That is to say, I got to do a bit of live band photography recently when  I saw David Bazan and mewithoutYou play a gig together at the Hi-Tone on June 21.

I'd like to remind you of something.

I saw mewithoutYou in August of last year and thought "Oh, I can die happy now."

Then I saw Dave Bazan in October and thought, "But REALLY I can die happy now."

And, having said that, I'm not the type that gets all hot and bothered about musicians and thinks "OMG I gotta get near this person!" It just  happens that there are a couple of folks out there making music right now that means something to me. The aforementioned musicians are highest on that list. When I found out that mewithoutYou was playing in Memphis again and - wait for it - David Bazan would also be back because they're touring together...let's just say I became a very happy girl!

Seeing bands play during the summer in Memphis is not always the most pleasant experience - all those people, all that lack of air conditioning in most venues. The night of June 21 at the Hi-Tone was no exception. I'd like to sit here and say "oh, that didn't matter. It was just all part of the experience." But, yeah, it mattered that we were all dripping with sweat! It just didn't matter enough that I don't consider that night to be one of the top three of 2010 so far.

And here is the album where the rest of the photos from that show reside!

I went to see Andrew Bryant's band play Wednesday night at The Hi-Tone. I had such a great time watching them and am quite pleased with the photographic results of the night.

Andrew Bryant & Friends. Febuary 24, 2010 @ The Hi-Tone. Mem[phis, TN.

(a few shots of the band Giant Bear that played at the beginning of the night are also in the mix.)

Today's edition of Informal Band Photography is with a band called Animal Sounds.

There's this great little U of M area house where I'd done photography for Richard last year. A new band that Richard is in, called Animal Sounds, practices in this house.  I was asked back to this house last week to do more photos.

I barely did any shots of the band as a whole. I decided I wanted to focus much more on individual elements. I knew the shots would be gritty and grainy, due to the way I had to shoot in the low available light. I made the decision to just go with it.

I discovered I did have it in me to take photos that bands might use for promotional purposes, if the band/musicians were open to  "Amanda Style" band photos. Those are the sorts of photos you'll find in the new gallery devoted to photos of musicians. And are the types of photos I've been wanting to do of Andrew Bryant and his band for quite some time now. Which leads me to the reason for this post.

Andrew was a one man show for years. Him, his guitar, and a microphone. In the past year or so, he's enlisted the talents of our mutual friends to begin playing live shows with him. I'm pleased as punch. Not only does this mean Andrew's records are translating to live performance better than ever, I can take a wider variety of shots during those live performances, and it also means that I'm privy to hanging out while the band practices from time to time. Such was the case last week, before the boys in the band had a gig in St. Louis.

Adam and Dave's Bloodline. Gasoline Heart. Andrew Bryant @ The Hi-Tone. October 22, 2009.

First World @ The Smith7 House. October 24, 2009.

There are some new blogs in the works though. I promise. I sorta have internet at my apartment now, thanks to some unsecured wi-fi network in a nearby home. Wee!

If you were  to say to me, "Hey Amanda. Who's your favorite band?", I'd have a few answers for that question (I'm not good at having only one favorite. It's a blessing and a curse.) My answer would go something like this, "Hey. Good question. My favorite band's The Beatles. And mewithoutYou. And anything David Bazan does. In no particular order."  I have already gushed about getting to see mewithoutYou (The Weiss Family) again back in August. And here we are, not even two months later, and I've just been able to see David Bazan. This made me so stinking happy. So, so happy.

Bazan could've played anything from any album and I'd have been stoked, because I don't know if there's a song on any of his records that I DON'T like. But I was pleased with the mixture of songs he did. A lot of the new album. Some from the EP. And some from his work with Pedro the Lion. I was quite pleased.

It's nice when something you've so looked forward to meets and even exceeds your expectations. Thank you, Mr. Bazan.

(Pssssst. More photos from this show are HERE)

The only thing I have to offer you right now is a gallery of photos I took at a show this past week. It was the Weiss Family (mewithoutYou-ish) at The Hi-Tone here in Memphis. The Psalters and Damien Jurado also played this gig, but, I was unfortunately tied up photographing rising high school seniors, and missed everyone but the Weiss Family. Seeing this band play and getting that sense of community that often accompanies mewithoutYou shows infused enough joy and happiness into my soul to keep me smiling for days.

The Weiss Family (mewithoutYou). August 20, 2009 @ The Hi-Tone. Memphis, TN.

I haven't really talked about my band photography on this blog as of yet. I have been doing it for 9 years (wowzers) but have shifted my focus to other photographic ventures as of late. If you see me out taking photos at a show these days, it is an indication that bands or people there mean something to me. You better BELIEVE that is why I photographed this Weiss Family show.

