Kate Houlihan

Part of what makes CreativeMornings Austin special is the ability to share the experience with people who couldn’t be there in person. We rely on talented volunteer photographers to document the event.

So it’s our pleasure to get to know Patrick Lu, a writer, computer scientist, blogger, and – oh, yeah – photographer for this March’s CreativeMornings/Austin. 

1. It seems like you use your blog betterwithpesto.com to combine several interests, with photography, writing, travel, and food among them. Do you think having passions outside of photography makes you a better photographer? Why?

I believe photography is about conveying emotions from the photographer to the viewer. In order to take a good photo, which displays such emotions and feeling, a photographer needs to invest time in his subjects. I liked taking pictures of food, and through a stroke of luck, some of the best chefs in town went to the same pub where I’m a regular (Draught House Pub). So I got to know them, hang out with them, and dive farther into their world. I use all the helpful hints I learn from these service industry folk and apply them to travel and dining in other places. A camera is a fantastic tool for diving further into your passions.

2. What are your impressions of CreativeMornings?

This was my first time, and so far I think it’s an amazing event. It seems to draw in most of Austin’s most energetic and creative people. The subjects of talks are tasteful and exciting. I can’t wait to go to more. Coffee and tacos are a plus too.

3. Why is Austin a great place to be a creative person?

I would describe Austin a wide and open canvas. Most people you meet have moved here recently and are trying to start something. This creates an amazing sense of energy and humility since we’re all on equal footing.

What I find amazing are these “loops” in local business relationships. If you take the restaurant Qui for example, their produce is sourced locally, they had woodwork done by Griffon Ramsey on the East Side, their bike racks were made from Windmill Bikes on Manor, and their plates were made by Keith Kreeger over on Springdale.

4. How does a computer science major at UT become such a prolific photographer?

I worked for the campus newspaper, The Daily Texan, and it opened my eyes to all of the wonderful people, locations, and events that spanned outside the bounds of campus. For anyone interested in photography, UT has a lot of amazing resources such as the Magnum archives at the Harry Ransom Center, and Eli Reed, the head of the photojournalism department.

With just a bike you can get from campus to downtown in 10 minutes. Park it anywhere, walk around, and bike back. That’s how I got the proposal photo that blew up on reddit. 

5. You also teach photography? Tell us more.

I’m using the classroom to start some local photography classes and workshops. I’ve already had one and it was awesome (with a tough class featuring Josh Baer), so I’m doing more. The next ones are on April 5 and 6 (this upcoming weekend). Please checkout http://snapfocus.photography (yes, .photography is a new domain).

Thanks Patrick.
You can see the rest of his photos from CreativeMornings here.

Save the date: our next talk will be on March 28th.

Our global theme this month is hidden. (Illustration by Jesse LeDoux.)

creativemornings:

The first speaker at our Austin chapter, Austin Kleon has just opened up pre-orders for his latest book, Show Your Work. It looks like a pretty excellent read.

Thanks to Steve Moakley for the awesome shots of Steve Sisson’s “rebel” talk at Rogue Running. See more on flickr.

In the first conversation of hopefully many, Brandon Webber catches up with Author/Artist Austin Kleon since his CreativeMornings talk. Austin was CreativeMornings/Austin’s inaugural speaker.

Rebel is the theme for our talk on Friday, February 21st.

SPEAKER

Steve Sisson is a coach and entrepreneur who uses the sport of running to challenge the principle of perceived limits. With over forty years of personal running experience and twenty years of coaching runners from rank beginners to All-Americans and Olympic Trials qualifiers, Steve approaches life and sport with an unconventional, uncompromising vision.

In 2004, Steve founded Rogue Running, a training and retail community developed introduce elite level training concepts to the everyday runner in group settings that encourage accountability and community.

From 2006 to 2013, Steve coached at the University of Texas at Austin guiding the distance runners in track and field and cross country to over ten All-American & Big 12 Championship titles. In 2009, Rogue began Rogue Athletic Club, a post-collegiate, professional track and field team that is sponsored by adidas. This group has already qualified two athletes to the 2016 Olympic Trials. An accomplished distance runner in his own right, Steve was a Texas high school state champion, a three-time All-American while at the University of Texas at Austin and represented the United States internationally.

