May, 2009

Well my old Friend Jeffrey James Holstein has taken his music and put the rubber to the road. He has based himself in Nashville, Tennessee and decided to make a stop back in his hometown to promote his new EP. If you like Josh Kelley, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, Barenaked Ladies, Tyler Hilton, Johnny Lang, Marc Brousard, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, or John Mayer… There’s quite a chance you’ll dig him. I offered to shoot his show on Friday night, and it was a lot of fun! A couple of the band members are old friends from high school, too, so it was a mini reunion! Anyway, since this would be on a bonafide stage, I anticipated great lighting, but ended up being disappointed. Yes, there was ample light, but since the school was in the process of remodeling the stage, the colored lights weren’t even hooked up. Uh oh, two problems. Firstly, I have lost the “color crutch.” Since good photography is all about good light, colors significantly help make more interesting pictures. Since I have just “white” to work with, that means composition was going to have to pick up the slack. The other problem, is that white light is incredibly reflective, so blown highlights were a major concern. Well, based on how my camera (and shooting RAW) operates best, I always err on the side of over-exposure… but I probably should have under compensated. I really had to hone my exposure/recovery/fill skills to get these pictures under control. Check out the set here!

On Wednesday, my buddy T.J. called me at work and asked if I wanted to join him and Dave at the Slippery Noodle after work for open stage blues jam. Normally I’m a recluse when asked to go do stuff like that after being at work all day, but I figured “Hey, I’ve never been there, and I might as well bring my camera.” Well it turned out to be a good idea. The lighting at the Slippery Noodle was fun! I really liked the blue/green Christmas lights, because they give a great bokeh effect. Several of the big names around town were there, like Governor Davis, Gordon Bonham… and then there was Dave On Keys and T.J. to boot. I did a few shots with my SB-900 and the Nikon Creative Lighting System. It’s very cool, and makes me want more flashes!

As a little bonus for myself, I decided to run downtown after the Noodle, and take some pictures after midnight. I used my Gorillapod and my 14-24mm f/2.8 almost exclusively (although used my 85mm f/1.8 for two shots).