Faces of Hell: Portraits of 'Cycling Hell'

The vangurads of cycling fashion and passion over at Rapha held a cool contest looking for photgraphs that displayed the "most distraught and emotional faces" in cycling.  Check out the deatils over at Rapha.cc (note, my teammate is in that photo montage, far left, second from the top). The contest photos were submitted to Rapha's Facebook page and the winners were announced this week.  

I was honored, and very surprised, to find out that my photo of Roger Aspholm (Westwood Velo) was selected for 5th place.  I chose to submit this photo because it showed Roger's well hewn determination and grit; this guy gives 110% every race.  With such skills and commitment, Roger usually comes out on the top step of the podium (except this race when he got second to another teammate of mine!). Either way, Roger is the image of pain and glory; without cyclists like him, photographs like those Rapha is looking for wouldn't exist.  Here's to you Roger!

EAST HUNDRED - Indie band on the run...

Kickstarter helps small ventures leverge money and exposure. In return, indiviuals get to help in a small way to a big project and get something for giving something...

This is the Kickstarter campaign for a fantastic Philadelphia Indie band; East Hundred.  They are in the process of completing their 4th album entitled "The Spells".  You can check out their previous work on iTunes and thier website.  Give a few bucks, get some good music and help a great band get a leg-up.

New Orleans - The Crescent City

In case you are wondering, NOLA is open.  There is not oil slick, there is not lack of tourism or places to eat, drink, or be merry.  This city is a wonderful place.

Small Venue Concert Photography

Friday night at Johnny Brenda’s, stayed out way to late, tried to be a rock star, had a blast and got some fun pictures of my favorite Philly band East Hundred.  The lineup that evening also included another great Philly band, The Swimmers.  Fun, fun fun…

So, I really enjoy small venue concert photography.  It gives you the chance to see the show, be part of the show, hang with friends and like minded folks  and take pictures in near dark, with fast moving objects, and lighting temperatures that are way more than hostile.  What a challenge!  I thought I’d say a thing or two about small venue concert photography, but when I you look at what is out there, pretty much everything has been covered!  Being that I need to give my own input, valuable or not, I will still give my 2-cents.  However, of all else fails, there are some great links at the end pointing to good concert photography resources.   

You’re at the show and you want to take pictures... here are my tips for getting decent shots.

• Known the band!  If you were having drinks with them before their set, this isn’t a problem, but otherwise, make sure you scout out their sound before the show.  After seeing some bands multiple times, I know when the guitarist will do his jump, when the singer will rock out, and when the drummer goes nutty.  Being ahead of the band is way better than having to react to something cool as it happens.  If you have never seen the band before, just listen to their music to get a sense of when energized moments may happen.  Be attentive, be prepared, and always have your camera close to your face.
• The moments.  Now not every shot needs to be a bassist jumping, or somebody thrashing about, but they are good ones.  Other great shots can be the rare moment of quite when the band is all looking at each other waiting for the signal to go!  I personally, like to single out band members and find the interesting thing that they do.  Find the moments after a song when they smile and break character or the moment in the song when they forget they are playing in front of a large crowd.
• The arrangement.  Composition is king.  Pick your shots so that you can get individuals as well as multiple band members.  Include the instruments or multiple instruments into the shot.  Shoot for the details, shoes, pedals, wires, mics, speakers, clothes.  But also shoot for angles, looking down the keyboard, up the guitar, or look across the crowd.  With wonky concert lighting, you can sometimes have a so so shots turn to magic with a dapple of light on a second band member.   Or it can all fall apart of the light moves just as you shoot and the band fades to black.  Constantly evaluate the position of the band members, the way the lights are going , and the places you can get yourself to get the shot. 

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Dogs on a foot stool

Did I mention that I love to take pictures of dogs? They are so emotive and cute and often fury.

PS- first time posting from my iPhone, milage may very.