About

Assistant: Zenia Fung

Contact: ChrisAustinPhoto@Hotmail.com

Equipment: Chris Austin shoots digitally with a Minolta Maxxum 5D equipped with Minolta and Sigma lenses, San Disk Compact Flash cards, and Sunpack filters. When he does shoot film, he almost strictly limits himself to the Kodak Portra series of color films and a wide range of Ilford and Kodak Black and White films.

About: Chris Austin lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan, and has been photographing on and off for the majority of his life, and as a serious amateur for nearly 4 years now. It wasn't until he took a college darkroom Black and White Photography course that he became seriously hooked in the art of photography and decided to pursue it as a major field of study.

"I just liked the idea of being able to show the world what it is that I see - my world through my eyes. But a photographer also holds the keys to showing what people don't want to see," Chris Austin says. "I'd love to be able to travel to a war-torn country and show what a war does to a nation and it's people. We can claim we 'know' the horrors of war, but vision is a very powerful sense. Photographs are a powerful tool," he explains.

Chris Austin also explains that he doesn't believe himself to be categorized as a specific type of photographer as there is so much that appeals to him.

"Like when I shoot Landscape photos," he says, "I just try to make the world look beautiful. I try to show people beautiful images that they may not normally get a chance see. It's a nice juxtaposition of all of the terrible things in the world today."

For nearly two years now Chris Austin has been working diligently to establish himself as a serious photographer for the Detroit music scene, working with several well-known and up-and-coming local bands and venues.

"Concert photography and me, I just think it's a good fit. I love music; I've always got a CD or the radio going. And there is so much to it. I mean, where else can you find such raw emotion? To be able to capture something like that, that's a rare and beautiful thing."

In the coming months and years Chris Austin hopes to finish his schooling and obtain his Photographic Technology Degree from Oakland Community College. He would like to broaden his horizons into Portraiture Photography, perhaps even working with models looking to build their portfolios, as well as continue to grow as a photographer perfecting his craft while generating business and creating a niche for himself in the photographic world.

Credentials: Chris Austin has made a splash in the local Detroit music scene during his short tenure as a semi-professional concert photographer. During this time he has pointed his lenses at great local talent like Paper Street Saints, Killer Flamingos, Free Element, Tripper, Blind Shame, PBM (Poor Boy Music), The Howling Diablos, Woodward, 19 Wheels, and The Reefermen at a wide variety of venues ranging from small clubs like The Magic Bag to giant amphitheaters like the DTE Energy Music Theater, which brings in hundreds of thousands of fans every summer to see major national acts perform.

Chris Austin is also the House Photographer for the Royal Oak Music Theatre where he has been privileged to photograph national touring acts like Ryan Cabrera, Dark Star Orchestra, The Veronicas, and Hanson.