Chris is an artist that I have been meaning to see for YEARS, she didn’t disappoint. The band was rocking, the fans were loyal, and Chris was freaking adorable (and a great musician). Photos are posted at flickr.

Now that the weather is getting nicer and the days are longer, it’s time to get back into the concert swing. I don’t actually know much about Kate, but I have been listening to her new album (My Best Friend is You) for the last few weeks. The album is a rocker. I thought for sure it would be a bright, loud show with a dancing crowd. Well… It was loud alright. I don’t however think that the “all ages/young female crowd” knew what to think of her. She’s British, she’s vulgar, and all the black makeup made her a bit scary. While the die-hards sung-a-long in the front, the applause behind them was getting thinner and thinner. I felt kinda bad for her… She’s got some great songs and was really working the stage. Her presentation just wasn’t really assessable. I hope she has better luck with the rest of the tour.

Photography notes: I’ve recently graduated to a 5D mark II, and just in time cuz this is one of the darkest shows I have shot yet. I shot a majority of the time at ISO 4000, just so I could keep my shutter speed up (yea I realize this was probably overkill, but I would rather have underexposed grainy shots, than blurry ones). My original spot at the front of the stage was soon obstructed by her keyboard, which featured a tarp on it that said, “A cunt is a very useful thing”…lol, yea that wasn’t going to work too well. Luckily I was able to move to the side of the stage, without pissing anybody off.

This isn’t one of my better sets of photos, but if anyone would like to see them, they are on flickr

I have spent the last few months working on a website for a local songwriter named Brenda Belcher. No holds barr on this project… we’ve done outdoor photo shoots, studio photo shoots while she records her 2nd album, and soon I hope to start shooting her at gigs so we can start putting up live shots in the website photo gallery. Looks like I found myself a good little niche to get into… a web designer that enjoys music photography

We’ve done 3 photoshoots so far… the first day we went out in University District and took 700 photos! Good god… that was a lot to post process. Brenda was such a GREAT model for me…. not only was she patient while I tried to figure out the best settings for the camera, but she was creative and had a lot of fun ideas I wince when I look back at the photos and see how long she had to smile for..lol.

The 2nd two shoots were done in the recording studio. Obviously I couldn’t shoot while they were recording (camera shutters are LOUD), so we would “stage” it. Basically I just hung back in the corner with my wine and would pop out whenever they were setting up different instrument and mic formations and have them play a bit for me while I fired off some shots.

Once upon a time I actually wanted to be a sound engineer, so I was in awe watching the whole process. Its INCREDIBLE how LONG it takes to record an album. I think during the 4 hours I was there, they recorded the lead vocals, several tracks of backup vocals, and guitar….for only a chorus! At that rate, it must take them a year to finish 12 songs.

Finally, the 3rd time was so I could get shots of her band mates recording…. they didn’t take nearly as long or had as many overdubs… getting to watch the drummer was badass tho. Kev kept posing for the camera and exaggerating his expressions, yea…looks real natural buddy! I think out of the 30 I took of him, only 2 were anything I could use.

Currently I’m working on the website, and will be posting about that soon.

This is the 3rd time I have seen Brandi at Mount Baker, and easily the best. If I ever had one gripe about the hometown shows, it was that “old favorites” would be more focused on rather than the new stuff. I’m not the only one that in the crowd that has heard “Turpentine” more times than I can count, we want to hear all the new stuff you’ve been practicing cross country. The hometown show should get all the surprises!

Well we finally got it. 3 new covers were played, including a unheard cover of “over the rainbow” (at least I think that’s the first she played it – the song was dedicated to a 5yr old Ill child.) and of course we got a healthy heap of songs from “give up the ghost” (my fav album of the year). The other 2 covers were “landslide” and the twins doing “sounds of silence”. You can check out the photos and videos here.

Each member of the band came out to sign autographs after the show as well

This show actually marks the first time I took any video in a LONG time. I had stopped mainly because there was always a inner conflict in me, capturing and archiving a moment, or being fully immersed in it. I also hated the stress that came with it, getting caught, keeping steady, not making sound…. I needed a break and focused mainly on photos. Just as a note, I think I’m horrible with video…. But I have a decent p&s camera and an awesome collection!

After a10 week tour, the band is on a well deserved break before they hit Europe in a month.

I’ve been a fan of Melissa’s since 2000, and have probably seen her about 30 times. I’m not a die-hard fan, and haven’t even heard the last 3 albums… but shes still as fantastic as I remember her.

Photography Notes: I LOVE shooting at Triple Door. The lighting is fantastic, the staff is friendly, and beers get brought to my seat throughout the show (its a diner club). I had wanted to try out my new 70-200 2.8 lens, but didn’t hear about my photo pass approval until after the show. D’oh!

For these photos I used a 1.4 50mm (my sharpest lens) and a Tamron 2.8 24-75mm.

Check out the rest of the photos.