Getting ready to do a thing at a place or 17 places.
Getting ready to do some traveling. Lots of traveling. I'm going to try to do a daily re-cap post here. Will I make it happen? Stay tuned!
Open Ears for Family and Friends
Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I've started working with the fine folks, Jamie and Mike over at Open Ears Music. Jamie and I both shot the Shaky Knees Festival a few weeks back and over drinks (and wings) at The Local (in the lights) we partnered up. Really looking forward to shooting some more shows and getting some more wings. Damn those wings were great.
The first feature I shot for the guys was the Family and Friends after party for the Candler Park Music Festival.
About a year ago The Sunset District played with these guys at the Drunken Unicorn in front of about 30 people, and all I can say is, WOW these guys are just going through the roof. Saturday night, Terminal West was packed to the rafters full of folks singing along and dancing all the way to the back. I couldn't be happier for them.
Also on the bill that night was Faye Webster, City Mouse and Monsoon. All of them absolutely fantastic live bands and good folks. Click the link below for a link to the store and a slew of pics by your truly.
Tips for Shooting Concerts
Hey all, I’ve been shooting a ton of live music and festivals lately and I thought I’d share a few tips from the pit. I've still got a TON to learn, but here's a quick shot of. You love lists, right?
1. When shooting an event that runs all day keep an eye on your settings. Weather and light conditions change all the time.
2. Keep your shutter speed fast if you want to freeze the action. The minimum shutter speed you should be using is equal to your lens size. In other words, if you're using a 50mm lens you should keep your shutter speed at 1/50 or above. For live events I like to more than double it, somewhere around 1/125. Using a 200mm lens I'll start around 1/400 of a second.
3. Shoot wire open. When it gets dark shoot using the lowest aperture your lens has. The lenses I was using were at f/2.8, which work great for a well lit event. For smaller clubs I use a 50mm that goes as low as f/1.8.
4. Don't be afraid of high ISO. When you're shooting a band in low light don't be afraid to bump up the ISO to get the shot.
5. 3 songs or 15 minutes. That's typically how much time you'll get to shoot each band. Even if I get more time I usually just stop and enjoy the show.
6. Shoot pictures of the crowd. Sometimes they're way more entertaining than the band.
7. Be considerate of the other photographers that are covering the show. You wouldn't believe what I've seen in the photo pit at live shows in the last year. Giant tripods, guys crawling on stage, GoPros on sticks in the singer's face... be nice, grab a few shots from your location and then let the next person get in there.
8. Clothes. If you're shooting an outdoor festival wear comfortable shoes and bring some rain gear if it's in the forecast.
9. Network! Bring business cards (if you've got 'em) and meet all the other photographers there. I've made some good friends from the local group and contacts with some of the national folks.
10. Follow up. After shooting the show, contact the PR rep that approved you and send them links to any photos or articles that ran with your images. I take it a step farther and send a note to the band I shot and share the images with them. Sometimes they'll share them with their fans and you'll get some more exposure.
If anyone would like to get out and shoot a band or a festival that's coming up let me know and if you'd like some pointers I'd love to share what I know!
TEDx Atlanta
This past Tuesday I had the opportunity to shoot the TEDx Atlanta Conference at the Ferst Center at Georgia Tech. The evening before the talks I visited the venue, and got a quick tour of all the places that I could go, and all the places I needed to stay away from to keep from walking in front of the video cameras and crew from Turner that were recording the event.
I quickly realized that I’d need a long lens and a bright lens to get the best shots of the speakers. The room was very dark, with the exception of the speaker giving the presentation and they didn’t want me to be up in front of the audience or creating a distraction for the speaker. I can’t imagine how stressful it would be to give a TED talk to a room full of folks!
For this shoot I used 2 camera bodies, my crop-sensor Nikon D90 with a 70mm – 200mm f/2.8 for the tight shots of the speakers, and my Nikon D810 with a 24mm-70mm f/2.8 for the room shots.
While all the presentations were fantastic, I was so taken with one that Susanna Spaccia from re:imagine ATL gave that I’ve volunteered to assist in her Green Room project by producing some “band photos” for young kids that are forming musical groups and producing their own music video for a song they’re recording.
If you’d like to know more about TEDxAtlanta, head over to http://tedxatlanta.com.
