Exploring Austin for this project was both exhilarating and nerve-wracking. The bustle of traffic, constantly changing  sights and smells, and plethora of places to look at were, at times, overwhelming. I started off with no direction, knowing only that I needed to take some pictures. What happened, though, was that I began to see a trend develop. While taking a break at a food truck, I scrolled through my gallery and saw that many of the pictures I took were of signs, graffiti, and other markings. This was interesting because I hadn’t noticed any sort of pattern in my picture-taking up until that point.

The presence of so many murals, stickers, graffiti, stencils, and other such markings in Austin is intriguing to me. I even missed the green walking symbol once because I was too busy examining the posters and stickers on a light pole next to me. In suburban Katy, where I grew up, there was never much of it. If someone did see graffiti it wasn’t seen as artistic, it was simply a nuisance that someone had the unfortunate task of power washing away. The acceptance and even encouragement of such self-expression in Austin is a welcome change, and I think I was subconsciously drawn to it.

The photos I chose for this project held more of an emotional attachment than the rest. Each one stood out for one reason or another. Looking back on them I can see that my concept wasn’t as strong as it could have been, but I’m still proud knowing how much work I put into it. With time and more work I can surely tighten my view and centralize the theme, but for now I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished.