Out and About...

Been kind of missing from the blogsphere lately. Not on purpose, but sometimes things just get in the way. A lot of very eclectic events have been strung together lately, but at the same time it's just that eclectic nature of this profession that I truely enjoy. While as normally I do like going on location to shoot things, I've been doing a lot of on location event stuff. The event stuff can pose a different challenge that takes a shooter back to shooting things in the beginning. You don't have a lot of control, you can't light something, things get in the way, and there's nothing you can do about it but hope that you're fast enough to catch what's happening; and that your camera functions like it's supposed to.


That's a shot from Howl at the Moon in Downtown Indianapolis recently. I love the colors in stage, or performance venues. It's a tough thing to recreate outside of an environment like that. I like using my color gels just like any other photographer, but a lot of times it's just not the same. That all the same not everyone takes the flashy approach to presentation. A good example of that would be this:


That was the Vagina Monologues as performed in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis. Someone associated with Roller Derby was a part of the program, which is how I got involved. They didn't have a lot of flashy lights, but they had a relatively nifty venue. The room wasn't large, there were probably about 50 people in there I would guess, and the ladies really did put on quite a powerful performance. I had no idea what I was getting into when I walked into the room, but luckily having done so much work for a Women's Sports team, I wasn't too surprised by what came next.

I've shot a few other strange things recently as well, including the Jefferson Awards banquet earlier today, right before playing dodgeball with baseball's that were ricocheting off of a brick wall......among other things. When that' video is done I'll be sure to post it. Lets just say some things are more resilient to baseballs than you can imagine. One thing that isn't as hard to predict though, is the fact that no matter what venue I go to for an event, no matter how nice it is I always manage to find the one piece of gum on the floor to sit on, kneel on, or step on in the whole place. More Soon.

Shooting the Moon...

Recently I was asked to shoot at a place that for a while was also called by some to be a second home. When I first moved to Indy I had a few friends that loved to frequent Howl at the Moon in downtown Indianapolis. I'll tell you what, It's a good time and I definitely still do enjoy going there even though I don't go as much as I once did.


Someone once asked me what I thought about working here in Indianapolis, and what I thought about the quality of talent it had to offer. Personally, I think that Indianapolis has the same caliber of talented people as you could find in Chicago, LA, New York or anywhere. The musicians, performers, photographers, athletes, ect just don't get the same exposure here. You could travel to lots of places in Chicago and see people that aren't as good of musicians as some of the people that play at the Howl at the Moon here in Indy. Truely a talented group of people.


That's Todd, and he's not only a piano, guitar, and fiddle player but also a firefighter. I swear this guy must sleep less than I do, but he's probably lost more of his marbles than I had to to start with total which would probably explain how he survives the hours. There are some reports that He'll work all night at Howl and then make an appearance at a 2 alarm fire at 5:30 the same morning. It's pretty wild I'm not gunna lie, I don't think I could do what he does. That's for darn sure.


The staff was gracious and helpful, the crowd was excited about my being there even though to them I was more of just Random guy with BIG A$$ CAMERA. There are a few things that I would do differently next time, but that's still to come as I'm not done there yet. I'd like to get a good shot of each of the performers doing there thing, but the lighting doesn't always tend to things like that in such a dynamic environment. Not to mention the very lovely and talented Joanna the piano player who broke her ankle in a Hula Hoop contest. Something tells me she'll be sitting somewhat stationary for a while. I definitely look forward to a return trip in the next few weeks, either for myself; or possibly for them.

On a side note, I was not hired to shoot in promotion of the bar because of a statement that the General Manager made before the Colt's vs. Ravens game a few weeks ago. That had nothing to do with it by any stretch of the imagination. For the record, I do know him personally and anybody that took his message poorly obviously does not understand sportsmanship. I do think that he could have sent his support of his hometown slightly differently; but if you can't take a little smack talk about football than you shouldn't be allowed to watch it. Enough said, and as always; More Soon.