live music capture

Last Saturday night I was on hand to photograph not one but two wonderful artists at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona, Arizona.

Part of my job there is to capture the musicians live on stage and create artwork for the Sound Bites Grill ‘Wall of Fame’. The other part of my gig is to create ‘straight’ photography images to help in promotion and things like press releases for when the artist returns for a future performance.

Here’s a few from each of the performers…

First up was Grant Ferguson

Here’s a description from his web site where you can check out his music. (I particularly like ‘Everlasting Desire’!) “Propulsive, melodic rock guitar in the hands of Grant Ferguson is a powerful reminder of the instrument’s glory days. Influenced by some of the great axe masters: Jeff Beck, Gary Moore, The Edge and others, Ferguson is pushing his all-instrumental sound toward a new rock vision.”

guitaritst grant ferguson

Grant Ferguson makin’ some beautiful sounds flow from his guitar. – Camera Lumix GX8

grant ferguson guitar musician

Live on stage at Sound Bites – Camera Lumix GH4

ferguson live on stage at sound bites grill

Grant captured with the new Lumix GX8. All images used the Lumix 35-100mm f2.8 lens

Following Grant’s set there was a break and we heard from Blues guitarist Leroy Miller.

A little about Leroy from his web site. Check his music (Try Over You from the self titled album) “Los Angeles blues sensation Leroy Miller has worked on countless recordings for music’s brightest stars like John Mayer, Macy Gray and Smash Mouth.  Leroy has toured all over the world as a supporting act for bands such as Aerosmith and the Dave Mathews Band.”

leroy miller on guitar and vocals

Leroy Miller got the crowd up and dancing with his high energy rock guitar. Camera GX8

leroy miller on guitar

Leroy Miller – Camera Lumix GH4

sound bites grill entertainment leroy miller

Leroy Miller wailin’ it! Camera GH4

In putting the images together I make conversions to black and white for all of the press images. This guarantees the best look when printed on a press. If someone just converts a color image to grayscale the reproduction of the detail can get lost especially in newspaper reproduction. I often use Google’s NIK Silver FX Pro 2 for making the conversions. It gives me lots of options to make the Black & White have tones from light to dark without getting muddy or flat.

On this shoot I tried out the new Lumix GX8 for the first time under LED stage lights to see how it held up to the dark shadow areas and the lack of full spectrum in the stage lighting. I was impressed. While I would replace my GH4 camera with the GX8 I wouldn’t hesitate to use it as a back-up or grab it in a pinch. The quality of the images wouldn’t suffer one bit.

Yours in Creative Photography,         Bob

PS – I’ll show the Grant and Leroy’s ‘Wall of Fame’ images in a couple days.

now I lay me down to sleep

A gift.

A gift that is very moving.

One that can only be given at a moment in time.

The gift of Professional Family Portraiture to a family that is losing a child at birth… Is priceless.

It’s recruitment month at Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and I encourage you to consider becoming an affiliated photographer. There is a tremendous need. When I first heard about the organization and it’s mission I thought, “There’s NO WAY I could ever do that!” Eventually after attending a seminar put on by Sandy Puc I decided to try. Over the years I’ve been with the organization in many roles, as a photographer, trainer, board member & image reviewer as I see this is an amazing way to give back to the community.

You can do it.

Is it easy? Nope

Is it rewarding? Yep

“Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is one of those ways that I enjoy serving my community as a photographer. When a Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep call comes in, I remember why I love photography.” – Mike Fulton, NILMDTS Area Coordinator and Affiliated Photograph

Learn more from the videos below and the NILMDTS web site.

Yours in Creative Photography,     Bob

 

NILMDTS public service announcement
Today Show segment on NILMDTS

elvis lives

He’s back! Elvis does a great show!

And, I’m not an Elvis fan.

Oh wait! It’s not Elvis it’s Chance Tinder’s tribute to Elvis with the Kentucky Rain Band and it was at Sound Bites Grill the other night. But, you wouldn’t know it wasn’t the King. Chance has a great Elvis voice but doesn’t go hooky with it. He’s very interactive with the audience and from my perch in the back I could see almost everyone dancing in their seats. And, scarves were being shared with women who were willing to head on up to the stage and share some dance moves. Chance is very much the professional actor. Here’s a description from his web site…

Chance’s secret is believing that it’s not always the voice, that plays the most important part, but it’s knowing exactly how to become the man himself on that stage!  It’s basically the attitude of Elvis Presley… Shy but confident… Knowing exactly what he’s doing.  Chance isn’t an ‘impressionist’ doing a spin Elvis Presley.  Rather he’s Chance Tinder, the actor, recreating a character…  Much like actor ‘Joaquin Phoenix’ portraying ‘Johnny Cash’, or entertainer/actor ‘Jamie Foxx’ re-creating the great ‘Ray Charles’.

