Shining a Light on the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz: Behind the Scenes Photography of a Live Show

Shooting behind-the-scenes photos for the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz and the accompanying Meadowlark Media team at SXSW 2022 was a dream come true.

At the Four Seasons in downtown Austin on Ladybird Lake, the whole gang was in tow for two days of live programming.

I worked with their programming and media teams to capture the setting, the crowds, the personalities, and the other folks that make their show the gem that it is.

A trademark of my work is ensuring that the kindness, interpersonal dynamics, and the beauty of people come through. Because the Le Batard Show with Stugotz is largely operates in a podcast medium, it was really important to capture the inside jokes, the smiles, and the hard work that behind the show that makes it all sound so easy and natural.

Thank you so much, Hilde and Meadowlark!

Jessica Smetana at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Chris Wittyngham at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Valerie Scheide at SXSW with The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Stugotz at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Renee Montgomery at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Sirena Grace at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Chris Wittyngham at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Ricky Williams at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

John Skipper at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Stugotz at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Chris Cote at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Renee Montgomery at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Hildelisa Gonzalez at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz microphone

Mike Ryan Ruiz at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Chris Wittyngham at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Ju Ju Gotti at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Billy Gil at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Baron Davis at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Jessica Luther at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Chris Wittnygham at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Mike Ryan Ruiz and Chris Wittyngham at SXSW for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Khalil Gibran - On Children

Maybe it’s the leaves dropping from the trees and the weather cooling down, or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been listening to a lot of Buddhist philosophy talks, but I’ve been contemplating my mortality a lot lately and the legacy that I’m going to leave with my children.

I was listening to an interview on the Longform Podcast with Lisa Brennan-Jobs and she recalled a moment from her teenage years where her mom was screaming at a young Lisa in the car while slamming her hands on the dashboard. After reading Lisa’s book, and specifically the passage where Lisa recalled that event, her mom remembered that as she was yelling, crying, and punching the car, thinking that she knew Lisa would remember that moment forever.

At the baby shower for Hank, the namesake for this site, a close friend read the poem below and from then on it has struck me as truly prophetic. We may give our children our love, but not our thoughts. Our actions are our only possessions.

On Children
 Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, 
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, 
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, 
and He bends you with His might 
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, 
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

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