The Legend of Leon Bridges

This photo gallery was originally published on D Magazine's Front Row (Click To View)

I shoot a lot of shows and unfortunately that means I've mostly become desensitized to the shimmer of a live show. Now, it usually comes down to "Can I create great work from this event?" Not, "Oh, wow, I'm about to see so-and-so perform live!" I think this perspective works for me, though. Being nervous has gotten the best of me before and it's not a great feeling afterward. When I shot an Ellie Goulding show I was pretty much starstruck and it definitely affected my photos. Point is, that doesn't happen very often anymore, at least I thought that was the case until Leon Bridges came back in town. 

If you don't know the legend of Leon Bridges yet, here's a quick primer: Leon is a 25-year-old singer from Fort Worth, Texas who nobody knew of last year. He was quietly playing gigs around town and hooked up with an indie band from Austin called White Denim. They recorded a couple tracks together, threw em up on Soundcloud around October and by December he was signed to Columbia Records. Since then Bridges has generated a buzz I've never seen before. His shows are selling out in minutes, scalped tickets are going for hundreds of dollars and he's had placements in commercials with Apple and Beats. The greatest part of his story is that it's deserving. Things like this happen, but it's usually a pop star manufactured by a label with superstar hit-making producers. Bridges' success happened the old-school, yet modern, way. And he's authentic. He's the real deal. Not only is his voice like the second-coming of Sam Cooke, but his style is a blast from the past as well--it's a very charming package. Anyway, that's Leon. 

This photo gallery is from his show for KXT's Barefoot at the Belmont series. It's an annual event the local radio station puts together every summer and hosts at The Belmont hotel in West Dallas. It's a popular ticket because the grounds of the Belmont coupled with the band that night and the Dallas skyline in the background make for a wonderful spectacle of an evening. Well, when Bridges was added to the bill the anticipation for this concert was insane. There were probably only about 50 tickets available online and they sold out in a matter of seconds, freezing the website. I was able to attend since D Magazine wanted a photo gallery from the show. 

As usually happens. Things didn't go as planned. The week of the show we had a horrible amount of rain and to prevent the show from being rained out, it was moved to Sons of Hermann Hall--a historic venue on the far east side of Deep Ellum. I was pretty bummed out to hear this news because I was chomping at the bit to snap shots of Leon in front of the skyline, but to my surprise the venue change may have worked out even better photo wise. 

Sons of Hermann hall is an old place. Like, untouched since the 50s type of old. It creates a special charm to it and luckily for me and everyone in attendance this charm was in the same vein of Bridges' old-school aesthetic. The minimal lighting, wood-paneled walls and Bridges' outfit just worked out perfectly in the photos. That minimal lighting created some great contrast that I ended up really loving even though his eyes are lost in a lot of the shots. And it probably goes without saying that he was fantastic. After I finished shooting I finally got to sit back and watch the man perform and I was floored. When he performed Lisa Sawyer I had chills. I'm really glad to have been able to shoot this show because it was truly unique. I don't think many other photographers will be able to shoot him in such an intimate and old school setting with the access I had. That was a special night. 

When To Use VSCO Film

This photo gallery was originally published on Central Track (Click To View)

Visual Supply Co or VSCO filters/film emulators, however you'd like to describe them, are extremely popular and it's easy to see why. Once one of the packs is loaded into your Lightroom application you can edit your photos with a single click. It's absurdly easy to put a significantly dramatic effect on your photos and there are so many you can still remain some sense of individuality from all the other VSCO users with your end result. 

I'm just not a fan of them, though. It's hard for me to understand why we invest in such advanced equipment that can produce stunning high resolution photos but we're obsessed with degrading our photos with a look vintage or manipulating tones so harshly that the photo falls out of any realm of photojournalism. 

