Feel The Music

Lately it seems a lot of my assignments have been centered around music and musicians. I get to spend time meeting these musicians, talking to them about their craft and their passion, then I get to be spoiled to a first row front and center seat if you will to their performance. In the past two weeks I've had the fortune to cover an 11-year-old Pianist and Harpsichordist who is set to perform at Carnegie Hall and filmed for PBS, a "jazz" trio performing their amazingly rich and mood provoking sounds inside their tiny tiny little studio inside an old Victorian in San Jose, and a father-son duo from South Africa (who performed for Nelson Mandela) playing uniquely beautiful African drums, xylophones, and other instruments specific to their African roots. Each time I was amazed by these musicians and their talents for producing such vibrant, and very different sounds. There's a reason why I don't listen to the radio much these days...this is sooooo much better!Listening to the classical station is one thing, but being able to hear the harpsichord played in person is something completely different. So tinny and mechanical sounding, hard to believe an 11 year old plays this thing.

The "jazz" trio Panthelion. Jazz is in quotations because their music is not the usual stuff you'd hear on the radio. It's energetic, youthful, moody, booming to the point that it shakes the room and vibrates in your feet, soulful and complex.



This is Baba Shibamba and his son performing on African drums. He also sang a few songs in Zulu, which was totally cool and new- it's nice to be introduced to different music. I'm hoping to follow up with him and get some audio of his recordings, maybe incorporate it into an audio slideshow.

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Yesterday I photographed the local elementary school's Chinese New Year parade. I covered this event last year and liked it so much I volunteered to do it again. It's just one of those events that always lends itself to colorful fun photos. Little five-year-olds getting shuffled around all dressed up in different colors dressed as dragons and rats. Some of them even got to perform a lion dance and a moon dance.Waiting for the parade to start

Adjusting the costume

The moon dance (performing as different phases of the moon)

the lion dance

Trying to save the river

Ahhh. It's always nice when single-light portraits workout according to plan. On one of the rare occasions, I actually had a photo assignment right here in SF. This is Peter, he's the head of a local non-profit that is fighting to save further draining of the Tuolomne River up in Yosemite for water usage in the Bay Area and surroundings. Sad to think that this beautiful resource is being used this way, and it's definitely having an affect on the environment. Just look at what's happening to the salmon returns from this season - it's devastating. We need to start changing our habits soon.

The dingy gym

Last Friday I had the assignment to photograph the gym at the local community center which is constantly booked with basketball games, swimming lessons, and gymnastics classes. The gym is probably going to be torn down soon and good thing, it is seriously in need of renovation- well at least in the gymnastics wing. The lighting in there is basically spotlights reflecting off of a ceiling which closely resembles insulation. The whole place smells like feet and I think a cave would be more inviting. And the artwork decorating the walls may have been cute twenty years ago (grateful dead bears?) but now it just seems laughable. I hope they get a new gym, they deserve it.

Horseman of the year

I love winter light. The sun is at a perfectly low spot in the sky at all times of the day, and it just saturates everything in beautiful golden light and long dark shadows. Even though I dread going out in the cold and tredging through mud in my cute shoes like I did for this assignment, the quality of natural light always makes it worth it. Here are some photos of Glenn, he won the 2007 Horseman of the Year award from the Mounted Patrol in San Mateo. He definetely had that stoic quietness of an old cowboy who has been around horses for 70+ years.

The zone

When I'm photographing people and events, I kind of get into this weird photographer zone. When I first arrive, I will walk through an event or a location, trying to scope out the best background, the best light, where the action is happening, good spots for overalls, mediums and close-ups. I'm kind of like the vulture hovering around waiting to jump on the best possibility for a good shot and moment. It's a strange feeling, I'm there right in the middle of the action, surrounded by people and things going on, yet I'm in this zone of observation, not really paying attention to one particular moment but a culmulation of several ones happening at the same time. I don't really let one scene sink into my consciousness because i'm looking to the left, to the right, behind me - all trying to find the best angle that can illustrate the moment clearly, the lens becomes my filter to the action. My eyes see one thing, but my brain is busy concentrating on all these other thoughts - it is an oddly numbing, out-of-body, type of experience.

Recently I photographed some friends reading at The Greenhouse Cafe in West Portal. They're in black and white because those warm glowing halogen lamps created awful color casts when translated to a digital camera.Matt

Britta

Jacob


LJ