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Talk about a great weekend, it started with the Gary Fisher in store at Mellow Johnny's on Friday. I had the pleasure of shooting the event on Friday but my actual weekend started on Thursday. Thursday night was the benefit for Mariel Mentink at Shangri'la bar. If you're not familiar with Mariel's story please visit her site and donate if you can. I must say I'm quite proud of our biking community here in Austin. There were hundreds of people that showed up for the event including the one and only Gary Fisher. When I left there was a line around the block and this was from the 200 hundred people that showed up from the usual Thursday Night Social Ride. Friday nights event started at 7pm and Mellow Johnny's spared no expense when it came to the food and drinks (2 kegs of beer). The event started with an introduction of Gary Fisher followed by a Q&A with the University of Texas Cycling team. Gary shook each team members hand and greeted them as they walked up on stage. You could see the joy and excitement from the members from meeting this living legend. The team captains talked about what it meant to them for riding Gary Fisher bikes and how grateful they all were. Next up was Team San Jose and they offered the same sentiments when it came to riding such a beautiful piece of biking equipment. You could tell Gary was humbled by this. Next up was the man of the hour Gary Fisher. The next hour was a Q&A with the man himself and it was amazing hearing him tell life stories about cycling. Some of the topics included how he started his company from 2 people to becoming part of the Trek family. He talked about how he was banned from racing for having long hair in the 70's and how he quit the sport because he refused to cut his long
hair. You could just hear the passion from each of his stories and how he truly loves cycling and how he wants to change the way people commute around the world. After the Q&A Gary proceeded to take pictures and sign autographs for everyone that was in line.
Saturday was the group ride with Gary that lead out of Mellow Johnny's at 9am. It just so happened that it's the same South East route that I normally do so I knew the route like the back of my hand. I decided that I would ride out early to get to certain spots to take pictures of the riders. I picked a nice spot just after McKinney Falls just as the riders would be approaching an "S" turn. After I snapped pictures of the riders I took off again and skipped the rest stop and went straight back to town and waited for the riders on the Congress bridge. Once the riders passed by we all met back at the shop where Gary continued to sign autographs and take pictures with his fans. If you ever have the pleasure of meeting him or hearing him speak be sure to soak it in. He's a living legend and a genuine human being. His passion for bikes and the biking community goes above and beyond. Gary it was a pleasure meeting you and talking to you this weekend. You're a class act and I look forward to hanging out with you again in the future.
"I want to shower the earth with bikes and I think we're getting there" - Gary Fisher
Pictures from the events can be found on my website: Chris Gomez Photography
Well I finally decided to put together a website that would showcase my photography as well as give me the ability to sell the pictures. More on that shortly. I decided that I needed a better way to showcase my pictures instead of using Flickr and I also wanted to find a way to raise money for the LIVESTRONG foundation. I'm using Zenfolio to host my pictures and they give you, the buyer, the ability to purchase additional items such as frames and matting. They really do make things easy for the seller and buyer. A little bit about the way I have the site setup and what you can buy. I have 6 different galleries which are pretty self explanatory but I'll break them down for you. "Mellow Johnny's Events" these are pictures from all of the MJ events from 2009 and 2010. "Bikes" these are, you guessed it, pictures of my pride and joy. "Austin" these are pictures from all around Austin. "Sports" are random pictures from sporting events in Austin. "Music" contains pictures from Austin music events, specifically DJ and SXSW events. "Pets" are pictures of my spoiled dogs. All of the pictures are available in the following sizes: 4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10" and 11" x 14" additional items that you can purchase with the pictures are frames and or mounts. Framing and mounting options are: Single Weight Backboard, Black Flat Frame, Black Rounded Frame, Black Curved Frame, and Silver Metal Frame.
Now that you know about the galleries and purchasing items; know that 100% of the proceeds for these items will go to the LIVESTRONG foundation for all of 2010. Yes, that's correct ALL of the proceeds will go to LIVESTRONG. So not only will you be purchasing 1 of kind photos from yours truly but you will also be doing something good as well as contributing to a cause I'm extremely passionate about.
Thanks for visiting and please spread the word.
