Austin, Texas-based photographer Darren Carroll spends a lot of time traveling around the country shooting portrait, lifestyle, and action assignments for Sports Illustrated, as well as a host of other editorial and advertising clients. With over fifteen years’ experience as an editorial and commercial photographer, his award-winning images have appeared in dozens of magazines, as well as advertising campaigns and corporate publications.
Although just as comfortable shooting in a studio, most of his assignments make use of his preference to work on location with a small crew, thereby bringing a minimal amount of fuss and and intrusiveness into his subjects’ schedules and environments. The ability to quickly evaluate a situation, and to light and shoot on the fly lends a sense of “organized reportage” to much of his portrait work. Lessons learned from years of experience with the ever-changing, unpredictable nature of photographing athletes, celebrities and high-profile business figures have given him an ability to adapt to fluid situations–whether they be unfamiliar locations, cantankerous subjects, rapidly-changing conditions, or neurotic handlers and publicists (or most often, a combination thereof)–and have earned him a reputation of being easy to work with, unpretentious, and thoroughly low-maintenance, which seems to make a lot of editors, art directors and subjects happy.
Born and raised in New York, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in government from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In 1994, he moved to Texas to pursue a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, with every intention of moving back to the east coast within two years. Sixteen years later, he’s still in Austin (well, just outside of it, actually, in a little town called Cedar Creek). In what spare time he has he enjoys sampling the creative flavors of Amy’s Ice Cream in Austin with his six year-old son, Jake, distance running to burn off the consequences, and attempting to teach himself how to play a dobro, without much success.
If that’s not enough information for you, feel free to read on…
So…What Else Do You Want To Know?
Born in: New York
Lives in: Cedar Creek, Texas (a town about to be overrun as Austin sprawls eastward)
Personal stuff: Six-year old son, Jake. Two dogs, Gatsby and Daisy, who have a penchant for cats. One cat left (for now). It’s an interesting household.
Education: Eight years with the Jesuits, four of them getting a degree in Government from Georgetown University.
Hobby: Trying to teach myself how to play a dobro without making the cat think she’s next.
Addiction: Distance running
Extravagance: Single Malt Scotch
Heaven is… Either a starlit night on the beach at Coco Point, Barbuda in the West Indies or a Robert Earl Keen show at Gruene Hall with a bottomless cooler of Shiner Bock. The jury’s still out..
Hell is… Lubbock.*
On the night table:In Cold Blood (Truman Capote),god is not Great (Christopher Hitchens), Everyday Drinking (Kingsley Amis), The Last Picture Show (Larry McMurtry)
On the iPod: The aforementioned Mr. Keen, Ray LaMontagne, Gillian Welch, James McMurtry, Patty Griffin, Bruce Springsteen, Terry Allen, The Connells, Rush, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Marty Muse, David Bromberg, among others
Favorite books: This Side of Paradise (F.Scott Fitzgerald), The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (Robert A. Caro), Green Eggs and Ham (Dr. Seuss)
Favorite movies: Being There, Casablanca, Bull Durham
Couldn’t have said it better myself: “Whether your final destination is heaven or hell, first you have to change planes in Dallas/Fort Worth.” -Kinky Friedman
*no deliberation necessary.