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. 

Event and Branding Photography

Earlier this month I was hired by Hot Import Nights, an annual auto show for tuner import cars, to shoot the branding and sponsorship materials for its three main sponsors: Sylvania Zevo, Valvoline and Fix-A-Flat. Before I arrived I was given a shot list so I had a general idea of what I was expected to shoot, but still had a lot of flexibility when it came to creating the shots. Essentially I was asked to shoot the branding and sponsorship materials as "naturally" as possible. That's a little tougher of a task than it seems considering how blatant advertising usually is. I also had to make sure all my shots were on the conservative side considering these events make it a point to feature lots of models with the cars. 

It was a good exercise of one of the basic tenets of photography: be aware of your backgrounds.

While I was composing each shot I had to make sure I had a clear subject in the photo that instantly attracted the eye, but also featured the brand somewhere in the image all the while making sure the photo wasn't too risqué for the companies. It became a bit of a game for myself to get it done in different ways. 

Also, sometimes when I'm shooting an event I feel a little lost trying to capture as much as possible. In this case, it felt good to scratch shots off the list after getting them done in a variety of ways.

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. 

Cityscapes In New York City

I had the opportunity to go to New York City in March and used some of that time to shoot some cityscapes. Cityscapes are a genre of photography I've really wanted to get into for a while now, especially after seeing the work of Chris Ozer, Swopes, 13TH Witness and Trashhand. Only problem is I'm pretty lazy when it comes to going out and shooting when I'm not on assignment. My 16-35mm f/2.8L is a great lens for this type of work so I'm definitely going to make it a point to go out and shoot lots of cityscapes around Dallas this spring and summer. 

SMU Basketball In The National Spotlight

SMU is in the middle of a remarkable season right now. Looks like Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown has his program where SMU alumni and fans prayed they would be. I wrote more about this here: Game Changer.

In my last blog post I wrote about wanting to shooting a basketball game with a 70-200mm f/2.8L. Well, I got my hands on one and the results were pretty great. That lens is pretty much as versatile as can be for a basketball game. With the 200mm range I was able to capture shots across the court with some crispness. The only other lens I've seen with more versatility than the 70-200 is the 28-300mm f3.5-5.6L. Unfortunately, though, because the lens' widest aperture is 3.5 it's probably best to only use that lens if you have access to strobes in the arena.

I feel like I got some decent variety from this game, but I'm realizing that I can do a better job of capturing detail shots. I saw a great example of this here on Exposure.Co by the Clemson University athletic department on gameday.