I spent all day traveling back from working a story on Florida’s gulf coast yesterday. What was supposed to be a quick two leg journey turned into an all day trip that took me from Panama City Beach to Memphis to Nashville to Atlanta and finally back home to Austin. There was a pretty big group of us that took this journey together when our flight was canceled out of Memphis. Mostly the conversation was casual, sticking to subjects about work and travel. It was until the plane finally landed in Austin and the subject of BBQ came up that the entire rear of the aircraft erupted into divided opinions about where the best brisket is or who makes the best dry rub or what wood works best for smoking. Finally, a conversation with passion that united us all.
Just now I was thinking of that and I remembered this photo. I shot this at Sam’s, a BBQ joint on the east side of Austin, well over a year ago and for me it perfectly embodies the uniting aspects that food has in our culture. I’ve never been totally happy with this shot even though I love it. Something about the magenta color shifts in the photographs combined with a yellow wall and blue window light make it a color balancing nightmare. For better or for worse this is the latest version.