SPONSORS  

Real HQ sponsors CreativeMornings because they believe that everybody should spend time making useful and beautiful things. They also believe in coffee paired with inspirational talks.

HOST

This month’s talk will take place at the new Rogue Running location at 410 Pressler Street.

REGISTER

Registration begins on on Monday, February 17 at 11:00 a.m. CST on our site. It’s easier and faster to get tickets if you have a CreativeMornings profile.

creativemornings:

Lonely Valentines is the brainchild of Brian Thompson, one of the folks that helps organize our Austin chapter. Check out some of his cards for singles everywhere here.

Save time on Friday morning, February 21st to “Rebel” with us. Details to be released via email soon. Make sure you’re signed up to be among the first in the know.

Our October theme was “Play” and audience member, Anthony Blatner, had a unique experience thanks to our speaker, Mikal Hart. Check out his Quest Box adventure below:

I went to the CreativeMornings event and heard the talk by Mikal Hart.  It was very a very interesting talk about a game that he created using these devices, these boxes, that would only unlock when they’re physically brought to a specified location, sometimes at a specified time. The quest only gives you clues of your distance to that location, only 50 times. And it will only tell you your distance, but not any more information such as direction. If the location is not found within those 50 tries, then it is locked forever. For-ev-er.

The idea was born when he wanted to give a really cool, unique gift to a friend for their wedding, and so the puzzle-boxes were created. Since then many people have used his puzzle-box adventures to get engaged, given as gifts, and more. He told one awesome story of an older sister who gave each of her 3 younger brothers a box that would open on their 18th birthday.

At the Creative Mornings event, Mikal randomly chose three people to give a puzzle-box to, and I was chosen!

So the following Wednesday, me and my team at Jackrabbit (Jon and JoJo) went on the epic adventure to find the location for our puzzle-box. We met at Doc’s on South Congress for a beer, planning, and we activated the quest. The screen lit up and reported that we were 18 miles from the goal. Since we were starting in South Austin, we decided to try driving north first. Stopping at a nearby gas station on I-35, we hit the puzzle-box button again — data point number two. This time it reported we were 21 miles away. Wrong direction.

Next, we headed back south. Approaching 290 we decided to head west, since we thought there was a better chance of the goal being out there. Hitting the button a few minutes later, we found we were on the right track. We followed 290 for a ways, and were still making progress. We approached Dripping Springs, and gave it another try—the screen reported that we were within 10 miles. On Google Maps we saw a Sports and Recreation park, and guessed that this may be the location, since the theme was “Play”. Although after a few more presses we found that we were wrong, and must have overshot turn somewhere. The distances that were previously counting down were now starting to climb back up—wrong way.

Backtracking through Dripping Springs, and along with Google Maps help, we took the next biggest road that wasn’t 290. Again, progress. We were weaving through backroads and the rain was coming down hard. Looking up with Google Maps, we saw we were approaching Driftwood. As we came within 2 miles, we saw The Salt Lick plotted on the map, and started to get excited.

It’s so rewarding to watch the number shrink as you get closer to your target. And pulling up to and in the parking lot for Salt Lick the number crawled from miles to thousands of feed to hundreds of feet. We pulled around the back, and as the number dropped, the box popped open right outside the venue. Success!

The note said, “Dear Friend — Nice! Meet us on the patio. We’ll find you. <3” Woohoo!

We found the rest of the group inside of Salt Lick. The first team had already arrived, and Mikal was there.  

We grabbed a bunch of Salt Lick BBQ, and some pie & ice cream dessert. What a great prize! The third team arrived at the very end. We had a great time on this adventure—reverse geocaching is awesome!

You can see the path that Anthony’s team took and read Mikal’s blog post about all three teams adventures here: http://www.sundial.com/2013/11/dark-stormy-night/