I have a few moments before getting my cab to the train station and I wanted to thank again all the wonderful people in Austin who have been so helpful to me with this visit. First off, everyone at ASMP-A/SA–most specifically Julie Farias and Matthew Lemke who organized the event, drove me, gave me fine Austin goodies, and generally treated me with kindness; the photographer who let us use his studio for the presentation, Jack Hollingsworth; the sponsors, especially Livebooks (thanks Corey for coming out and sharing!) and Modern Postcard; and finally John Langford and Kimberly (who works with John and reminds me a bit of me a few years ago) for providing the location for the individual consultations, coffee, water, lunch, and fine conversation. They know how to treat a visitor and I’m sure their clients are treated very well.
The Austin photo community is much like many other cities, but the openness and kindness I saw from just about everyone sincerely impressed me. These people seem to understand the idea that though they could all be considered competitors, they choose to be colleagues and a real community. Bravo.
Oh, and thanks to my friend Paul who managed to show me the bats (Eek!) from a safe, indoor location (with great food).