Here's a video about the Magnum Collection at the HRC, at UT Austin. Program coming tomorrow evening.

https://vimeo.com/9830948

Will van Overbeek and I made this video back when the Magnum Collection first arrived at the HRC at UT Austin. Tomorrow legendary Magnum Photographer, Susan Meiselas will participate in a program about the collection. Should be an interesting presentation that helps us understand the collection now residing at UT. 

More info? : https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/

I can't believe we published this video for Glasstire Magazine sixteen years ago!!! How time sprints...

Walking and looking at stuff on a Sunday afternoon. Are strangers really so scary? Maybe watch less TV...

All material ©2026 Kirk Tuck and presented exclusively at www.visualsciencelab.blogspot.com  If you are reading this on another site, without proper attribution it is not an authorized use of the material. If you are reading this on unauthorized site DO NOT CLICK on any links in the body copy as it may infect your computer with serious viruses. Sorry to have to put this warning here but a recent search turned up dozens of similar infringements. Thanks for your authentic readership. 

Life lately is scary enough without letting your imagination run wild and seeing danger behind every corner. While parts of the world are suffering alarming violence most of us here in the USA are actually, statistically, living the safest lives in ... well ... our recorded history. Hard to believe this if you are always watching news feeds and hearing fear inducing propaganda disguised as the truth but which are really meant to frighten audiences and push them to take sides in our daily political dramas. And when we watch movies with psychotic characters and violent plots we also tend to absorb the fear and paranoia this content can create in normal people. And then, some people live in fear of anyone who looks different from themselves. 

This affect surfaces often in our responses to photographing strangers in public places. Instead of being optimistic that raising one's camera might yield interesting and fun images many have convinced themselves that photographing anyone they come across out in public will result in some sort of unpleasant confrontation. Someone will yell at them, threaten them or respond to having been photographed with violence. But it hardly ever works out that way. 

I was only out for a short while this afternoon but I thought I'd concentrate on photographing people I'd never met. People I have no connection with --- other than that we were all out enjoying the vibes of a comfortable Sunday of calm weather on a city street. I carried a camera that was too big to hide and a lens that some would consider less than discreet. I carried the combination on a leather strap and I carried it "Old School." The strap over my neck with the camera and lens dangling on the middle of my chest. In plain sight for everyone to see. Nothing to hide here. 

Since I was only using a "normal" lens I couldn't commit the usual two "dodges" of the fearful photographer. I could not really zone focus and shoot from the hip if I wanted to insure good composition and accurate focus while using a relatively open aperture. An aperture of f4 doesn't guarantee the range of sharp focus one might need if working in close. Instead I had to take for granted that people would be fine with me taking my time, pointing a big camera at them, and taking more than one quick "stolen" frame. In many cases today I had to get closer than one normally would to get what I wanted because I was using a 50mm lens. And that was okay too. 

There were very, very few people walking around today with cameras in this touristy area of Austin. I saw hundreds and hundreds of people out and about but my friend, David, and I were among the very few sporting a traditional camera of any type. We represented an archetype of sorts; old guys who do photography as a harmless hobby. Like a nutty uncle or a 1990s hipster. And that was our most effective camouflage. Being obvious but not being dangerously serious looking to anyone around us. And not trying to hide what we were doing. "It's not the crime, it's the cover-up." Trying to sneak stuff is sure to raise suspicions but being right up front about your activity is akin to asking for, and getting, approval all at once. 

The one "person" I'd met before... the queen of the mannequins. She was stoic about being photographed. ..

B. and I went to the Blanton Museum yesterday and saw two great shows of art. 

One part of the museum was showcasing 84 paintings from the Charles Butt Collection. It's from the family that owns the Texas grocery store chain, H.E.B. Which I think is the biggest grocery store

chain in the state. From Edward Hopper's work to that of Joan Mitchell and 

Ellsworth Kelly, the breadth of show was quite satisfying. 

A show in the next gallery was entitled: "Run the Code: Data-Driven Art by Thoma Foundation X Blanton Museum of Art. 

https://blantonmuseum.org/exhibition/run-the-code/

Amazing and fun stuff. Digital art translation in the moment. 

It's here, now. The Art World tosses up a big tent...

See both shows at the Blanton Museum of Art..

At the UT Main Campus, in Austin,

 

Walking is good for your eyes. Looking is good intellectual exercise. Learning to ignore stuff is critical...

All material ©2026 Kirk Tuck and presented exclusively at www.visualsciencelab.blogspot.com  If you are reading this on another site, without proper attribution it is not an authorized use of the material. If you are reading this on unauthorized site DO NOT CLICK on any links in the body copy as it may infect your computer with serious viruses. Sorry to have to put this warning here but a recent search turned up dozens of similar infringements. Thanks for your authentic readership. 

