Matt Lankes

A retrospective tribute to the late, beloved Austin photographer Matt Lankes.

Photographer Matt Lankes enjoyed chronicling people important to Texas and, especially, his hometown of Austin. His intimate portraits of musicians, actors, artists and chefs are assembled here for the first time.

When Lankes passed away in 2025, his many admirers and collaborators united in memory of his work to create this stirring collection. Matt Lankes: Photographs includes tributes from fellow photographer Michael O’Brien and actor Ellar Coltrane, whom Lankes came to know through his work on the set of Boyhood. Perhaps his best-known work, Lankes captured the progression of the film and the actors through the lens of a 4×5 camera, creating a series of arresting portraits and behind-the-scenes photographs over more than a decade. With contact sheets and classic images from that series, portraits of iconic Texans ranging from Willie Nelson to Glen Powell, and, finally, tender images of his beloved family, Matt Lankes: Photographs memorializes the work of an Austin artist as gifted as those he photographed.

Matt T. Lankes (1969–2025) shot for Time, Austin Monthly, Texas Monthly, Newsweek, and Cowboys & Indians magazines, as well as corporate clients including HBO, Random House, and CBS. His photo of Sam Shepard is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian and at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. He also worked as a still photographer on movies, including Boyhood, which led to his book Boyhood: Twelve Years on Film.