What is important to know about me as a band photographer (maybe moreso than for other areas of my photographic life): I do WHATEVER I need to to get the shots I want to have. This isn't as bad as it sounds (unless you are someone who is getting in my way! Just kidding.) If the show I'm at is crowded around the stage area, there are a few different techniques I have developed over the years. The best way is for me to get on stage with the band.* Sometimes this isn't possible due to the band members to stage space ratio in some bands, or because there are roadies or venue security who say I can't (I'm looking in your direction, Stretch Arm Strong's roadies in 2004 who wouldn't let me get on stage that time. I ended up in the emergency room! That is another story for another day though...) If getting on stage isn't possible, I have a few options. I get as close to the stage as I can first, even if it isn't an ideal position for photography. I do the best I can from whatever place I have planted myself in to start off with. Then I start getting the itch to move to a better spot, and start eying the rest of the crowd to see what my options are.

Option One: Sweet talking.

This is the best. And comes from a much more genuine place than the name would indicate. I make my way through the crowd as politely as possible. I understand that some of the audience members have been there longer than I have in order to secure their positions, and I don't want to unfairly jump in front of them. But, on the other hand, a photographer's gotta do what a photographer's gotta do (just kidding.) In this case, "what a photographer's gotta do" is try not to step on anyone's toes while I am passing through the crowd towards my desired location, try not to hit people inadvertantly with my camera, and say "please" and "thank you" and "Sorry!" as much as possible. People are pretty nice most of the time, so I can usually work my way towards the stage, even if it is slowly but surely. I just keep my eyes on the prize. And there are times when standing in a particular spot for the entire show would be really unfair to the people around me, so in these times, I ask if I may stand in their spot for just a few snaps of my shutter button. Like I said, people are nice. They know I really mean it when I am asking politely for their help. It works out.

Option Two: Strongarming

This is my least favorite option. It is mostly one that I used to employ at hardcore/punk shows years ago. In fact, many of my good friends SWEAR that their first memory/impression of me was having me brush past them to get to the front of a show. They admit that they never realized at that moment that they would one day find me to be the sweetest and most wonderful girl they ever knew (okay, maybe I am projecting/embelishing a bit on that last statement.) But people surely like me better than their first impression of me would have indicated. I don't mean to say that I ever shoved people out of my way, but I can say that if the crowd that night wasn't responding to sweet talking, I MAY have just worked my way through them anyway. I can talk about my strongarming openly now because I have recovered from it (from the most part.)

Option Three: Networking

Remember how I said sweet talking was the best? Networking may actually be. I have met A LOT of people throughout my years of band photography. As I mentioned in the prior paragraph, some of them even LIKE me now. Even if some of them don't know ME well, they may have become acquainted with my band photography work and therefore, there are times when people see with my camera and see the pleading expression on my face, and gladly let me slide in where they have been standing. Isn't that SWEET?!** I love it. People are so nice! It always gives me such a sense of community to see smiling, familiar faces in the crowd, who will reach out their hands and pull me in to help me get the shots I am aiming at.

*I wish I could've gotten on stage for the Weiss Family show, so I could've gotten more direct shots of other band members than those directly at the front of the stage! **this is actually what ended up happening at the Weiss Family show which is being featured in this blog. It was so great!

I didn't set out to write about sweet talking, strongarming, or networking in this blog. I really was just going to post a link to the Weiss Family show photos. Maybe next time I accidentally blog, we can talk about how I sometimes stand in the middle of a street to take a photo and just ask anyone with me "Don't let me get runover, okay?"

]]> http://www.shootwithpersonality.com/2009/08/23/i-am-bad-at-blogging-and-a-primer-in-amanda-style-band-photography/feed/ 0 http://www.shootwithpersonality.com/2009/06/08/photo-excursion-awesomeness-bolivar-tn/ http://www.shootwithpersonality.com/2009/06/08/photo-excursion-awesomeness-bolivar-tn/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:52:58 +0000 araney http://www.shootwithpersonality.com/?p=56 04.04.2009

Location: Bolivar, TN. Equipment: Hasselblad 500 C/M, Holga 120N, Nikon D300

One afternoon in April, Gabe and I decided to take a little photographic excursion to Bolivar, TN. We'd been told by Gabe's dad about a super creepy, abandoned mental instutition that we were stoked to photograph. Before we left, Gabe found out that the band Giant Cloud was going to be meeting us in Bolivar and that we'd be taking their pictures as well. This was GREAT news because I'd shot them before and they're awesome to take pictures of (as well as really cool people to be around.)

After we'd met up with Giant Cloud, we headed to the mental institution to check things out. The building we were looking to shoot WAS just as crazy-looking as we'd been told it was. However, it was much less imposing in the middle of the afternoon than we would have liked. More of a "shoot this on a foggy, moon-lit night" sort of place. Not only that, but they're using the building as a post office for the newer facilities they have on the grounds,  so it's not EVEN  abandoned. Translation: we thought the whole thing was kinda bogus.  We felt let down and thought all may have been lost. Then, we spied an actual abandoned building on the mental facility's grounds.  Gabe, Giant Cloud, and I decided to take a look around that one.  While its design wasn't gothic like the building we'd intended to shoot, the abandoned building was amazingly creepy inside (from what we could see through the windows.) It reminded me of an old school building -  desks and chair stacked up, ceiling tiles hanging down. The whole shebang.

