Day one started SXSW slow. My friend Moni Love was in town for some SXSW fun so we did a quick photo shoot before either of us did any fun SXSW stuff. I shot Moni in this guest house/ motorcycle repair garage in the back of my friend’s apartment. It was quick and easy and I am glad I got another chance to shoot her.

After that Moni gave me a ride downtown and we met up with a photographer friend of mine and checked out Robert Rodriguez’ new museum. He was showing some Frank Frazetta art work as well as some other stuff. It was all pretty awesome. There were a couple Drew Struzan pieces which were awesome to see after watching the fantastic documentary on him. I didn’t take any pictures (well, almost none) but it was pretty cool to check out. I get to photograph Rodriquez later in the week too!

Finally I got to do some proper work. I shot the red carpet for “Chef” the opening film of SXSW. Jon Favreau directed, starred and wrote it and it’s probably my favorite of all his films, and I loved Iron Man (and Swingers but don’t tell anyone). It’s about a Chef who quits his job and starts a food truck with his 10 year old kid and John Leguizamo. Honestly I really dug the film a lot. It combines my love of Top Chef with my love of Twitter. You’ll see…

After the film I rushed to meet my brother and my friend Teddy Blanks who did the credits for a movie called Ping Pong Summer. We hurried way over to this movie theater way north of the rest of SXSW and I bought a ton of shitty candy and popcorn because I hadn’t eaten all day and then the movie ended up getting canceled but we didn’t find that out until I had eaten a ton of terrible food. Evidently the projector broke so they did a midnight screening across town.

Ping Pong Summer takes place in 1985 and looks very much like a film from 1985. It’s sort of like an 80’s summer comedy meets the Karate Kid or something. Nothing I will say about this film will do it justice. You need to see it for yourself. I can’t promise that you are going to like it, I certainly did, but even if you don’t like it it’s well worth seeing. PLUS Teddy’s title sequence is nominated for an award and is up against films like the Lego Movie and Pacific Rim and TV shows like True Detective and Black Sails. Super proud of him.

By the time the movie ended it was after 2am so I called it a night. Today is a much more action packed day with four film portraits booked and the premiere of Neighbors plus a party! Good times! For now check out Teddy’s Ping Pong Summer credits and a couple shots from yesterday!

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/88071514[/vimeo]

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