down to my positioning being generally more aggressive and up front than last year. But I think that that’s a secondary thing. A lot of the acts last year were solo or duo acts and it was difficult in some ways to do non-single focus compositions. But that’s an excuse. Even with the Ava Vegas pictures and N’famady Kouyaté, it’s clear that I was organizing single focus compositions differently this year as opposed to last year. In general though, I would say that I’ve added more elements to my pictures this year that weren’t there last year. I attribute this a lot to this blog and all the analysis and reviewing I’ve done. I think about photography this year differently as compared to last year even if in largely subtle ways. Most of the foundations are there in the pictures from last year, but there’s more polish and more attention taken towards complexity without trying to overwhelm. I really think I’m making progress on that front even if there’s more work to do, especially in regards to consistent focus and blocking. While last year I was focused on the mechanics of the camera and how things render, this year I’ve been more focused on the interactions inside the frame and telling more complete stories. I’m really looking forward to how that adjusts and evolves over this year as I think there’s a lot of space for my photography to continue to change and grow still.

All told, I’m really pretty satisfied with how this year’s SXSW went, both on the music front and the photography front. On the music front, my goal is always to see and experience music I’ve never experienced before and also to support those acts local or not that come out for our entertainment. Ultimately, SXSW isn’t the best space for making money nor is it necessarily the kind of networking and publicity event that it may have been in years past. However, I really want to make sure that they can feel that it was worth it and be happy that the crowd was there for them. On the photography front, I want to continue to both refine and expand what my photography looks like. While it’s certainly more refined this year, I think there’s more space to explore that I simply haven’t ventured into yet and that excites me. There aren’t a lot of opportunities throughout the year where I can combine these two hobbies and passions of mine in such a condensed manner so I really enjoy and appreciate SXSW for what I can do, even if it isn’t necessarily explicitly allowed (don’t tell them). At the end of the day, I do what I do as a way to enjoy the world and to hopefully tell those stories to others and I hope that by getting better I can better tell those stories that I see and want to tell.