SXSW 2019 | COMMERCIAL, EVENT, & MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Welp it’s been almost a year since SXSW 2019 because I’m gearing up to head to SXSW 2020… and I still never got a blog post up until now (oops.) Photographing SXSW is one of the most overstimulating and rewarding experiences of my life and even though 2019 was my second year to do it, it still didn’t make it any easier!
SXSW is just one of those things that you can’t explain. You really just have to be there. I’m going to pull my explanation of what it is from last year’s blog post:
WHAT IS SXSW?
The best way I can explain this is that SXSW is the biggest organized event I have ever been to. It's an international conference, business networking event, educational event, trade show, job fair, film festival, art expo, marketing launch pad, business incubator, music festival... all in all it's a place to be seen for almost every industry. I was hired to be part of the Client Events Team, meaning my job along with 4 other photographers was to cover all of the "client events" AKA many many many sponsor events and marketing activations over the course of 9 days in Austin, TX. Our goals were to capture the overall experience and the branding efforts at SXSW client events. These events are no joke either- so much money is put into SXSW and you can really tell with how epic these client parties were. We're talking all the heavy hitters, like Budweiser, Pandora, Mercedes, Wrangler, Twitter, Capital One, Viceland, LITERALLY ANY BRAND you can think of had some sort of marketing activation there. A lot of these events had overlap with concerts which was awesome, because I got to photograph a lot of music while I was at it. My favorite things to photograph are branded lifestyle situations and concerts, so SXSW WAS SO PERFECT FOR ME!
Y’all, it took me a year to get this blog post up because it’s just such an overwhelming stretch of time where I take SO MANY PHOTOS that by the time I get back home and edit everything, I’m exhausted. And I honestly have a little bit of PTSD from dealing with all those photos so I end up having to take a break from them lol…which is why this post is happening now- to get me in the spirit of going again in 3 weeks!
In 2019, as part of the Client Events photography team I photographed for 60+ brands. That came in many forms of branded activations, special events/concerts/parties, and just looking for consumers interacting or using those brands out and about while at the festival. Photographing for SXSW client events is essentially a massive scavenger hunt with a shot list.
I was also HELLA SICK for the first few days. I had a gnarly cold/viral infection/who knows what and it made my drive to Austin and the first few days miserable. I was definitely hopped up on Mucinex for the majority of these photos.
This is going to be a huge blog post, just due to the sheer amount of imagery I have from those 9ish days. Behold, my favorite marketing, commercial, lifestyle, event, and concert images from SXSW 2019! These images include shots of Wrangler, Mercedes/Daimler, Gwenyth Paltrow and Poppy Harlow, Instagram founders Kevin Systrom & Mike Krieger, Budweiser, White Denim at the Harley Davidson Brooklyn Bowl, Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers, a Sloth, Car2Go, Cautious Clay, the Chattering Nuns from Amazon Prime’s Good Omens show, Black Pistol Fire, Doc Martens, Deep Eddy Vodka, Fender Play, Chess grandmaster Gary Kasparav at Twitter, Jamie N. Commons, Japanese Breakfast, King Princess, Lance Bass, Land O’ Lakes, Stub Hub, Lizzo, Lush, Propel, Red Bull, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shell, Sparkling Ice, Spectrum Reach, Rolling Stone, Bud Light, Uber Eats, Wendy’s, Vans, VICELAND, Uber, X Ambassadors, Visible, and Joan Jett.
All photos © Jordan Hefler. Please contact me here for interest in image licensing or usage.