Austin City Limits Music Festival is a strange event. The combination of new age hipsters, frat stars and born again hippies make things intresting. It’s one of the most wonderful and strange events I've ever been to in my life. I love music. But I feel like everyone likes music. I think it's more strange if you told someone that they didn't like music. Music is food for the soul, without it you wouldn't be able to survive. Live music adds to your life story and adds diversity to your life. The great thing about music festivals is that it adds a shared experience with others. This past weekend, I went to the Austin City Limits Music Festival for the first weekend. My friends and I only got the Saturday pass but one day was more than enough. During our trip we saw acts like Interpol, Iggy Azalea, Lana Del Rey and Eminem.
Chase Tower - Austin TX
Austin City Hall - Austin TX
Lost - Austin TX
So let me tell you a little bit about my trip. It all started with our walk from downtown Austin to the park. One thing that's great about this walk is that it's the best way to see Austin. From walking through downtown to crossing Lake Austin then walking through the Barton Springs neighborhood. It gives you a good insight on what Austin is all about.
Pfliger Bridge Stairs - Austin TX
Austin Skyline - Austin TX
ACL Entrance - Austin TX
Before I get into the Festival, I’m going to rant about Austin. So you might want to skip this paragraph. Austin should be known as the People's Republic of Austin. Austin does things their own way, and doesn't care about what anyone else thinks. The best way to describe Austin is that it's like Portland but with cowboys and BBQ. It's a place where young people go to retire. Living in Austin has never seemed like something I would enjoy. I don't know if it's from growing up in a blue state, like New York, or not understanding all the local cultural nuances. It's just a strange city. In every way, I should be the person the city attracts. I enjoy my craft beer, live music, and have a work hard, play hard mentality. Everything in my personality says that I should love Austin. After thinking about it, I came to the following conclusion. Its not that I don't like Austin. I like it a lot more than many other cities including New York, Boston, Montreal, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, ect. I guess it's just that Austin doesn't match Dallas. If you'd ever been to Dallas, it's a mature city. Not that Austin isn't mature, it's just different. Maybe it's because it's different from the rest of the state. When you enter the city you feel like you're entering another world. It's kind of jarring. Also maybe the reason I like Dallas more than Austin is that Dallas is become a home for me. I know the city well and I know what I like. Things don't change that much and I like that. I guess it’s the stability that I like more than anything. Maybe that's not a good excuse, but it’s only one I got. Now that I have finished the rant part of this post, I want to talk about the festival.
Peace - Austin TX
Waiting for Interpol - Austin TX
The Austin City Limits Music Festival was such a good experience. I would recommend it to anyone that likes music, Austin or just hanging out with friends. I saw some great acts. From alternative rock with Interpol to Lana Del Rey’s depressing music. It was all excellent. The strange thing though was the people watching might have been the best part of the festival. There's a lot of interesting people there. From famous people like McLovin and Brooklyn Decker to just your standard new age hippie. I felt like Ron Swanson at Grain and Simple. At the Interpol concert, I saw someone particularly interesting. There was a guy standing in front of me with camo cargo shorts, a Burlington Vermont T-shirt, and a sombrero. As I was standing there, I turned to my friend Will and asked him what he thought his life story was. Will didn’t have an answer and I never got one either. It was people like that who made the festival interesting. Also there was some amazing food. Whenever I go to Austin, there's always great food but I think the best that I had was at the festival was at place called Mighty Cone. This place had a great option with chicken and veggies and damn it was good. So next time you’re in Austin, go and get a Mighty Cone.
Daniel Kessler - Honda Stage - Austin TX
Daniel Kessler - Honda Stage - Austin TX
I know what everyone's probably most interested in is the photos I took at ACL. Trying to get into the festival with my equipment was a hassle. I sent an email to the festival before hand asking if I could bring my lower end equipment. They sent me a response back saying that I was alright for me to have a "nonprofessional looking DSLR”. Now I can go into a diatribe about how this silly it is to judge the performance of a camera by it looks camera look but I understand why their policy is the way it is. I understand their intent is not to allow pros into the crowd to get photos. I respect that but, a pro that is shooing for a local publication is going to be in the front of the stage with a press pass. They don’t want to be fighting the crowd in the back. Anyway, my Nikon D5100 isn't professional looking camera. It's not a camera that I would use on paid shoots. It still does a great job compared to iPhone or GoPro. Not only that, I had my DX 70-200 mm lens, Tokina.DX 11-16 mm lens, and 35mm DX prime lens. All great lens for a DX body.
Paul Banks - Honda Stage - Austin TX
Paul Banks - Honda Stage - Austin TX
Honda Stage - Austin TX
On to what happened when I entered ACL. When I entered the event, a security officer stopped me and asking why I had a DSLR. At first they said that I couldn't have. I told them earlier in the week I sent an e-mail to the ACL information and asked if I could bring my older Nikon D5100. After I showed them the email I sent and the ACL response, they had the head of security review the email and approve my equipment. It took fifteen minutes to sort everything out. I appreciated how professional the security staff was. Especially dealing with ACL's vague and arbitrary camera policies.
Texas Flower Child - Retail Me Not Stage- Austin TX
Reveille - Retail Me Not Stage - Austin TX
I think taking photos with my old camera brought me back to time where photography was simpler. Not having my Nikon D610 forced me to focus on the photos and the fundamentals. That’s why I appreciate people that do all their photography with their iPhones and get great results. It proves time and time again that it is not the specs that matters but the person taking the photos. That's why I especially love one of the photos that I took at the Lana Del Rey. I was about 150 feet from the stage in the crowd. While it wasn't an ideal location to take photos, it was a lot a location I had I for the Iggy Azalea concert. I got a few good photos of Lana but my favorite photo is the one with the Nikon coolpix camera. The person taking the video has a good shot of Lana Del Rey from their location, if anything their composition was excellent. Being able to take a quality video from that far away and getting good composition is amazing. That photo is what sums up what ACL looked like from a photography perspective. There was hundreds of people there with small cameras and GoPros taking photos like this. Just holding the camera up in the air and praying that they get a halfway decent shot or video.
Lana Del Coolpix - Samsung Galaxy Stage - Austin TX
Lana Del Chillin - - Samsung Galaxy Stage - Austin TX
Lana Del Rey - Samsung Galaxy Stage - Austin TX
Finally I want to go over some tips and recommendations I have for anyone going to the Austin City Limits Music Festval. My first recommendation is to bring a camelbak. I brought one with me and I was glad I did so. Being able to always have water kept me hydrated and helped me go all day long. My second recommendation is have some food while you're at the festival. From Mighty Cone to Stubbs Barbecue, you can't go wrong with the festival food. No turkey legs here. Third, if you want to see a particular artist, go early! While I was getting close to the stage, if you want to be in the front I recommend going to the concert before. Wait for people to leave before the next show starts. Then take your spot and wait. That way you're much more likely to be close to the front. Finally, wear comfortable shoes! Near the end of the day, most of my friends that more fashionable shoes had taken their shoes off. If you want to last all day, wear sneakers or something more comfortable. You don't want to be the person is walking around barefoot.
ACL and Austin Skyline - Austin TX
ACL Fest - Auctin TX
For next year, I'm hoping to get a photo pass so I can be able to get better photos and get some behind the scenes action for ya'll. I recently met a contact that knows how to get a few photo passes. No promises, but I'll keep you posted. If you have any questions about Austin, Texas or the music festival fell free to shoot me an e-mail at mailroom@cloudsplitterphotography.com