Tony Moreno - Photographer, Project Manager
Everyone sees the glory moments — the massive murals, the towering graffiti throw-ups — but they don’t see the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.
Needing an outlet after working as a project manager in Austin’s tech startup scene for over 10 years, Del Valle-born Tony Moreno ventured into a world he had not understood before: creative arts. After picking up his first camera in 2017, he began to see parallels between the process of his past tech teams and new artist colleagues; people tend to solely focus on the final outcome and not the path that brought them there. The journey creates many important milestones and victories in software development projects, and this understanding sets the tone of how Tony captures his subjects in his photography.
Artists rarely get to see their own process, which has informed his artistic practice of capturing all stages of an artwork’s creation. He has worked with everyone from local organizations like the HOPE Campaign to large organizations and publications like SXSW. And over the years, he has earned the trust of many graffiti writers and street artists, accompanying them on often dangerous excursions to document their process. Learning the reason why someone writes, paints, or creates in the street has fueled Tony’s passion to celebrate their hard work and honor the rules of the streets.