The Dead Milkmen performing at the East Side Drive In as part of the Mess With Texas (MWTX) festival at SXSW 2011.

This was insanely fun to shoot. Also, a tad dangerous. Thankfully the crowd up front had an extremely positive attitude, helping to pick up fallen comrades and whatnot. I did miss getting photos of a few insane things around me – like a kid climbing the speaker tower to my right and jumping into the crowd from about 20-25 feet in the air, only to land face first in the dirt when a gap appeared in his landing zone. Ouch. There was just so much stuff going on and the failing light of the day, combined with a huge red spike in the lighting on stage, conspired to make this one of the most difficult shooting experiences I’ve ever had. While there wasn’t a photo pit, thankfully I was shoved against the stage, leaving room for my camera bag on the edge of the stage. Of course that meant that I had literally zero range of motion once the show began – no hunting for novel angels at this show. Also, any lens change put me at a pretty substantial risk of having gear knocked out of my hand and into the Texas sand. That wasn’t something I wanted to have happen. All that risk was worth it though, in the interest of documenting a show by these living legends and their legendary fans.

Just know that some risks were taken to get these shots and, to my knowledge, I was the only “pro” photographer that braved the rough leading edge of the roiling masses of this Texas-sized, wild-west style, minimal-security crowd. There were a few dozen credentialed folks working the stage – including one that came down for part of the set and blended in with the crowd up front for a few shots (props to him) – but I hunkered down, made some new friends, and got kicked around like everyone else. Literally. I think I took at least a half-dozen kicks to the head and at least two kicks to my gear while it was in my face, causing a slight bloody nose. But I survived. As did my gear. And here are the photos to prove it.