LUCK REUNION | MUSIC FESTIVAL PHOTOGRAPHY

While I was in Austin, Texas to photograph SXSW earlier this month, I had the opportunity to tag along with a friend who was shooting Luck Reunion the day before I drove back to Louisiana.

Luck Reunion is a music festival held at Willie Nelson’s ranch in Luck, Texas that’s home to a western movie set used for filming of his 1985 movie Red Headed Stranger. Luck Reunion is almost always happening during SXSW so I’ve never been able to go, but I’ve always seen people post about it as this industry-centric meetup for tons of creatives and artists to connect while everyone’s in town. It’s also a fairly exclusive thing to get tickets to because they sell out pretty quickly!

At first I was bummed that I wouldn't be able to professionally shoot because y’all know as a photographer that shoots music it can be hard for me to just enjoy myself at something and not have FOMO! Even though I wouldn’t be able to get credentials last minute, I decided to bring a point and shoot camera along and experience the day as a fan…and I’m so glad I did! I snapped some shots throughout the day to attempt to capture the overall vibe of the event since it had such a magical feel to it. I just bopped around and shopped at the cool vintage vendors, ate great food, and zipped in and out of different stage tents to see what was going on.

Before St. Vincent’s set, I was able to secure a pretty close spot by the barricade at the main stage so I decided to stay there throughout Lukas Nelson’s performance and have a nice close spot for Willie Nelson’s set. Everything about the day was amazing from the weather to the stage lighting to the people. And of course all of the artists sounded great!

Willie Nelson turns 93 next month so it felt surreal to be seeing him perform live with his sons. It was definitely a special day that I’ll never forget and it just proves the age old saying that “the best camera is the one you have on you!”