Image taken from 6th Street Austin Texas
My hat goes off the Jeff Vailancourt, from Vailancourt Photography. I don't do blogs, I have had this blog page for about a year, and have only blogged maybe once or twice. Since, I have seen so much of Jeff's work, I thought this would be a great idea.
Jeff's street photography is just amazing. Not only does he capture the perfect moments, but the images he takes, tells their own story.
Jeff recently went to Wasteland Weekend in California. I asked him what he was wanting to capture and if he was allowed on the set.
His response: WASTELAND: "I've gone to San Diego Comic-Con for years to take pictures of people not only in costumers, but also on the streets. People who may, or may, not have involvement with SD Comic-Con. I also attend the Sherwood Forest Fair for the same reason. Opportunities to take pictures of people who are in costumes. At first my reasons for attending Wasteland Weekend in 2012 were the same, photo ops, but as soon as I arrived, I realized that I hd stumbled across something that was really special. First off everybody, and I mean everybody must be in costume. For the first time I had to dress to fit in with everybody else in their post-apocalyptic attire.
I've never met a more dedicated group of people. These WW people, build cars, costumes, housing, stages, a small city.. I can go on and on, but these people do all of this. Wasteland Weekend is an event, but your calling it a "set" is actually quite appropriate. It's like walking onto a movie set. There are photo ops every direction. The photo ops are non-stop for 4 days. Bottom line, it was everything I'd ever hoped for and more. Oh, then there's the people. I've made friends that I keep in touch with year round".
I also asked Jeff how he got into Street Photography.
Jeff's response: "Street Photography: Shooting SD Comic-Con, I started taking candid pictures of people. Then I found myself trying to capture candid moments while I was taking pictures elsewhere. Whether I was at the zoo, a swim meet, etc. I was drawn to taking candid pictures of people in their quiet, thoughtful moments. When they were unaware of their picture being taken. I think that eventually led to street photography. I first took notice of street photography by follow the work of Detroit photographer Brian Day. Brian is extremely talented and his work inspires. He's also a very nice guy.
When I was living in Fort Worth, TX, I lived near the Forth Worth Zoo, so I spent a lot of time there, but when I moved to Austin, TX, I no longer had the same caliber zoo and needed to find another subject to pursue that was local and easily accessible. For me that became 6th Street and the Downtown Austin area. Lots of people. Beautiful architecture, wealthy, middle class, poor, homeless. All walks of life right there in one location. That's how and why I got into street photography.
Take this image for instance, a man just standing there in the rain, holding the American Flag.
To me, this tells me how much dedication the man has for his country. This image, is just jaw
dropping. The timing of this is/was perfect. It almost can't be duplicated. This is one of the reasons why I believe Jeff has that special gift. He knows when to go there and when to press that button on his camera.
ROT Rally ATX
I have know Jeff for a few years, and have had the privilege, of meeting him on 6th Street, where most of his amazing work is done. He showed me the tricks of street photography, keeping an eye out on everything that goes around, where to set the settings on the camera.
Since then, we have kept in touch and became pretty good friends. Every now and then we see each other on 6th and take some candid shots of one another. Just for fun stuff. This is a picture I took of Jeff, he looked so interested in this costume.
SXSW 2013 Jeff and Boba Fett
Recently, Jeff reached a milestone on Flickr with 1 million views!!! Check out his work on www.flickr.com/photos/Vailncourtphotography.
Or give him a like on https://www.facebook.com/Vaillancourt.Photography.ATX
Thanks Jeff for giving me the opportunity to do this.
John Cabuena
Flipintex Fotos
