Blog
Photoshop CC – the plug-in dilemma
At 8pm Pacific time on June 17, Adobe released the new versions of their applications, the Creative Cloud collection. Cue the cheering and applause. OK, that might be a little over enthusiastic. The reality is that you might want to wait on downloading new version of Photoshop (Photoshop CC) especially if you use Nik or onOne plug-ins in your workflow. Here is the problem. I use Lightroom for most of my image editing and processing. When I go into Photoshop I need to have access to the tools I use which includes the Nik plugin and the onOne...
read moreGrace Potter and the Nocturnals: Concert shoot 2013
There are some shows that are just a pleasure to shoot. The credentials are waiting at the box office, the band looks and sounds great, the lighting is pretty good and there is enough space to shoot. I’m not saying that it’s the perfect light or the best photo pit, but instead it’s a show where there are no major problems. Last night was one of those shows. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals stopped by Humphreys by the Bay in San Diego and put on one great show. For a venue where most of the time the patrons stay sitting in...
read moreSteve Taylor / Mark Karan: Concert Shoot
Steve Taylor is playing every Wednesday in June at the The Mint in Los Angeles. Every week he has a different set of musicians playing with him. This last Wednesday, a couple of those musicians were my friends Mark Karan and JT Thomas so I headed up to LA to catch the show and hangout with my friends. Musically, it was a really fun show for me. The perfect mix of tunes I knew every word to and some I have never heard before. As an added bonus I was able to be there for the full sound check which consisted of the guys fine tuning some of the...
read moreMumford & Sons – Concert Shoot
Last night I photographed the Mumford & Sons show at the Sleep Train amphitheatre in Chula vista California. There were two things about this show that were different, both before the show even started. The first was that the show was a sellout, a rare thing in todays tight economic times. The second was that the main freeway used to get to the venue was shut down in both directions due to a gas leak. When you combine a sold out show and a freeway closure, the outcome is TRAFFIC, a whole lot of traffic. The traffic was so bad, it took me...
read moreThe Shoot Like a Pro Tour – Kelby Training
On Friday, May 24, I got up really early and drove up to Los Angeles to spend the day at the Kelby Training Live Seminar: The Shoot Like a Pro Tour. Now some of you might be asking why I did this? I am a professional photographer already, a photographer who has written 7 photography books on subjects ranging from exposure and composition to concert photography. I know quite a bit about photography in general and a lot about shooting in low light. I went to the seminar in hopes of learning a few new tricks, in hopes of getting a few new tips...
read moreBilly Idol 2013 – Concert shoot
Last night Billy Idol kicked off his 2013 tour with a show at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA and I was there. I have been able to photograph Billy and his band for a few years now and its always a great show. The band puts everything into entertaining the audience. There is no “just going through the motions” with these guys. Every night is THE show. Now, there are some downside to shooting the same band a lot, and for me, it’s finding the “new” shot. The image that I don’t already have....
read moreTo Flickr or not to Flickr
Some pretty big news in the photo sharing world today. Yahoo has updated its Flickr service. The changes probably sound pretty good. You get a full terabyte of photo storage. Can upload in full resolution and share the images on any device. Sounds pretty good. Yet, I will still not use the free service from Yahoo. I have a good reason. It has to do with a large number of my images being stolen from my Flickr account, used on a site that sold advertising, and I was never contacted or compensated. According to the site that stole the images,...
read moreTwo Google+ Hangouts.
In the last week I have been part of two really cool Google+ Hangouts that you can now watch on YouTube. The first was last Thursday where I was honored to be the special guest of the Pinterest Show. This show is hosted by Kalebra Kelby along with her two cohorts Jason Joseph and Anna Nguyen. We talked about concert photography, Pinterest, photography in general and then Anna started to play with matches….. It really was a blast. I had so much fun that I lost track of the time and the show ran a little long. You can see the show...
read moreStorytellers – Bill Payne and Dennis McNally
I had a really great time last night. I got to photograph a show. I got to hear great stories. I got to meet a musical legend, and I got to hang out with a friend I haven’t seen for a while. Last night, Bill Payne, one of the co-founders of Little Feat, and Dennis McNally performed at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. The show was a combination of Dennis telling stories of his days as the Grateful Dead publicist and Bill telling stories of writing music, behind the scene anecdotes and playing with Lowell George. Bill also played a...
read moreSuicidal Tendencies – concert shoot
The Suicidal Tendencies are still out there making music and entertaining their fans. The band started as a punk band back in the early 80′s and has continued to release albums and tour ever since. The band has gone through substantial lineup changes with lead singer Mike Muir as the only original member. But the crowd at the House of Blues on Sunday night didn’t seem to care about that. They came to see and hear some hardcore thrash and that’s what they got. As a photographic experience, it was (like most shows) mixed. The...
read more
Follow Me!