Little Faces

It's no secret that I LOVE to photograph babies, also no secret that I call ever child a "little".  If you've been around me in the last 3 years, you've heard this.  If you've visited my website and/or fanpage, you've seen this.  Well today's love is for not only littles, but the faces they make, thus; Little Faces.
I was finishing up photos this afternoon and found a priceless face from a Baby Shower.  Children are absolutely precious, and their ability to make you smile or laugh so easily has got to be the best super power in the world.  I never take my little guys giggles for granted, I'll tell you that much.

Enjoy  :)

Beautiful mornings

Today, I'm in love with

7AM lens flare.  I bet you thought I was going to say love didn't you?  Since it's Valentines Day and all.....Hey, I love a good romantic read every now and then, but just because we celebrate a Saint with chocolate, cards, flowers and over-priced meals today, doesn't mean I'm going to get sappy on you.

So, 7AM lens flare.

Most photographers hate lens flare.  Me?  I embrace it.  Sure, after I get the flare shot I normally reshoot, get the "money shot".  But something like this is so beautiful.  I love hitting the sun and watching that moment that the color sweeps over my photo.  It always reminds me of a slow motion moment of complete happiness in a movie.  Whether it's 7AM like above, when the sun is brand new and the world is just starting to come into perspective (for real, 7AM every day is brutal for me) or mid afternoon like below.  Enjoy these moments, something special is happening.

Twiztid at the Rave, December 10, 2010

So, Twiztid.  Another Psychopathic Records artist I absolutely adore, and was rediculously excited to see and photograph all week because they always put on such a GREAT show, and they crack jokes between songs and pick on the crowd.  Their guest line up was great, Blaze and a group I've never heard of but actually kind of like called MIC Lords.  Now, the downside of the show?  They packed a ton of Juggalos in the basement.  That's right, I had to shoot the basement, again, and was not overly thrilled about it.  The music sounded pretty good this time, minus the fact that the MIC Lords were having, well, mic issues.  The lighting however, not so great, again.  Whether Psychopathic brings their own side stage lighting or the Rave supplied it downstairs (it's the same star lighting I see at every Psychopathic show) I'm not sure, but it definately helped a little.  Too bad there was no front or top lighting though, it would have made things that much better.

Anyway, yes we all know the Rave lighting sucks, so I'll get on with it.

I think there may have been one band before Mic Lords, we got there a bit late, so I can't tell you what I thought of them unfortunatly.  But Mic Lords were great!  Long haired grunge guys that bring freshness to the rap-rock game these guys hit the stage running, no really, they were moving around quite a bit, working the crowd and making it exceedingly difficult for me to grab a stop action shot, but that's ok, I like an active show!  I ran into the singer after the show and shared a card, he appreciated the praise for a good job done and tried to sell me his CD.  I've got to find these guys online because I didn't have any money for a CD.  He's got a cool name to go with that long hair; he introduced himself as Allergy.  :)

Blaze Ya Dead Homie.  What can I say about Blaze?  This guy never fails to impress me and every show is better than the last.  He came out with hypeman J10 and they rocked the stage.  An interactive duo Blaze and J10 throw lyrics back and forth, taunt each otehr endlessly and work the crowd into a frenzy everytime I see them.  He opened the show with his regular line up and closed singing to the ladies.

I finally realized something at this show though.  Well two somethings.  First, which is actually the second thing I thought of, Blaze is losing some weight, which is great.  Second, which is the first thing I thought of; That clock that's hanging around his neck is filled with pictures of him through the ages.  I tried to get a decent photo of just the clock, but it moves so much and the light was so low that I just couldn't catch it.  One of these days I'll get a Mark II and that baby is all mine!  Thanks for hitting it big Blaze, and I can't wait to see you with ABK next year!

Finally Twiztid.  Now I've got something to get off my chest before I tell you about the stellar performance I saw.  Normally, the Rave lets you shoot 3 songs from each set before security kicks you out of the photo pit.  So naturally I went to the stage during they hit the stage right?  Get a good angle on the guys coming out of the curtain.  Well I get up there and the music starts and security informs me that they are being yelled at for letting me in the pit for more than two songs for the last two artists.  Now if you're saying "wait a second" and looking back to the top of the paragraph, let me save you the trouble.  I typed that in right, this show I could only shoot two songs, not three.  I'm supurbly happy that I got good shots of Blaze because the lights turned on and I was standing there irritated that I could only shoot two songs.  Why? you might be asking.  Because Twiztid came out and sang HahahaHa as their opener; so they used low purple lights, smoke and strobe for 5 minutes.  So here I was trying to time my shots with the strobe when it wasn't hitting regularly or with the tempo of the song, I was screwed.  I did manage to get some killer shots off of the steady blue light when Madrox stepped into it, so for that, whoever said I could only be there for two songs, thank you.  For whoever it was that said only two songs, you officially suck.

Now, the Twiztid show, after I got out of the pit and enjoyed the show a bit, was nothing less than awsome.  It never is.  I was slightly disappointed that they waited until the end of the show to mess with the crowd, as we left a little early when things started getting pretty rough (my cameras are a tad expensive) so we missed a really funny stand up, though someone did record it on their phone and post it on Faygo lovers so we got to see it anyway.  But, Blaze was on stage for a bit and sang with them, which was great, and they hit almost all of my favorites.  It was great to see people singing the Heartbreak and Homicide songs they performed as well being that the CD got quite a bit of negative feedback from the media and juggalos alike.  Me?  I loved that CD!  There isn't a song on it that I don't like.  I noticed a similar thing in Madrox as Blaze, you're getting slim man!  Way to go guys!