Wednesday was a continuation of the "getting to know you" phase of my relationship with the 50mm APO. This tree is just outside the main doors to the HRC (Harry Ransom Center) on the UT campus. I was at the HRC to take a last look at the Lorne Michael's show on the first floor ( he was the producer and brains behind "Saturday Night Live" AKA: "SNL"). I liked the way the clouds looked, broken up by the tree branches...

On Tuesday next week the HRC will host a program about the Magnum Collection of prints and materials that the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation brought to the HRC collections. One of the featured speakers will be Magnum member, Susan Meiselas. The curator of the collection will also be speaking. The program runs from 6-8 pm, is free to the public but requires a reservation. 

The next evening, Wednesday, the same HRC is hosting a presentation by Jim Downey. Here's the info on that: 

Join Jim Downey for a special screening of Downey Wrote That (2025) followed by a discussion about his career in comedy writing.

Jim Downey, writer, actor, and producer on Saturday Night Live (1976-1995), discusses his career in comedy writing. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Cindy McCreery, Professor and Chair for the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin. A reception, made possible by Central Market, will follow the program.

REGISTER FOR THIS PROGRAM

James Woodward Downey is a multiple Emmy-winning television writer and performer, and occasional film actor. He joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live in 1976 (sharing an office with Bill Murray), and continued with the show until 2013. From 1982 through 1983, he was the Head Writer for Late Night with David Letterman (1982). His film roles include There Will Be Blood (2007), One Battle After Another (2025), Billy Madison (1995), and Dirty Work (1998). On television, he has appeared in 30 Rock (2006), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), Veep (2012), and The Chair Company (2025), along with dozens of appearances on SNL and Late Night with David Letterman. He is a 1974 graduate of Harvard University, where he was President of the Harvard Lampoon.

Cindy McCreery was a Walt Disney/ABC Feature Writing Fellow and has since sold feature projects to New Line Cinema, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, National Geographic Films, Warner Brothers, MGM, Branded Entertainment, and Lionsgate. She also writes for television and has sold projects to SyFy Channel, Disney Channel, NBC, TNT, Televisa USA, Universal Television, and AMC’s Shudder. McCreery has been teaching screenwriting and television writing since 2004 at UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and is currently the Chair for the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin.

I'll be there for both evenings to soak up a bit of popular culture and mingle with photo curators...

But as far as day to day stuff goes I'm mostly writing (new book?) and then walking through the city of Austin with a camera, looking for things that might inspire me. 

All the images posted here (except the very last one) were made on Wednesday afternoon over by the UT campus. My old stomping grounds for years and years. I'm trying to get really proficient with the new 50mm lens. That means more than just examining the images it creates. There is the whole process of getting used to how it feels in the hands, along with a Leica SL(x) body. Where to your fingers land? How does it all balance? What modifications are suggested for carrying the package comfortably? If you get to the point where handling your gear is second nature you'll find yourself far less conspicuous to the public flowing around you. If you concentrate less on the camera gear you are carrying so will everyone else. But it really does take time using the stuff in your own hands. 

Can I make good photos with the lens from the outset? Of course, but what I'm talking about here is the fine-tuning of the whole process of peacefully coexisting with the gear. Making the whole public process more transparent and understated. Otherwise I guess I could just walk around in a photographer's vest, put a big ass nylon carry-everything bag over one shoulder and find a strap with the brand name slathered across it in bright, fluorescent pink paint. Wear a baseball cap backwards and talk really loud(ly)  on my phone, wearing dorky earbuds while swigging from my two gallon Stanley Cup, hanging from my "tactical" belt, and generally being a nuisance to everyone around me... Oh, and cargo shorts. And a t-shirt with something stupid plastered on it. I could become an influencer in no time. For now though I'll settle for being highly opinionated... (terrorizing real writers by overusing ellipses...). 

On the side of a night club/music venue that's stood the test of time since 1974.

I misspent many a youthful night at "The Hole in the Wall" listening to various 

New Wave and punk bands. Including an all women punk rock band called "The Foams."

My ex-girlfriend was the bass guitarist in that band. Good times. 

A seemingly shrill combination?

Pre-coffee...

Texture testing the lens. When I punch in it's incredible. Too exciting! so I rarely 

punch in unless I have my inhaler handy...

There might be unicorns... One of the residential co-ops just west of campus.

This is the one image that was not made with the 50 APO and an SL(something). I just brought along my casual restaurant camera, the DLUX-8. I washed my hands and then, for good measure,  dunked the  camera in the soapy water in the sink... 

(I was joking about the camera. It's not really water resistant. I hesitate to even sweat near it... But it's so good...). Again with the ellipses. ... Really! don't submerge your camera!!!