Something New

 Still here, alive and kicking. I know I haven't posted much, because not much has been going on photography-wise. It's winter and not enough snow to make things pretty, but still cold and dreary all the same, which restricts my hobbies to indoors. 

Regardless, here we are, on the cusp of spring. These images were done at a Bluegrass Festival. Certainly not my normal style of music, and it was done as a favour to a friend, so it allowed me a certain level of freedom to pick and choose what I wanted to capture.

All done with my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, typically at f/4.0 though the lighting was plain. Nikon d7000. Around 1/250th of a second.

As an aside, I've also been experimenting with shooting video, an altogether different set of skills required and I feel like I'm learning things all over again, which in a sense I am. Jury is out whether I will continue with it (it's very labour intensive to compile anything noteworthy) but it's something different. 

A Little Something Different

I have been requested to write an album review. Something I don't normally do, but I was honoured by the band, so here it is:
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Musical Supergroups.

It's a common enough phrase, but the imagery it brings to mind is a varied as the people you ask. To some, it's a recipe for disaster; massive ego fighting for creative control. For others, it's a one album wonder, maybe done for love, perhaps done for money. Whatever the reason for existence, a supergroup is bound to make people sit up and take notice.

Spark some controversy, make some waves.

The latest incarnation of said phrase is here for your listening pleasure, to make you sit up, to take notice, and maybe in the process, stick in your brain. It's Dunsmuir.

The name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue like Cream, or Blue Murder does. In point of fact, I'm not even certain, without resorting to Google, who, or what, a Dunsmuir is. A quick online search says it's a city in California. Not exactly a name I associate with musical heavyweights, but that is perhaps about to change, for Dunsmuir packs some heavy firepower. Feast your eyes on these legends:

Neil Fallon of Clutch Fame

Brad Davis of Fu Manchu

Vinny Appice of, well just about every legendary metal band that ever was (Dio, Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, the list goes on)

Dave Bone from The Company Band.

Dave is the only member of the band that didn't immediately jump into my mind as being a heavyweight, but after listening to their eponymous debut, he certainly belongs up there with the rest.

The album is a concept piece (another common theme in musical supergroups) about the survivors of a 19th century shipwreck and the various fates that befall each one.

The album starts with "Hung On the Rocks" with clear catchy (not flashy, more meat and potatoes Ramones style) guitar work, backed up smartly by rumbling bass and crisp drumming. Before the vocals kick in, I’m thinking "Love Gun" by Kiss, but then Neil roars into play, just as forceful as he ever was. Clever lyrics abound, a solid sign of intelligence and hints of what's to come.

"And the Devil is content to dance,

The sea begins to boil, Charybdis awaits

Tie myself to the mast"

"Our Only Master" starts off with a snappy drum solo and the speed of the tune reminds you these four guys have their roots in metal. The middle of the song slows it down to Black Sabbath velocity with some haunting chants from Neil before picking up the pace for the end, which arrives in a short 3 minutes 20 odd seconds.

The short frame of the song reminds me this isn't a Clutch album, the longest song barely breaking the 5 minute mark, with most clocking in under 4 minutes. Unusual for a concept album. Judas Priest's Nostradamus broke the 100 minute mark, Queensryche's flawless Operation Mindcrime (really, the concept album which all others will be forever judged) hits the 1 hour mark. The ten songs from Dunsmuir barely surpass the half hour meter.

The rest of the songs move along at a brisk pace. The album will never be confused with speed metal, but only one track, "Church of the Tooth" (coincidentally the longest track here, at 5.47) slows down into sludge rock territory, but Neil's powerful pipes keep things alive and active. The band never gives the feeling of dissolving into a jam session or self-indulgent wankery. The drums move with purpose, with bass keeping the tempo and when the guitar isn't driving the song, it hits solo exploration, safe in the knowledge the rhythm section will carry it through.

The final song "Crawling Chaos" tackles H.P. Lovecraft's themes with aplomb and the lyrical touches only Neil can provide. Sounding like a deranged street preacher (I was going to say manic, but, you know…) he weaves the final tale of the last of the survivors as they descend into madness.

Will Dunsmuir be around for another album? Hard to say, each member has a firmly established career and finding time to write and record another album is always tricky, but where there is a will, there is a way.

As with most things Neil does, the lyrics, vocals and music linger far after the needle his the last groove and I found myself wanting more. So listen up dear readers, find the time, make the change, get in gear and find this album before the crawling chaos consumes us all.

Refining the Craft

Still alive and kicking. House hunting has eaten up all my time. Here are a few shots from the Halestorm, Lacuna Coil, Cilver tour that came through recently.

Using the Nikon D7000. I like the auto ISO feature, the solid low light performance, but the rest of the camera is a big step down from the D2x. But it will do in the meantime until the house is bought and my funds are free for other things. 

The Man Who Sold The World

 So a friend of mine is in a David Bowie cover band. As a cancer fundraiser, they threw on a concert and asked me to shoot for them. Using my D7000 and a few wide angle lenses (35mm and 11-16mm) I managed a few good shots from a massively crowded venue.

No photo pit so I had to eel my way through the throngs of attendees and capture from there. The band was very true to the original, with the lead singer even looking like Bowie. 

Reworking some images

 It's easy to take a million shots at a concert, even more so when the band is as dynamic as the lighting. It's also easy to get overwhelmed when you get home and realize you took over 1000 pics, and as you do a quick once over, realize you got way too many that could be usable. So you grab the top 10, and skip the rest, figuring you'll get around to them one day.

