The PJ Harvey photos I took on Saturday night 21 March at Stubb’s in a lot of ways were the pay off for week of chaos that was SXSW this year. Typically after a week of sleep deprivation, substance depletion/abuse and strained tolerance for hipsters, I usually have a sort of out-of-body, fire walking experience as the last few hours roll in, this year was no different. I think I counted over 50 photographers lined up to get into the pit for this show (half of them bloggers with point and shoot cameras), so the whole situation felt like trying to see the Karmapa in India. Like his Holiness, Polly Jean was a radiant being on the stage, and she really made the whole musical pilgrimage worth it. Having one of these photos that I really like as a cover shot (and on the Rolling Stone site) gave me a sense of oneness with the SXSW machine and the universe.
