Peligrosa for the Statesman

Light monkeying around for Peligrosa, a Latin DJ collective that has a regular jam at the Scoot Inn.

SXSW 2012

Two months is enough time for recovery, right?

SXSW is a beast for any journalist to cover. Depending on what your client needs, which bands are 'breakthrough artists,' and how long the lines are, making the frames you want is a challenge. Most of these were snapped in the half hour I was running to the next line/show/sweatypresspit. I would love to street shoot the entire thing - following the sound of a good time, the good light, the randomness of the scene. You can only shoot so many open mouths at a microphone. Maybe next year.

SXSW 2012 - Images by Julia Robinson

Holly Bolt Removal

After fifty years of infighting between residents of East Austin and the city, Austin's Holly Power Plant is finally coming down. The turbulent history of the facility, erected in the middle of a residential neighborhood in the 1960's still feels fresh for many residents who turned out to remove the first bolts.

I live a few blocks from the power plant now and used the see the steam rising over the water on my way to high school back in the 1990's. As this transition takes place - the demolition, the clean-up, and the development of new parkland - I wander around my neighborhood documenting the change, getting to know my neighbors and the history that's simmered here for decades.

East Austin Parking for the Statesman

Jesse Flores suffered stroke in March of 2010. His neighborhood just east of downtown on 8th street, was jammed with traffic - visitors to SXSW looking for free parking. The ambulance ride to the hospital, less than a mile away, took over 20 minutes.

Traffic congestion and parking problems in neighborhoods bordering downtown have become all to common in the last three years. Thursday through Sunday nights are filled with constant traffic and loud bar and club patrons return for their vehicles in the early morning hours. With the city extension of parking meters into the evening hours, the problem will only get worse. Flores and other neighbors are petitioning the city for residential parking permits to ease the problem.