Mac McCaughn, Flesh Wounds, and Gold-Bears at 529 in Atlanta
Out supporting his new record, Non-Believers, Mac McCaughn (Superchunk) stopped in at 529 in Atlanta to rock out a bunch of new tunes and a few Portastatic and Superchunk favorites. As big a fan I am of Superchunk, the new tunes really shined the brightest, and while the new record has a gritty sheen of old synth sounds the live band was synth-free and all business. Carborro's own, Flesh Wounds played second and acted as Mac's band for his set. Locals, Gold-Bears opened and played a great set of originals. First time I've heard them and I'll definitely check them out a gain.
Gear: Nikon D810 / Lenses: Nikon 50mm f/1.8
Shaky Boots Music Festival
A few weeks back I had a chance to shoo the Shaky Boots Music Festival, and while new country music isn't my thing, I really love the old country stuff. Well, turns out I was digging the new country too. They put on a hello of a show, and despite a little rain throughout the day the crowd was having a blast.
Here's a few pics from the festival.
Would love to work with a great local blog or paper, but there's not a lot of them. Maybe it's time to start one? Anyone have any favorites here in Atlanta they're a regular reader of?
Gear: Nikon D810 / Lenses: 24mm-70mm f/2.8,
Shaky Knees Festival - Day 3
As the final night of the 2015 Shaky Knees Festival wound down it was clear that this is a festival that has come into its own at a fantastic new location here at Central Park in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta. There were so many stellar sets all weekend that it was hard to pick favorites, but today, sets by Ride, The Both, Xavier Rudd and the United Nations, Ryan Adams and today's headliner, Tame Impala were far and away some fan favorites. As the final notes of the weekend echoed off the midtown buildings the crowd filed out already making plans for next year.
Would love to work with a great local blog or paper, but there's not a lot of them. Maybe it's time to start one? Anyone have any favorites here in Atlanta they're a regular reader of?
Gear: Nikon D810 / Lenses: 24mm-70mm f/2.8,
Torches - I Want Something
Weird little video, but I love this tune. Just came across them on Daytrotter!
Shaky Knees Festival - Day 2
The second day of the Shaky Knees festival had such a strong lineup of bands that I made sure I got there when the gates opened so I didn't miss a thing, and even then with multiple bands playing at the same time I was bound to miss a few favorites. As it was I got to see Wilco, Interpol, Social Distortion, Black Lips, Real Estate and a ton more.
Would love to work with a great local blog or paper, but there's not a lot of them. Maybe it's time to start one? Anyone have any favorites here in Atlanta they're a regular reader of?
Gear: Nikon D810 / Lenses: 24mm-70mm f/2.8,
Shaky Knees Festival - Day 1
Tonight was the first night of the 2015 Shaky Knees Music Festival in Atlanta, GA. It featured almost 30 bands including The Strokes, Pixies, TV on the Radio, Mac DeMarco and Atlanta's own Mastodon, The weather was hot and sunny and the crowd soaked up the sun, sampled the food trucks and danced until the very last note.
I had a blast shooting these bands and I met a ton of great folks. I submitted this set to CNN and they picked it up!
Would love to work with a great local blog or paper, but there's not a lot of them. Maybe it's time to start one? Anyone have any favorites here in Atlanta they're a regular reader of?
Gear: Nikon D810 / Lenses: 24mm-70mm f/2.8,
I'm Already Torn! - Mikal Cronin - Turn Around
Please watch this 1,000 times. So great. So many cameos. Rory Scovel / Jonah Ray / Kristen Schaal / Kurt Braunohler #torn
Musician Mikal Cronin and comedians Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal team up to create a shot-by-shot reenactment of Natalie Imbruglia's music video ""Torn"" with some surprise guest characters for Cronin's music video release "Turn Around."
A Few Pics from the Weekend in Florida.
I really should've dragged my camera around this weekend. I went down to FL to catch up with Family and to shoot some portraits for That One Guitar! We did a bit of cleaning out in the garage and rode all over town doing a little sightseeing.
25/100
The Good Graces on Jonah Raydio!
Once again Jonah Ray has featured my band, The Good Graces on his podcast! Huge thanks! Love that podcast. Click the image to listen!
24/100
The Good Graces go on Tour with the Indigo Girls!