 

chance tinder as elvis

Chance Tinder as Elvis live on Stage at Sound Bites Grill with a bit of artwork by yours truly for the ‘Wall of Fame’.

Man I can’t recommend catching this show enough. Lots of fun and memories seemed to appear out of the air taking me back in time.

Yours in Creative Photography,     Bob

PS – Same basic gear, settings and post production as in this post.

eric miller trio

New addition for the Sound Bites Grill ‘Wall of Fame’ in today’s post.

These musicians all reside on the Wall individually but they assembled into a great jazz/pop group and are playing Sunday nights at SBG. I saw them last week with my wife Holly and stayed until the last song was played. Eric Miller is a songwriter/singer/guitarist and is one of our favorite local artists. Eddie Barrattini bangs on the drums. Troy Perkins plays excellent bass on a guitar that he built himself.

 eric miller trio

From left Troy Perkins, Eddie Barattini and Eric Miller

It’s pretty amazing the musical talent we have living and performing here in Sedona!

Images were captures with the * Lumix GH4 and the 35-70mm f2.8 Lumix Vario lens. The GH4 has enough density range to capture detail in the shadows yet still have enough information in the highlights that are created with LED stage lighting. The tough part about photographing LED lighting is that the colors are very pure and don’t have a large spectrum of color as when we photographed tungsten lighting with gels over them.

The individuals were isolated by selecting and Masking in Photoshop. The individual Layers were then blended together with multiple texture images to create the final art in a process I call Photo-Synthesis.

Yours in Creative Photography,      Bob

* There’s been a $200 price drop on the GH4!

old west video

The scene looks like it was taken from the pages of a Louis L’Amour novel.

A Western set awaits as the Arizona PPA put on it’s annual ‘Fall Fest’ and you just might want to put this on your calendar. AZPPA board member Bruce Roscoe has put together an event you won’t want to miss. He has contacts with lots of actors from Westerns who have period costumes to go with the setting at Canyon Creek Ranch in Black Canyon City, Arizona.

Bruce asked me to get together with some of the actors to give you a preview of what’s in store. With the trusty Lumix GH4 in hand and a video fluid head atop my tripod we endeavored to give you a taste of the event.

Promo for AZPPA ‘Fall Fest’ video shot with the GH4 and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro
Check out the video and if you’d like more information you can ride on over to the AZPPA web site link for more information pardner…
I will be one of about 5 instructors that will be on hand to share ideas about shooting, lighting, posing on this all day event. There will be lighting equipment from FJ Westcott to try out and work with.
Looks like it’s gonna’ be a blast!
Yours in Creative Photography,      Bob
PS – Watching the video will be your first step and you’ll be one of the first to see what’s coming. Sign up early as this will surely sell out.
PPS – The beginning part of the video was accomplished by using the Time Lapse feature in the camera. Camera was hand held with an image being made every 2 seconds as we drove down the road.

nat at hilton

How often do you meet truly happy people?

Truly happy?

I’ve been staying at and attending events at the Hilton Phoenix Airport Hilton Hotel for the last 16 years so I get to know most of the people who work at the property. There are lots of standout, long term employees there. (AFAIK unusual in the service industry)

I was having a conversation with shuttle driver Nat about being happy. He shared that he was in the corporate world making good bucks, switched some stuff, got down-and-out sized and then decided to do something that made him happy rather than making him huge dollars. He’s been picking up and dropping off guests between the Phoenix Airport Hilton the Sky Harbor Airport for the last seven and a half years. I’ve seen him a lot in that time and never seen him without a big smile and a huge hello for me and everyone he comes in contact with.

nat at hilton hotel

Hilton Phoenix Airport Hotel Bell Captain/shuttle-driver/ambassador Nat

“What’s your point, Bob?”

Point is there are lots of ways to make money with your camera.

Do YOU still enjoy what you do?

Or are you just workin’ for the dollar. Life is short. Make sure you enjoy the ride. And, if you need a smile come on down to the Hotel and say ‘Hey!’ to Nat.

Yours in Creative Photography,     Bob