He is really the most fan-centered lead singer I’ve ever seen. He took many opportunities to try to grab people’s hands and get them involved in the show. Plus, I’m loving the bright yellow belt!

Hilarious? Yeah, a bit.

How many bands can you name that have a keytarist?

I don’t think he stayed in one place for long… even my highest shutter speed wasn’t able to catch him as often as I would have liked.

Ryland gets all the ladies…

I’ve seen girls go crazy for him. Its not really surprising. He sure is a cutie!

Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel.

Weirdest Night Ever.

I’ve had a lot of experience shooting concerts, but this one takes the cake. The set up is that in order to get in front of the barricade, you have to pass through the crowd. The crowd, who were unfriendly and unwilling to cooperate. But the worst part was that you could only shoot the first three songs, and then you had to get out. That meant going through the crowd once again. Usually, they let you stand on the side of the stage, but the security at Lupo’s apparently hated their jobs and wanted to make it harder for everyone else. They told me that i couldn’t use flash. The reasons they gave were terribly wrong, and I got the proof of that later in the night. I didn’t use flash at all for the first band, and shooting at 1/40 at the highest is extremely difficult when you’re using 1600 ISO, and it still isn’t enough. Technically, perhaps I should have used 3200, but Canon Rebel XT does not have the luxury. After the first band’s set was done, I figured that I had a job to do. I had to produce good photos, and I had to do it at all costs, so I started using my flash.

Sing It Loud, the first band. I wasn’t that impressed, really. I’d heard of them through Alex, who was the lead singer of the headlining band at the show in Worcester, All Time Low. I probably mentioned him by name… I don’t remember. Anyway, he sang on one of their songs and basically outsang Sing It Loud’s lead singer(in my opinion). They played that song, “No One Can Touch Us,” but without Mr. Alex Gaskarth, it was not nearly as impressive.

Hit The Lights

Hit The Lights… I’ve shot them multiple times. They’re a good live act, but I don’t know. I never feel that my photos of them are up to par.

Forever The Sickest Kids. Dreadful name, awesome performance.

It is really hard to shoot a band that is so active on stage. Friday was especially difficult. It was hard to move around the barricade, and then to be pushed back into the crowd. It definitely wasn’t an easy place to shoot. They played an earlier date in Hartford that I know from experience would have been a lot easier, but I wanted to try out different places.

See the security guard. I rest my case. The bands were really put on a tight leash, because every time they wanted to interact with the crowd, security physically pulled them back. I was not impressed.

All Time Low… Alex. I’m loving the glasses. I know that they aren’t his though.

Zack makes me smile!

I’m not completely sure how I feel about the facial hair.

My only regret about the night is that I didn’t shoot All Time Low in fisheye. I wanted to use my new zoom lens and that was not compatible to the adapter. Whatever. I’ll shoot them next time with it.

Today… well, tonight – Friday, the 28th, I have my next opportunity to shoot a concert. Gabe’s band, Cobra Starship. I’m pretty excited!

The crowd. Mostly girls.

Ladies, meet Josh, guitarist for Every Avenue… Actually, he’s the only one in that band who I know by name.

The Maine. We were only allowed to photograph the first three songs. I left midway through their set to go hang out with All Time Low, and one of their opening bands, The Friday Night Boys.

Anyone who knows me knows that concert photography is something I find that is the most fun. It is capturing the spotlights and the moment… There is so much more in it than setting up a scene. You have to capture seconds that will not be repeated. I stumbled upon Peter Hill when looking at his photos of some of my friends’ bands. He entirely self-taught, rock music photographer who tours with and documents a variety of bands from all over the world. As of October 2008 (and since Nov 2005), he tours full time with Welsh band, The Automatic, as well as shooting multiple other bands at the same time, and when The Automatic are not touring. In the past he has toured with, and documented, bands including Kaiser Chiefs,  The Ordinary Boys, and a number of others. Outside of doing live photography, his work has appeared in many magazines including Rolling Stone and Rock Sound. He is also credited as shooting several bands cover art for CDs and even releasing a book with photos of the Kaiser Chiefs with a foreword from the band. That is the kind of job that I aspire to, so it is so cool to see someone who has made a career of it.

Sarah Louise is a photographer I found on deviantart. Her work is mostly commissioned by clients, and even with my distaste for commercial photography, there are some that I loved. This photoshoot was commissioned by a radio host. I love it because it is so simple in subject, but it can be dug into so much. There is an aspect of feminism in it, because the career is male dominanted. The props make the job of the model even more obvious. The shoot is suggestive, but it is not raunchy. It is simply a girl holding a record over her chest. I think that is so interesting…

Sarah Louise’s work is not the average commercial photoshoot. She is innovative and knows what looks good. A lot of her earlier work is self portraits. Just like the DJ shoot, her work speaks of feminity and the power of being sexual or suggestive without crossing the line. I really like her self portraits. She did a whole series featuring flowers that I thought was rather appealing.

But strangely, Cyrus had a different view in a prepared statement released later: “I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.”  As the shot was taken digitally, and shown to Cyrus’ handlers, it is a bit unnerving to think that it was such a problem. Miley Cyrus’ family saw the shot before it was printed in the magazine. The controversy only came up once the media reacted to the photo.

