This is most of October.
2014.10.22
Tomorrow, there's a partial solar eclipse over most of the U.S., so the next blog entry will be all about that magic. Today, though, I have to catch up a bit on my Star photo assignments. Here, you'll find photos of a 150-year-old house being moved half a mile north, a cabaret I covered last year, and one of the more unique shows I've ever seen, Optical Popsicle.
As a bonus, I woke up entirely too early on Oct. 8, then waited half an hour and took a photo of the total lunar eclipse. Together with tomorrow's solar eclipse, you might be seeing a pattern develop. You'd be right.
Continued...Kiss and Def Leppard do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
2014.08.23
I've never been to a KISS concert, and neither had another photographer shooting last night at Klipsch Music Center. He had started out following John Mellencamp, got into photographing Farm Aid in 2009, and has since covered so many acts, but not KISS. We had also heard that KISS was quite friendly to photographers, doing their thing so close to us in the pit and, of course, providing pyrotechnics and painted faces. He was excited, jumping up and down a bit before the show started, and he made me excited, too.
After our two songs were up, on our walk back to the holding room, we were kids in a candy store. We were looking through our photos, gaping and hollering and yelling, "I got it!" and throwing awesomes every which way. It was so much fun.
And that was before KISS and Def Leppard did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
This is the sort of assignment that gets you excited about the whole idea of photography. This is like a hole-in-one in golf; you don't get many assignments like this, but you do your best to get them, and the promise of one in the future keeps you going.
In other news: I took the MCAT on Thursday. I can now return from the life of a studious hermit to a relatively normal existence.
(There are no photos of Def Leppard, even though what I heard of their pre-KISS concert was face-melting, because they didn't approve any photographers. They were out for the challenge, though, so there's that.)
Continued...Zac Brown Band at Klipsch Music Center
2014.07.14
Last night was my first gig of the year at Klipsch Music Center, after months of assignments at Old National Centre and other venues not plagued by long lines of traffic on I-69. I evaded the traffic, though, by driving up to the area early and watching the World Cup final with friends at Hamilton Town Center. (The concert made for an interesting mix at the bar, where soccer fans were mingling with guys in boots and cowboy hats by the end of the match.)
I felt about Zac Brown Band the same way I felt about Rascal Flatts in 2012: They were listenable, but as I'm not much into country, I didn't pay them a lot of heed. (Unlike with Rascal Flatts, the photographers were stuffed into a small corner stage left of the thrust, as opposed to, uh, being able to move.) Two things stuck out, though. First, three band members played a bit before the main show, and their cover of "Blackbird" was quite inspired; second, as I filed the photos, I could hear Zac Brown covering Led Zeppelin, and I wished they had played it during their photographable first three songs. (Also, I found myself singing along with their rendition of "Piano Man" as I walked back to my car.) You can find all 14 photos from the event on the Star's website.
If this week fares well enough, I'll post a blog entry on the two weddings I've done this summer. I'll at least get to talking about the engagement photos I took last weekend around downtown. Keep your eyes peeled. ...That's an odd phrase.
Continued...