New website: Chris Gomez Photography
As my friend Chris Klassen said "you know SXSW is around the corner when the Levi's Faderfort is being built". Yes folks SXSW is almost upon us and if you missed out last year I sure hope you can make it this year. Recently SXSW seems to improve each year; for me at least. The interactive festival is getting better each year and last year was no exception. If you have never been to Austin (shame on you) and if you're a fan of music, movies and all things geeky, then SXSW is for you! It's a week long party and starts with the film festival. There's a couple of options when it comes to attending SXSW. There's the badge route and depending on which badge you purchase it will basically gives you 1st access to everyth
ing. If a badge is not for you then there's the music wristband which will give you access to all of the music shows after people with badges get access. Then there's of course the free day shows and parties. Be sure you check Showlist Austin for information about the free shows/parties the closer we get to SXSW. You can enjoy yourself without even having to purchase a badge or wristband! Then there's the Levi's Faderfort event which is a free wristband for their events ONLY and you have to RSVP for the wristband. Last year everything at the Faderfort was free! music, beer & booze! I must say I probably should have spent more time there but then again it was probably a good thing that I didn't. I will try and recap last years SXSW experience just to give you an idea of the madness which is SXSW.
Last year I had an incredible time. It started with the night parties days before SXSW. Mel as always killed it at Beauty Bar and had the entire club dancing all night long. Game on SXSW, let's do this! I only had a music wristband last year but I definitely got my moneys worth. I started my mornings off at 10am to hang out at the convention center and then from there we hit all of the day shows including the Levi's Faderfort events. We were running all over t
he place hitting up clubs to catch acts. I think I saw about 10 acts a day and then a handful at night. A good majority of the free day shows had free food and booze but by the time we got there the free stuff was gone. SAVAGES! The evenings consisted of meeting up at Wahoo's for dinner and to go over the game plan for the evening. For those of you new to SXSW make sure you put together a list of the acts you want to see and take note of where they're playing. You can easily waste a lot of time going back and forth from venue to venue so make your choices wisely and wear some comfortable shoes!
One of the highlights from last year were the free Gigacrate events. Local DJ legends: DJ Nick Nack and DJ Xman put on 2 nights of free Gigacrate events at club Beso. They brought in 2 living legends in the DJ world: DJ Craze and DJ Klever. Both of them absolutely murdered it during their sets. The club was insane that night. If you're into or in need of some hip hop be sure to check out their free events this year. Be sure you RSVP this year because it fills up quick.
You couldn't ask for better weather last year, the highs were in the 70's and the lows were in the 50's. I had so much fun last year, (even though I missed the free Metallica show at Stubb's) from the free events and parties, to catching Silversun Pickups at Antone's, to meeting Danny McBride at Sidebar, to catching Echo and the Bunnymen's free show at the convention center, Skratch Karnival and dri
nking copious amounts of coffee. Oh and let's not forget SXSW falls on the same week of March Madness!
I look forward to this years SXSW and I will be updating the blog with all of the activities from the week. I have a feeling it's going to be just as fun/insane as last year. I look forward to the movie premiere of Kickass as well as hanging out at the Levi's Faderfort again. If you're in town for SXSW be sure to look me up. I'm sure I'll be starting my mornings off at Juan Pelota Cafe to get fueled up for the day. Oh yeah and be sure to smile for the camera.
SXSW 2010 bring it! (28 days and counting!! ZOMG)
Links to last years SXSW pictures can be found on my website:
Chris Gomez Photography
I plan on updating this blog more often for 2010. I slacked off quite a bit towards the end of 2009 but I plan on updating this with more bike info as well as SXSW 2010 updates. I'm also writing for Juan Pelota Cafe at their blog so be sure you add that to your favorites, especially if you're a fan of coffee and a Lance fan. Last but not least I'm now the events photographer for Mellow Johnny's so expect to see more blog postings regarding their events.
On Sunday (Valentines Day and Chinese New Year; yay Year of the Tiger!) I had the pleasure of shooting pictures for the Mellow Johnny's Sweetheart post ride. If you have ever lived in Texas then you're probably familiar with the phrase "if you don't like the weather just give it a minute" That was definitely the case on Sunday. Sunday was absolutely beautiful, the high for the day was in the upper 60's but I knew that wouldn't last long. We had a cold front coming through but no one knew exactly when. Unfortunately it blew through during the Mellow Johnny's Sweetheart ride and a good majority of the riders went home after the ride was cut short.
Here's a link to the pictures I took after the ride. We all had a great time and enjoyed some nice hot chocolate, champagne, massages, and strawberries with chocolate.
The next event I will be shooting will be the Gary Fisher in store at Mellow Johnny's.
Chris Gomez Photography
