The Camellias

Here are a few shots of the Camellias from the High Dive in Seattle. They are a great band it if you ever get the chance. I liked these shots because they show off Scott's shoes.

Plus, I still think the high contrast of Fuji NeoPan 1600 is amazing.

Abe Vigoda at The Vera Project Seattle

Another night of bands at a cool venue. Despite being 'All Ages' the Vera Project is a great place to go if you are 21+. There are a lot of bars surrounding it for a drink before and after the show. Plus, the stage area is open and never feels super packed even with a healthy crowd.

I went down there on a whim after checking their line-up and after dealing with some bland overly reverb'd lameness from one band and ear splitting cacophony from a distorted violin a pleasant surprise finished up...

Abe Vigoda is a classic sounding punk band from LA. And, they embody that sound to the 'T' which is a great thing.

As for the shoot Vera has some interesting light and I think that grabbing it in flares or silhouettes is where I tend to go when I'm there. It isn't as dark as some other places too which is nice.

Cold War Kids

Here are a few shots of the Cold War Kids. I wasn't really expecting to shoot since I didn't even know about the show until a couple hours before it started. But with a few rolls of Neopan 1600 and just my 50mm 1.4 I headed to the theatre to see what I could grab.

I would also like to thank Starr Harris for the pass to the show. Also, stay tuned to the blog for a few articles about 'The Ethics of Documentary' and some photos from a recent shoot I did in Pakistan.

'The Whore Moans'

The Whore Moans are a great rock band from Seattle.  They have a sound that is laking these days.  Where did all the Rock go??  In a world of weak emo-trash The Whore Moans manage to pound out some solid tunes on their latest album Hello From the Radio Wasteland.

These shots were for Sound Magazine and their lead review.

Enjoy...

Adam

www.adamforslund.com/bands

The Camellias

Here are a few simple shots of The Camellias from their show last week at Chop Suey in Seattle. As is the case with most smaller music venues the lighting falls on the dark side. When shooting at 3200 ASA my feeling is to always shoot film. This shoot I wasn't able to reach for film on every shot. What you see here are still at 3200 ASA but digital in origination.

I look forward to working with them to get a few staged shots for their upcoming album.

Adam
www.adamforslund.com/bands

Film, Digital and Time

I have been doing more shooting with digital both in motion picture and still work.

The standard gripes about digital ring true for me and those are issues I just accept.

However, the one thing that I keep coming back to is the fact that no one is talking about long term storage and long term viability of the files. Labs talk about 100 and 200 year inks but this is all based on speculation not real world experience. Will these prints actually be around for 5 generations to look at?? Perhaps. I have more faith in the prints than I do in the files.

The digi-camp talk a lot about backing up your data. Yes. You must make back ups of your photos and video. In 3/5/10 years you will need to move that data to whatever the current storage form is.

This is the tedium that we all sign up for in order to get a product that is immediate.

The bigger question is assuming that we all do what we are supposed to and make our back ups and move the files with time who is to say that these files will be of any use in 10 years and more??

Will JPEG, TIFF, DNG or better yet any of the specific camera RAW formats be viable in time??

Will MOV , WMV, H264 be viable in time??

We can look at images shot on the battlefield from 1863/1916/1943 because of their inherent physicality. We can watch a president or leader because of the physicality of motion picture film. In 150 years will these files turn into physical objects or will they simply be an arcane form of 0's and 1's that add up to nothing??

Lately I have been shooting bands for promotion and Seattle Sound Magazine this has me thinking about the bands and posterity. Will these digital images be relevant if this band makes it big?? Will I be able to call these images historic?? Will these images be around as Charles Peterson's and Jim Marshall's are?? Standing as a testament to a band's arc through stardom.

I have my doubts.

Todays file formats will be tomorrows IBM punch cards. Useless code on stacks of CDs/DVDs/Blu-Rays and lifeless hard drives.

Yet digital imaging isn't going away. Nor should it. Digital imaging just needs to be put into perspective against time.

A lot of questions get raised with no clear answers. It is best to look at each image as a valuable asset to be saved and used in the future.

Shooting Bands

Shooting bands live is always a challenge.   Being between the stage and the crowd is a hard line for photographers to follow.  In the crowd you are faced with blocking issues and being on stage is a distraction.  It is my goal to be both a fly on the wall and an active participant.  Using distance to capture the overall feel and sense of place.  Then getting in as close as I can to illustrate the raw performance in a way that highlights the small details of each performer.  From facial expressions to sweat on a singer’s brow. It is all needed to add depth to an image.

Another challenge when shooting concerts is light.  Some venues mix light with what seems to be no consideration for the people on stage.  An example would be using deep colored gels that work against the skin tones of the performers.  Heavy use of red seems to be one that appears often.  Others will flood the stage in an almost even light never isolating the band from the rest of the stage.

One way to over come this for me is the use of B&W.  By shooting outside of color the light becomes simply a matter of the grey scale.  Leaving the distraction of color behind to illustrate the performers best.  B&W also brings out some of the more subtle aspects of light that may be lost due to color filters and effects.  A light on the back of a singer’s head may not be flattering when it is a heavy blue.  However, when color isn’t part of the photo it becomes a great separation between the performer and the black background.

On a personal level higher contrast images tend to draw my eye in.  Things get lost in the middle grey areas.  By pushing things to black or white allows me to grab a performer and place them in space where by they stand out against the background.  What smaller details get lost in the shadows only enhance the larger ones that are standing in the spotlight.

A good example of what I am talking about are the shots I took of  "The National" when they came to Seattle Washington on their tour for the album "Boxer".  They are based in Brooklyn New York City and have a sound that is melodic yet raw.  Frontman Matt Berninger uses pointed lyrics with his deep bullfrog voice to push stories into your mind. 

These photos were taken at The Showbox Theatre a venue that is perfect for an indie rock band.  It has a wonderful sound and an amazing chandelier.  The crowd turned out and were treated to a great show.

If you have any questions about the images let me know.

Photos From The Show

The National Homepage