To round out my five “reaction” submissions to the Hard Working Class Heroes exhibition, I chose one of the first concert pics I ever took. Back in my college days, I snapped the above shot of the saxophonist from the band Liquid Soul playing at The Canopy Club in Urbana.
Add comment September 25th, 2009
I’ll admit, there’s a lot going on in this pic. I took this shot of United States of Electronica at The Rumble a couple weeks ago, and I included it in my submission to the HWCH for one reason only. Not because of the disco ball or giant lit up letters or that dude in the background with the white hat, but because of the faint smile on the girl in the bottom left hand corner. If that’s not “reacting” to the music, I don’t know what is.
Add comment September 24th, 2009
The above “reaction” shot that I’m submitting to the HWCH is of Bono at Chicago’s United Center as he gallops along the heart-shaped catwalk. U2 were in town for three-sold out shows on their Elevation Tour back in May of ‘01, and this is by far my favorite pic from the concert that I shot.
It seems all too appropriate to be featuring a photo of U2 today as it’s my birthday; I’m now officially 32. While I haven’t been a huge fan of the band’s last few albums, I can easily say that if it weren’t for U2, I would probably be living a different life today. This was the band that inspired me to dream big back when I was a teenager. To pick up a guitar (which I would later put down for a camera) and to embrace my desire to live a creative life. And through all of it, to try and leave some sort of positive mark on the world. If it wasn’t for albums like “The Joshua Tree” and “Achtung Baby,” I don’t know if I would be here today, chasing this crazy film making dream. And for that, I will always be indebted to Bono and the boys, and I will always be a U2 fan.
Back in high school, my buddies and I staged somewhat of a political coup during our senior year. Our class song up until that point had been “Today” by The Smashing Pumpkins, however, none us really thought, nor wanted to think, that “those days were the greatest days we’d ever known.” So we started a petition to change the song, and in the end, we prevailed. We changed Elgin High School’s Class of ’95’s song to “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2. We didn’t really know what we wanted from life back then, but we knew our brightest days were still ahead of us. And in many ways, I still feel the same today.
1 comment September 23rd, 2009
Here’s another “reaction” shot I’m submitting to this year’s HWCH exhibit. It’s of May Kay from Dublin’s Fight Like Apes. I first met May in London when she dropped by the studio to record some back up vocals for the title track of Duke Special’s “I Never Thought This Day Would Come” (that’s her at the beginning of the teaser trailer for the documentary). She was really pleasant and soft-spoken, and I was blown away by her gorgeous voice. Fast forward to Austin this past spring, and you can only imagine my surprise when I finally got to see her perform live with her band during the Irish showcase at SXSW. This girl unleashed her inner demons on stage and at one point was literally rolling around on the ground in the crowd, hence the in-focus shoes in the pic above. It was utter madness and utterly terrific!
1 comment September 22nd, 2009
I was thrilled to recently learn that I’ve been accepted to show some of my work at this year’s Hard Working Class Heroes festival in Dublin. The HWCH is an annual, independent showcase of Irish bands & musicians, with a hundred acts performing over a long weekend in October. The fest also has a photography exhibition, and fortunately for me, they opened up the competition to photographers beyond the Emerald Isle. So for this week, I thought I’d post the five photos I’m submitting to the exhibit.
The theme we’ve been given for this year’s exhibition is RE:ACTION – ie. our reaction to music, others reactions to music, crowds reactions to musicians and/or musicians reactions to crowds. And one of my favorite “reaction” shots is the above sequence that I took of Duke Special last summer at the Splendour Festival in Nottingham. I was following Duke for over a month, filming the documentary of the making-of his latest record, and in the midst of his recording sessions in London, he took some time to play a few gigs in England.
For anyone who’s ever had the privillege of seeing Duke Special play live, you know that he puts on special show indeed. Regardless of the venue or the size of the crowd, the guy really gives it his all, and the above concert was no exception. Having a backstage pass and being able to literally be on the stage while Duke and co. performed, certainly offered me the opportunity to get some angles not often afforded to concert photographers. So when the band finished their set in an absolute frenzy, I was able to quickly snap off these shots of Duke flipping over his piano and then crashing down upon it.
Add comment September 21st, 2009