It thrills me to no end to announce that The Good Graces will be opening a handful of shows for The Indigo Girls this June! Surf over to The Good Graces FB page for more updates and click the "like" button while you're there!
Check my Events page for details as they come on the shows.
Yay!
Sweetwater 420 Festival
Last weekend I had the opportunity to cover the Sweetwater 420 Festival at Centennial Park here in Atlanta, GA. There was a great lineup of music all weekend, so I jumped at the chance. Almost immediately it was clear that with all the rain, the weekend was going to be a muddy mess, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of everyone that attended one bit.
With all the rain and mud the biggest challenge was keeping the camera dry and safe, but with a good rain coat and a few gallon size Hefty zip lock bags I was able to keep things mostly high and dry. The only thing I lost to the mud this weekend was a pair of jeans and Chuck Taylors.
Cameras: Nikon D810, Fuji x100s
Lenses: 24mm-70mm f/2.8, 70mm-200mm f/2.8
A Proper video from the BeAtlanta House Show
From the BeAtlanta Site:
This video was recorded by our great friend Robert Valentine (of Atlanta Film Scene) last Friday, March 27th. It was the 2nd house show in our charity unplugged series this year. The video is the singer, John McNicholas, of Atlanta band The Sunset District playing to an intimate crowd of Beatlanta fans. Needless to say it was quite an awesome night filled with some very awesome music and good times with new and old friends. The Beatlanta House on FacEBOoK.
Pictures and Music from the Food Truck Friday Show with The Sunset District
We had such a blast playing in Suwanee for the Food Truck Festival Concert Series!
22/100
SHOW TONIGHT UP IN SUWANEE, GA! FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL!
Hey friends, just a quick note to let you know we'll be playing a full band show up in Suwanee, GA! Here's all the details.
TOWN CENTER MUSIC IS PROUD TO PRESENT THE 2015 SUWANEE FOOD TRUCK FRIDAY CONCERT SERIES!
It would be an understatement to say that Suwanee’s Food Truck Fridays have been a hit- the first Friday of the spring to fall months has become a fixture on many foodie calendars to come and enjoy some of the best mobile edibles Atlanta has to offer. In that spirit, we wanted to offer you the best local music Atlanta has to offer. We’ve booked some of the coolest local bands to be the soundtrack to your noshing.
littlebrother - 7:00pm
The Sunset District - 8:15pm
Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/towncentermusic/sets/2015-food-truck-friday-concert
The tentative food truck line-up for April includes Atlanta Chamos Grill, Down the Bayou Cajun Cuisine, Freckled and Blue, Happy Belly, King of Pops, Mac the Cheese, Pressed for Time, On Tapa the World, Tasting Maine, Tracy's Tasties, and Yolis Street Food.
The Good Graces Go West! New Orleans! SXSW! Austin!
We loaded up the Honda Element with gear and hit the road with The Good Graces about 10 days ago and headed out to play some shows for folks in New Orleans and Austin, TX. We played a long set and had a great first night at Igor's Checkpoint Charlie with our new friends, Polly Pry. Beers were had, dogs were kissed, music was played and someone gave us a $200 tip. We stayed at a very cute AirBnB with a cute old Silverstream-like trailer in the front yard.
Pictures from New Orleans
The next day we rolled into Austin, Texas in the evening, grabbed some pizza at Home Slice and rested up for our show the next day. Up and at it early, we headed over to El Sapo where we met everyone from Music for Listeners and settled in with some amazing drinks and just as fantastic food. So, so good. We had a great time playing and hanging out all day. After our set we grabbed a table and saw Be Forest, Spring King, Hinds, The Parrots, Wilsen, and Emmy the Great. Everyone was fantastic! After the day party ended we headed back to the house, unloaded the car and headed out to see Bookclub, our friends from Atlanta perform at Love Goat. Feeling totally exhausted by the ended the night we finished up our Austin experience with some late night tacos at Guero's. Such a fun trip. Hope we can get back out this way again sometime soon.
Check out some pic and a video or our set.
21/100
House Party Video from the BeAtlanta Show
Hey! I played a house party for BeAtlanta that benefited Wounded Warriors, we raised a bunch of money and I donated 50% of mercy proceeds to the cause. If you missed it have a look and listen to the video below. It would be weird to just look, but if that's your thing I won't judge you.
20/100