My name is Amy Jasek.  I live just north of Austin, Texas; I am a film photographer and stay at home mom.  When I heard about Victoria, my heart went out to her family with so much compassion.  I am honored to be able to participate and give a little life to her memory here in my home state.

Victoria arrived with her own rolls of film, so I did what I would with any lovely young woman that should happen upon my front door:  I took her out to two of my favorite spots in Austin for photography.  They are favorite places to visit for my daughter and me as well, since one is a lot of fun to climb around and the other has a candy store that is the stuff of childhood dreams.  She and I had recently been there on a Sunday afternoon with a roll of slide film that came back either very poorly exposed by me or very badly developed by the lab; I was keen to revisit the images I had tried to make with the hope of better results.  As luck would have it, the roll of Ektar that I exposed with Victoria that day ended up being my favorite roll of color film from the entire summer.

South Congress Avenue in Austin is an old strip of buildings that has been around since the days of horse drawn carriages. (A little blurb I found online about it http://www.austinpostcard.com/congress.php). These days it is a popular tourist and local destination, since there are lots of shops, restaurants, and markets on the weekends.  Jo’s Coffee has the “famous” I Love You So Much mural on it’s north facing wall; every time I go down there I make at least one photograph of other people photographing each other in front of it.  What can I say, I like people, and I love street photography, so South Congress is a popular destination for me as well.  The man in sunglasses you see pictured here is another local film photographer, who has joined me there more than once for a photowalk.  If you’re around me when I have a camera (which is always), chances are high that you will be photographed.  Thank you for your patience, fellow photographers and people of Austin; thank you to Victoria’s family for including me on her world tour.