That's about it folks, enjoy!  :)

Meet Felecia, with 2 e's :)

Felecia, whose name I consistantly spelt wrong, was my last late Senior of the season.  She had her shoot on December 3rd!  It was bitter cold out, super windy and we were out in the open most of the time totally exposed to not only the elements but the traffic too!  She hung in there and we got some great photos.  Felecia spends a lot of her time at work, when she isn't there though she enjoys music and oriental items, oh, and sleeping  :)
 Thanks Felecia, whose name I'm not going to spell wrong anymore!  I really enjoyed out shoot.

Meet Mary

Mary was one of my late Seniors this season.  It was terribly cold, we were losing light, FAST, and Mary had to trudge through tons of foliage to get to the perfect spot in the woods to shoot her twilight session, with her strapless prom dress and beautiful violin.  But we created some magical photos, beautiful music and Mary kept it light, smiling the whole time dispite the cold.
Mary plays her violin (two ways, as a banjo as well) participates in 4H, shoots 4H too I might add :) and is on the soccer team.  Mary will be handing out rep cards for next years seniors to take advantage of, so find some!
Thanks for a GREAT shoot Mary, I really enjoyed it.

Nonpoint at The Rave, Milwaukee WI, November 26th 2010

So the Nonpoint show.  First thing's first; I never, EVER, want to have to see another show in the basement again, ever.  Well, unless I'm being paid to do so.  Rumors of it being haunted aside (I didn't see any ghosts for the record), it's small, so the sound bounces, it's VERY poorly lit (I'm talking 6 hotlights in front of the stage, so it's primarily backlit, yuck) and critics who think that the pillars upstairs are bad for multi angle views will be happy to know that they really aren't so bad compared to the basement where they are much closer together making any side stage viewing further back from the stage than 8 feet, really rather difficult.

But moving past the poor set-up, it was refreshing to go to a show that actually had some moving room.  Whether it was because of the holiday weekend or because of the show going on upstairs (Never Shout Never) it was nice to stand and enjoy Nonpoint and not get shoved, kicked or stepped on.  The worst that happened was a few guys who rushed between my Dad and I with a guy on their shoulders and ended up dragging my dad with them a few feet.  (Yes, my dad rocked the show with me like a champ)

So how was the show?  Stellar.  It opened with a local Milwaukee band S.O.R.E., and I'm not exaggerating on the periods.  Though I swear I've either seen these guys or heard them before, not many people seemed to know who they were.  Where they are familiar from, I'm not too sure but they sport a heavy past with music including openings for HedPE and Mushroomhead as well as having their music featured on ESPN soundtracks and in movies and video games.

They opened the show huge with raw energy and they kept it coming, working up the crowd and giving it everything they were worth.  I'm going to say right now, that dispite the fact that was possibly the first time I'd for sure heard full tracks from them, I'm a fan and yep, I bought the CD.  :)

Taking Dawn was up next, remenicent of an 80's hair band but WAY more metal, these guys rocked the stage.  I was definately impressed with their music, increadable sound matched with loud lyrics and lots and lots of headbanging these guys knocked me off my feet and my camera ate up every second of it.  The guys were great after the show as well, laughing and joking with fans and rocking their table long after everyone else headed back to the buses.  Way to go guys, gotta love the bands that love their fans, I'm impressed.

The stage took on a whole new shape at that point, a rise being added to the middle and a rather disturbing but awsome mic stand added to the top of that.  In This Moment was on next and I was excited.  Another band that I've only heard one song from, ever, but I was so impressed with the video of that song that I found that I couldn't wait to capture some images and a few memories.

My expectations and jitters ended there though and I'll admit that I didn't spend the entire alotted time in the pit.  Whether it was the sound in the basement, poor mic checks or just a worn out Maria Brink, I'm not sure, but her voice was very flat, not at all the sound quality it is recorded, and her stage presence was lacking.  Most of the show she spent standing in one spot and moving, not very generously, to a new spot to stand in.  She climbed on the platform a few times, straddled the mic stand and touched the ceiling, but otherwise was lacking.  I understand that growling and screaming in the manner she does takes a toll, but I've seen Flyleaf half a dozen times and that girl can perform!  And it seems like they never really quit touring.

The music was good, and her stage companions really worked it, I just wish that it would have been a little more.  I bought a shirt though!  Those guys have some great merch.

Nonpoint.....let me tell you something about Nonpoint.  Everytime I get the chance to get close to Elias, I always see the same thing, a huge smile.  The man puts out some amazing positive energy and his bandmates follow suite, and wow can they put on a show.

Growling, grinning, hair flipping, reaching out to the crowd, getting them involved, jumping around, posing, these guys have it all and I NEVER get sick of seeing them in concert.  Zach even hopped out into the crowd at the end of the set and I'm happy to report that he was not dropped.

They hung out with the fans for a bit after the show, my dad got his shirt signed, which rocked, and left with a smile and a wave.  Hope I get the oportunity to shoot you guys again soon, very realistic with how much you love to play in Wisconsin.  It was great show!

I left exhausted, hungry and with 10 gigs of photos to sort through and am happy to report, I'm still not done.  But I wanted to share the best of the best.   :)

Seniors and Music

So I just wrapped a senior shoot + a consultation for orders and this afternoon I will be shooting another late but BEAUTIFUL senior.  Add to that NonPoint on Friday and you have a lovingly leathal mix of wonderful photos to come.  So stay tuned!  Mary will be up tonight, NonPoint will be up on Sunday and Felicia will rock your socks next week.

See you then!

Hit the Fan-page for sneek peeks as they are done.