Getting Excited for A+D Photo Summit-Texas Style
The next step in this Reflective Thoughts project isn’t happening in my usual territory—it’s happening in Austin, Texas. I’m heading there for the A+D Photo Summit, a two‑day architecture and design photography workshop, and turning it into a four‑day trip to learn, explore, and reset how I think about the work I do at Brian Riedel Photography.
This isn’t just about getting on a plane and shooting somewhere new. It’s about stepping into a room with photographers who have more experience in architecture and design imagery, listening closely, asking questions, and letting their insight shape how I move forward. The reflective work I’ve been doing at home—film, slower shooting, time in the studio, portraits, and everyday objects—is now meeting a more structured form of education.
Why Austin and A+D Photo Summit
Austin is a very different environment from what I’m used to in Pennsylvania. The light, the climate, the density, and the architecture all speak a different language. The A+D Photo Summit puts me right inside that, surrounded by people who spend their days thinking about how to photograph buildings, interiors, and designed spaces with intention.
The workshop itself runs for two days, but I built in extra time on both sides so I can walk the city, explore neighborhoods, and see how Austin’s architecture functions in real life—how people move through it, how the city sounds and feels, and how those impressions might inform my own work. It’s an opportunity to break geographic patterns and challenge the habits that come from working in the same region for years.
Learning from people with more experience
One of the main reasons I’m going is to learn directly from photographers who have been doing this longer than I have. They’ve built careers in architecture and design photography, navigated client expectations, developed clear visual voices, and found ways to keep evolving while still running a business.
During the A+D Photo Summit, I’ll be paying attention not just to techniques, but to how these photographers think: how they approach a project, how they walk into a space for the first time, how they balance efficiency with attention, and how they talk about their work with clients and collaborators. The goal isn’t to copy anyone’s style—it’s to let their experience challenge mine and help refine what I’m already doing.
Side projects and a tin plate portrait
The extra days around the workshop are just as important as the sessions themselves. I’m planning small side projects while I’m in Austin—short walks with a camera, studies of how people move through the city, and time spent looking for everyday objects and details that say something about life there.
One highlight will be visiting a tin plate (wet plate) photographer for a unique portrait session. Being on the other side of the camera, especially in such a hands‑on, slow, historical process, is a chance to remember what it feels like to be the subject. It’s also a way to bring home a physical, imperfect, one‑of‑a‑kind image that holds the memory of the trip in a different way than a quick digital snapshot ever could.
Those side projects and that tin plate portrait are all part of the same idea: using this trip not just to gather content, but to experience a different pace, different methods, and a different way of seeing.
One‑on‑one mentoring and the summer campaign
While I’m in Austin, I’ll also be doing a one‑on‑one session with a photographer whose work has been inspiring me for a long time. That conversation is something I’m already thinking about as a turning point—not just for the images I make, but for how I present and market my work.
I’ll be using that one‑on‑one time to ask hard questions about portfolio direction, client communication, and how to position Brian Riedel Photography going into this summer. The goal is to come out of Austin with clearer insight I can use to shape a marketing campaign I’ll be running in June: what to show, who I’m trying to reach, and how to talk about the kind of work I want more of.
In a way, this trip is both creative retreat and planning session. The learning that happens in the workshop and in that mentoring conversation should directly feed into the practical steps I take once I’m back home.
Bringing Austin back home
The real test of any workshop or trip is what happens after you return. The plan isn’t to come back with a completely new identity; it’s to bring home specific ideas that can fold into what Reflective Thoughts has already started—slowing down, seeing more clearly, paying attention to everyday details, and staying honest about what the work is actually doing.
I expect to come back with new reference points for architecture and design photography, more confidence in how I approach spaces, and a deeper sense of how other photographers structure their practice. I also hope to return with a handful of personal images—Austin streets, quiet corners, that tin plate portrait—that keep reminding me why trips like this matter.
For now, this is the starting point: four days in Austin, two days at the A+D Photo Summit, time with peers and mentors, and a lot of walking, watching, and listening. It’s another chapter in Reflective Thoughts, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it changes the work that comes next.