At this point, the band was kinda walking around, seeing what this strange building had to offer, as were Gabe and I. No sooner had Gabe set up the tripod with the Hassy on it, when a couple of security guards pulled up and told us we had to 23-skiddoo. The guards said it's illegal to take photos on the grounds of a state mental hospital. Now, mind you, there were no signs posted to this effect. AND I have the tendency to want whip out a copy of the "photographer's rights" and beg to differ whenever my right to photograph is being challenged. In this case, I had decided the abandoned building wasn't THAT interesting if we weren't going to sneak in anyway, so I didn't put up a fight.  (Also, I always appreciate a word of warning from security, rather than having the law called on me. Thanks, over-zealous security guards for giving us a word of warning!) I'd gotten a shot or two fired, Gabe had gotten a shot off. We headed to greener pastures.

Giant Cloud had seen a old flea market on their way into Bolivar. They thought it might be cool to do some photos there. Having nothing to lose, we followed the band to flea market. This turned out to be a GREAT move. Firstly, across the street from the flea market, there was a diner called Dot's Country Kitchen (photo by Gabe Bouck.) Gabe and the band decided to ask the two women at Dot's if they thought it'd be okay if we took pictures across the street. They did think so, and we ended up talking to them for awhile about possible other cool locations in the area.  They were a lot of fun.

Once we headed over to the flea market itself, we were SO glad we did! There were a series of  rectangular stalls made of wood and fiberglass, with hinged front windows (which were down) and doors on the side for accessing the inside space of the stalls. We all took some time to explore the stalls - most of which had remnants of items that had been sold in them. A child's sneaker here. A toy dinosaur there. Photographing the band as they were walking through the stalls in exploration made for some great shots.

Gabe and I traded turns using the Hassy, and I used my Holga as well,  taking promo-type photos of the of the band while we were at the flea market as well. It was SO great! I felt awesome, like I was going to be the featured photographer on the next Rolling Stone cover (hey, a girl can dream, can't she? *wink*) Gabe's shots of the band were not too shabby either (slash, he did a wonderful job!)

Once we'd felt we'd exhausted our possibilities at the flea market, the Caravan to Memphis (as I lovingly referred to it) got on the road again. I'd promised Julie I'd do some engagement shots for her and Ben, since they'd gotten engaged recently. She wanted the photos taken somewhere a little more pretty than the flea market, so we kept our eyes peeled on the drive to Memphis in case we saw a location that was struck the bride-to-be's fancy. Now, I don't know which part of the "Caravan" laid eyes upon it first, but I'd like for Gabe and me to take credit for noticing the next backdrop for our Giant Cloud shoot: a field. Now, lemme tell you, this was no ordinary field. And it was no ordinary sunset light with which we'd been blessed. And don't you worry, due to our previous run-in with people not wanting us to take pictures in our chosen spot, I did have Gabe go up to the single-wide trailer there and ask the man who lived in if we could take photos in the field. We were granted permission. *high five!*

As I mentioned, the members of Giant Cloud just look cool when they're doing "stuff."  So Gabe and I just followed them around some while they were walking around the field, frolicking in the field, and terrorizing the emus that were fenced-in on the property.

Yours truly also got the opportunity to pull Ben and Julie out of the group to do some engagement-style shots, as promised. I LOVED it because, not only was the field/light/tall green grass so pretty for more "standard" shots, but Ben and Julie also let me take some more playful shots of the two of them. It's my fave when couples let me do that!

Just like we'd done at the flea market,  Gabe and I took turns photographing the band in the field with the various cameras we'd brought. The light was nothing less of spectacular. And I'd be hard-pressed to believe that we could've happened upon a more perfect field in which to shoot this band.  While we did use the D300 for some of our shots, I have to say that the Hassy was PERFECT for this stuff. I'm super happy that Gabe and I had the opportunity to do the Giant Cloud shoot while we still had that camera in our lives. If I could talk to the Hassy right now, I'd tip my hat to it (if I had a hat) and tell it "We couldn't have done it without you!"

Like all good things though, our Giant Cloud photo shoot in the field had to come to an end. The light was waning and we'd ran out of film. At this point, we bid "adieu" to Bolivar and made our way towards Memphis. I could tell you about the "awesome" experience we had at a chicken restaurant in Oakland, TN that will remain nameless  (to give you a hint, it's initials are "Gus's Fried Chicken"), but I'll save that for the day when I run a restaurant review site...

A link to the rest of my photos from our Photo Excursion Awesomeness in Bolivar.
A link to Gabe's photos from our Photo Excursion Awesomeness in Bolivar.