Well this is that one day, and here they are. While my Nikon D2x is getting long in the tooth, it can still get the job done when the chips are down (and the light is right.)

 

Back for Attack

I do so love photographing concerts, especially concerts where there is proper lighting. Witness the following four pictures. The lead singer from 3 Pill Morning, the bass player from Twelve Foot Ninja, the guitarist from In This Moment, and the drummer from Starset. The venue was darn near perfect. We had a dedicated press pass, photo pit, unlimited time to photograph each band, and on top of all that, interviews with some of the bands and a free water cart.

What more could I have asked for?

Well, a better camera of course. While I love my D2x to death, the low-light/high ISO  capabilities are starting to be long in the tooth. Oh Nikon D3x, you will soon be mine (just as soon as I sell off all my old gear that is, which, since I am loathe to part with it, will probably be never)

I have been too long removed from music, this shall be rectified in the coming year.

Gone Daddy Gone

A band I hadn't heard of before, The Glorious Gone. The bass player was incredibly enthusiastic about his playing  so most of my photography efforts for this band was concentrated on him. As I recall the singer could hold a note and what I heard I liked.  

No Introductions Required

I'm sure this man needs no introduction, but on the off chance you don't know who he is, it's Ice-T and his band Body Count. The music is a curious mixture of Thrash and Rap, but mostly Thrash. He was very good at talking to the crowd (something a number of bands I've shot could stand to learn) and got them laughing as well.

His enthusiasm for the concert meant he was bouncing all over the place and coupled with a packed press pit, made good shots difficult to get.

I threw in the drummer pic because I liked his mask. 

Very Loud

I always wear eagplugs to a concert for several reasons, one, I'm usually next to the speakers, and two, by drowning out the music it allows me to concentrate on the musicians themselves and predict what they might do so I can catch a good shot.

This is a band called Hatebreed, who played at the GwarBQ. They were so bloody loud it was like I didn't have earplugs at all. I've never encountered a band that could penetrate what I have for hearing protection. Needless to say, I shot a bit of the band and got out of the pit as fast as possible. I have no idea how they managed to be that loud. 

Wintertime Catchup

Now that cooler weather has shone up, my photography has slowed down enough for me to catch up with the *summer* pics from the GwarBQ. The press pit was packed to the gills to the point I could not move, so having to stake out a position and shoot from there means the pics all have the same angle to them, sorry about that but I never expected the sheer mass of photographers for this.

In any event, for your consideration is the bass player and lead guitarist for the mighty Gwar. 

Being Careful

Most of the band members could play multiple instruments, so they could switch out and take turns bashing each other around. They were respectful of the (many) photographers there, but the fans get rowdy and accidents happen.

I had to shield a little person who was trying to take pics with her cell phone, all while trying to get good shots myself.

Ultimately we both got pics we were happy with. Here you have dueling guitarists.

Pics From The Show

The Gwar-BQ of 2014 was utter and complete chaos. They expected 5-6 thousand people, what they got was over 11 thousand screaming metalheads.

The ran out of food.

The ran out of beer (not that I drink)

They ran out of soda.

They ran out of water.

But they didn't run out of insanity. Witness the following band: Eat the Turnbuckle. EtT are a wrestling-themed thrash band who flail around and smash each other with various things, doors, chairs, etc. The music is energetic and the fans are into it, but the blood they spill from each other is real.

Like I said, insanity. Can't wait to go back next year.

Advantage

One advantage of a crowded venue...crowd shots! Given the lighting from the angle I was, I had to drop the shutter speed way down to 1/40 of a second, risking motion blur but felt any blur would add to the energy of the shot

Accidental Portraiture

From the metal band, Spiral Fracture. This is their lead guitarist. Nice guy and one heck of a shredder. The lighting when they were on stage was very iffy and most of the pics weren't very good, but I liked the way the rig backlit his hair.

Had my camera cranked to the max settings for this. 50mm f/1.8, 1600ISO, 1/100 sec shutter.

The Apocalypse is upon us

 A good friend of mine is in a metal band. A proper thrash metal band and was playing at a local club known to have good lighting. Naturally I had to be there, I've been away from concerts too long and I needed to get back into it.

The show was hampered by two things, my rustiness for one, and the lighting guy was asleep at his job. He only woke up when Hypokalypse (my friend's band) hit the stage. About that time I got my skills back, and here are some of the results.

The band knew how to interact with the audience, which always helps to make good shots, and they had a fog machine which diffused the light, making it better to shoot by.

Nikon D2x, 50mm f/1.8 at 1600ISO with a 1/100sec shutter speed. Run through PhotoShop to reduce noise.

An Assortment of Oddities

Around June of this year, my system finally gave up the ghost. Admittedly it was an ancient rig and while I had all my data backed up nine ways from Sunday, re-installing all my software onto a new PC was tedious. Setting things back up the way I was used to (preferences in Lightoom, Chrome, etc.) was a real pain.

Just prior to my PC taking a nosedive I'd shot a large gathering of bands and never really finished processing them after the new PC was up and running. By that point I'd moved on to the Belize shots, Colour Runs and taking care of the new house. So given a rainy three-day weekend (let's hear it for State work) I managed to force myself through them and pick the best.

Here is a selection of them. ISO 1600, 50mm f/1.8 and around 1/125sec shutter speed. The concert was crowded, given Nile were headlining but the lighting was flat, mostly white which made for dull shots.