Raised in small-town Texas, Kat Swansey has long been drawn to the overlooked and forgotten corners of the Lone Star State. From shuttered beer joints to wide-open parks, her work highlights the range of rural Texas—its quiet beauty, its worn edges, and its unexpected moments of wonder.

Kat is an Americana photographer based in Austin and the author of Texas Textures, a 144-page photo book featuring more than two hundred images, as well as Way Out West. She picked up her first camera at thirteen and has been chasing light, stories, and backroads ever since. Shooting on everything from everyday consumer film to professional stocks, Kat’s images capture the signature color, grit, and character of Texas’s vast skies and rugged landscape.

Her small-town Central Texas upbringing continues to shape the way she sees: abandoned structures, ghost towns, and rural communities along the state’s backroads serve as both subject and inspiration. Her work has drawn comparisons to Walker Evans, William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, and other New Topographics photographers—high praise for a small town gal! Kat has been featured on NPR’s Texas Standard, in Texas Highways Magazine, Alcalde Magazine, Pellicola Magazine, Revolog’s film stock book, All Through a Lens, Fstoppers, Narcity, and numerous online publications.

When she’s not on the road, Kat can be found cheering on her beloved San Antonio Spurs, sipping tequila, trading stories at her local honky-tonk, or sitting under the Live Oaks with her grandfather and a Lone Star Beer in her hometown of Brenham.

Photograph taken by Natalie Barrett Photo