Does anyone remember the Rolling Stone cover with Britney Spears on it? Even if she was 18, which I don’t think she was, she was being marketed as much younger than that in the picture–I mean, she’s holding a teletubby!). To sit back and be ok with it 99% of the time–or worse yet, actively participate in it by purchasing items by companies marketing these girls as sex symbols–and then become outraged by something like this is just offensive. Stop with your bullshit stances. If you’re going to speak up about the offensive nature of so much of our mass media, then do it. But don’t do it in such a halfassed way. If you’re going to stand for something, stand for something. But, my god, make it something worthwhile. And, at least be consitent when you do it.

 

Hellen Van Meene is a really interesting photographer, because her photos are not of models, rather they feature young girls in childhood adolescence on the cusp of adulthood. She is not afraid to feature portraits of young teenage girls that capture the mingling of fading innocence with emerging sexuality. Her subjects often appeared awkward or vulnerable, sometimes seeming a little uncomfortable in their own skin. Yet, despite this, there is an understated beauty to each image. These photos are so beautiful because of how real they are. The photos are always washed in a natural light; no attempt is made to disguise the physical imperfections of young girls becoming young women. These models are not classically good-looking, rather they proudly display imperfections whether they be bruises, goose bumps or blemishes. The work captures the purgatory of adolescence with more detachment than sympathy.

There is more to the story in each photo and each seems to be disconnected from earthy affairs and the encounter of photographer and model appears random. There are curious, underlying tensions in the portraits – between vulnerability and composure, awkwardness and grace, intimacy and detachment, naturalness and artifice. The scene of each picture is set very carefully by the artist, as she chooses location and clothing, make-up, etc. These staged scenarios then contrast powerfully with the frank realism with which the girls are pictured. Throughout, the picturesque qualities are undercut by a disquieting tension: the models’ clothes are often ill-fitting or inside-out. Hellen Van Meene sets up the photograph whether it be asking one girl to lie in a cold bath, fully clothed; or to capture another model’s a fresh bruise. This intimate collaboration between the photographer and her models simultaneously exposes the uncertain nature of adolescent identities and the complicated act of capturing them on film.

Her portraits of adolescents possess an extremely quiet and forceful beauty. I’ve often wondered how she manages to create work that is so beautiful, while always avoiding the trap of producing mere clichés. These images are bittersweet in their focus on the pressure and pleasure of being young and female. Van Meene invites her audience into a world of secret narratives and still-forming desires. Her subjects often look away – such as we can’t tell whether in boredom or cheekiness. We can’t read the poses: sometimes they are kitsch, other times gawkily erotic, often self-consciously derivative.

In my photos, I, like Van Meene, set the scene using models I knew and only using natural lighting. I chose girls who I thought were beautiful, not because they belong in a magazine, but rather because of how pale one’s skin is or how awkward the other looks. Not one of the models look at the camera, in fact, one is wearing sunglasses to hide her eyes. I captured real people and attempted to bring out their beauty.

Many of my images have not evoked the softness of this work, nor can hold the authenticity of the model’s feelings or actions. One model wears a bikini top that is ill-fitting, while another is smoking a cigarette. I definitely think I took Hellen Van Meene’s methods and ideals to heart. I attempted to shoot as similarly as she does, and I think I did a good job. I was able to trust my models, by solely setting the location and the position of the model. I did not tell them what to do with their face or where to look; just simply where to stand. Just like Van Meene’s images, my own hold the same bittersweetness that are the reality of growing up as a young woman and walking the line between childhood and adulthood.

The influence of surrealism is obvious when talking about the word of Francesca Woodman. Her images evoke this because Many of her photographs show young women nude, blurred (due to movement and long exposure times), merging with their surroundings, or with their faces obscured. Her work is beautiful and dreamlike, yet eerie and depressing. She uses herself as the model in the scene, yet she also allows herself to be part of the background. Her body is the canvas of her work. Her work feels comfortable, yet voyeuristic. It is amazing what different contradictions make sense and work together when talking about Woodman’s work. But it is impossible to not consider the photographer herself when referring to her work. Woodman was a lost soul. 

Art critic Kathryn Hixon wrote in her essay “Essential Magic” (Zurich, 1992): “Woodman’s pictures are not de-constructive, but constructive. She added layers of reflection and mimicry within the photograph to confound the transparent recording of the real. The images become psychological portraits of the identity of the body, rather than identifying physical portraits that reveal the psyche.”  An influence of her work was definitely her own mental condition. She was so young and so talented. In such a short amount of time she created so many images, but not many have been seen. Woodman’s estate, which is represented by the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York, consists of over 800 prints of which “only around 120 images have ever been published or exhibited. In late 1980, Woodman became depressed due to her work and to a broken relationship. On January 19, 1981, she committed suicide by jumping out a loft window in New York. It is so sad to think of all she could have done. Now, Woodman’s work is influencing new artists and fans alike. Her work is being shown in galleries and articles are being written about it. But perhaps a lot of this has to do with the legacy she left. Many artists become famous after their deaths.

I was drawn to Francesca Woodman after spending time at RISD. This was her college. It was so scary to possibly have been in the same room that she had stood or worked. But just like her work, it also felt familiar and comfortable. She has become one of my favorite photographers because her work is so unique and frightening. It is something so different. She isn’t trying to be fragile or copying anyone. Even the fact that much of her work was self portraits does not draw the same comparisions to Cindy Sherman… I would perhaps classify her more as a Diane Arbus.