With that said, I just so happened to rely heavily on this quick and convenient trick this week. I was covering Action Bronson's headlining set at the House of Blues for Central Track Monday night and I experienced every photographer's worst nightmare: ugly, harsh lighting. The first two songs Bronson was covered in red lights, but even more frustrating was that there was very little key lighting on his face so a lot of my shots had somewhat of a silhouette look. The last song that I was allowed to shoot was a cartoonish blend of green and blue with the same lack of key lighting. As I was shooting I knew these colors were going to be difficult to process and pretty much knew after the second song I would be converting all of these shots to black and white even it's not something I like to do. Converting photos to black and white, to me, is a signal that I've lost control of the colors and tones in the photos. 

But, considering I was on a deadline I had little recourse so I decided to see if I could use one of the famed VSCO film emulators to rescue me. Lo and behold, I found a really great emulator called Kodak T-Max 3200. I just the amount of grain to zero and tweaked the shadows a bit and was able to walk away with some pretty clean photos that I'm pretty happy with. Part of my review of the concert was how captivating he is as a performer by himself on stage as opposed to a lot of rappers who act like they have stage fright and need at least 15 friends on stage with them as some sort of security blanket. The black and white really emphasized his solitude on stage, helping to tell the story. 

So when it comes to using VSCO products, I'm not a fan of people slapping them on every photo they take as some sort of short cut for  creating rich, dramatic photos but I can now fully understand the usefulness of this tool in the repertoire. 

St. Vincent And The Dallas Symphony Orchestra

This photo gallery was originally published on D Magazine (Click To View)

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to shoot a very special performance by St. Vincent with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as part of the DSO's inaugural Soluna Festival. It was my first time shooting at the AT&T Performing Arts Center's Winspear Opera House--it was a beautiful setting to shoot in. 

Of course, nothing is ever as good as it seems. Usually the bigger the artist and the grander the venue the more restrictions there are as was the case this night. On this night I was fortunate enough to have a seat for the beginning of the show, but only for the first six songs. After that is when she began to perform with the Dallas Symphony and is when I was allowed to shoot my three songs with the other photographers in the building. I can't begin to explain how nervous and flustered I felt. We only had two spots to stand in in the venue--a walkway near an exit and a mezzanine stage right. Both were no less than 50 yards away. Because of this I was concerned about the variety of shots I'd be able to capture for a photo gallery I had due for D Magazine. On top of the shooting restrictions the lights changed about as fast as a blink of the eye. 

It's moments like that these that you really have to know the ins and outs of your camera. I was changing settings so fast and adjusting to changing light so quickly that I couldn't afford to waste any time fumbling with my camera's settings or chimping. I just had to trust my knowledge. 

After those three songs, I unfortunately didn't have an opportunity to see the rest of the show as the photographers were escorted out, but I'm grateful to have been able to witness of the best performances I've ever seen. If you ever get a chance to see St. Vincent live do it! Walking out of the venue I didn't feel good at all about the photos I got, but in the end I was really happy with the variety I captured and how I was able to work with the rapidly changing available light. 

Spillover Music Festival

Dallas is awash with music festivals, but Spillover Music Fest is one of the best around. Put together by local talent buyer Parade of Flesh, the fest gets its namesake from the overflow of bands leaving Austin the Sunday after South By Southwest heading through Dallas on their way home. Now in its eighth year, 2015's edition expanded to its biggest offering so far taking place between three venues and four stages on the 2700 block of Elm St. in Deep Ellum. Spillover's best reputation is that it's a great place to see 30+ plus smaller, up-and-coming bands that will usually blossom into much bigger acts in the following years e.g., Deafheaven, Dum Dum Girls, Trash Talk, Small Black, The Men, Parquet Courts and Ty Segall. 

I shot the festival for D Magazine's entertainment blog Front/Row. Just like I try to do with everything I shoot I wanted to take a wide variety of shots. Not just a variety of shots of each band with say a wide angle, then a portrait lens but get a variety of photos that show off the environment of the festival. I ended up failing at that. I walked away with some great shots of the bands and some posed shots of some attendees, but I would've been so much happier if I could've captured candid shots of the crowds and some portraits of the bands. Capturing portraits of bands while they're in town is something I'd love to do more of, but it's a tough thing more to ask for some reason. This festival would've been a great opportunity because there wasn't a "backstage." All the bands just mingle about with the crowds, which also adds to Spillover's charm.