State Radio and Big D and the Kids Table at Culture Room

I got the chance to shoot State Radio with 311 a few months ago and was impressed by State Radio's performance. I made a decision a while back to stop shooting shows at Culture Room unless I liked the band and this night made me realize why. The venue is set up to have decent lighting but the set of lights that would add the front light that would make it all come together are NEVER used.  The only front light is provided by two small spotlights on each side. My method for shooting this show was to be more observant and try and catch the moments where the spotlights did illuminate the subject. To give you an idea of the lighting, I shot the show entirely at 3200 ISO and around 1/100 of a sec.

Big D and the Kids Table put on a fun show and had quite foxy back up singers. State Radio, not as animated as the last show I saw of them, again impressed me with their performance.


State Radio and Big D and the Kids Table at Culture Room 2-10-10 - Images by Alex Markow

New Found Glory, Fireworks, Hello Goodbye, and Saves the Day at Revolution

t had been a while since my last show at Revolution in Fort Lauderdale. The pit is a little tough to shoot from because of the combination of a high stage and not much room to step back. The lighting used to be horrible with almost all colored light with rare front light. Things have changed. I'm thinking about sending the light guy a thank you letter, because the lighting for this show was great. Even with most of the bands bouncing around for their set, I was able to get sharp photos. The opening bands built up the energy, and New Found Glory had the crowd going bananas.

I am now using Photoshelter more actively and my images are now available for print and licensing through the site.


New Found Glory, Fireworks, Hello Goodbye, & Saves the Day at Revolution 2-9-10 - Images by Alex Markow

Stampede at O'Brian's

It was another great night of good vibes and reggae music with Stampede's show at O'Brian's. The band is really getting comfortable with its Saturday night slot and the crowd has been receptive. Definitely check out the band's music and if you haven't seen them live yet, Do It.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Uncle Brian

My uncle Brian came to visit my mom for a few weeks to fix up my house to sell and I was able to get a chance to sit him down for a quick portrait. I didn't have my light stands with me so I problem solved. These were shot with a SB-800 hot shoe mounted onto a tripod and shot through the inside diffuser from my 5 in 1 reflector. The diffuser was clamped on to a tall room light. I added fill from the opposite side with the white reflector from my 5 in 1 draped over a chair. I don't usually use the TTL mode on my flash off camera, but it worked quite well for his situation. Problem solved.

Power Players Discussion at West Palm Beach Fotofusion

My teacher, Mr. Nestler, was able to arrange a field trip to Fotofusion in West Palm Beach to attend a discussion between photo editors Jimmy Colton of Sports Illustrated, Sarah Leen of National Geographic, Evan Kriss of Washington Post Magazine, Maura Foley of The New York Times, and Scott McKiernan from the ZUMA Agency. The discussion was moderated by Pete Cross of the Palm Beach Post.

Not a bad list of publications huh? Each editor made a short presentation about their publication and gave insight into their day to day work and also gave advice to photographers on how to approach publications and what they are looking for. After their presentation, the editors were open to answer questions presented by the audience.

Discussions like these can be invaluable. For me, one thing that I got from the discussion was how approachable editors can be. They hold important jobs at influential publications or in the case of Scott McKiernan, an agency, yet they are normal down to earth people. As Jimmy Colton of SI said "We're not Power Players, we're more like Power Rangers".

The editors stressed the important of presenting your work efficiently. An editor sees thousands and thousands of images a day. As they gave their presentations and showed work they had published, I was in awe at some of the images. There are so many amazing photos taken everyday that compete for an editors attention. The editors recommended photographers keep their edit tight and appropiate to the publication.