FIrst Gig

Last night/this morning was a first for many things. My first Canadian Pub experience was also my first band gig. And by this, I don't.... actually I do mean to mislead you (all in the name of suspense, right?)

I don't have much time between now - at the library - and my bus to work, but here is last night/this morning's story.

If you're wondering, which you probably are, it was my first band photography gig. A few nights ago a friend called me up to photograph his band. Fortunately, I could move around my work schedule and fit the Gig in, despite not having all the best gear/preparation for the gig.

I paid a visit to Camera Traders to pick up what I could get the day before and I stumbled across a flash with a sensor. While not as great as a wireless flash may have been, it was really fun getting members of my family and co-workers zapped by it unexpectedly. In the end, the flash did not work out. Strobe work is extremely complex, and near impossible to master in an environment you don't get to play around in before the band starts. So, of course, I abandoned the flash, turned my ISO up to 800 (O.o) - which my K-x handles exceedingly well - and captured what I could with the terrible lighting in Logan's Pub.

I now understand why the vast majority of band photo's are in black and white; at least I think this is because of all the conflicting colours of light. With what equipment I had and the conditions I was in, I was quite pleased with a number of exposures I had taken.

As well as shooting, I did a bit of networking... I really need to design a business card, it would have been handy last night. Perhaps there is prospect of more gigs in the future for me. It all depends on if the other bands like what they will see once I am finished the editing process.

On the stage last night were Staves, the T.O.C, Chris Neal and West Coast Daze. On the dance floor was me, grooving and shooting; a bit unexpected to some of my friends who envision me on the stage more than on the dance floor or behind a camera. Hey, I can still play guitar; perhaps one day I will need someone to take photo's of me on stage.

On a side note: the, "I'm a photographer," phrase works quite well at bars.

[=



In this photo: Devon Delarge: Homie and Member of "West Coast Daze".

What a splendid moment...

Recent fires up-island have smogged up the air and made for some really cool shots of the sun - If I had gotten there sometime before this shot, I would have had some. This was the last of the sun I could capture before it faded, not behind the horizon, but into the thick smog.

I was not alone; it seems the deck where I took the picture for my post: "Quack!", was quite a popular place for photographers who were also trying to shoot the sun. So the only thing I can say about this picture is that the red casts a slight ominous layer on the lake.

Now, if you look closely, you and see what looks like popler, from trees, or cotton. I thought it was some product of group of trees somewhere alongside the lake. Here is a better picture:

So after a brief chat with some photographers, I stumbled upon something quite interesting; this dock usually has something interesting to capture. In this case, it was a bear:

Still, at this moment, the only significance to anything I had placed on this bear was the randomnity of it. I took some pictures, smiled, and pointed the "Drowning Bear" to the others on the deck. One then said, "Yeah, there's bear shit everywhere."

Not as in "shit" shit, but the insides and organs, so to say, of a bear. The red sun over this lake, with two murdered bears (One drowned, one gutted and strewn across the lake) made it a very pleasant experience for me; I was highly satisfied, even after missing my chance to shoot the sun).

On my return the next day, to try my luck with the sun again, the victims were removed, as were any traces of them. All that I found on the deck was caution tape:



O.o

Pow Wow...

Everytime I say "Pow Wow," a certain Bon Jovi song pops into my head. So I only have a few pictures remaining which I took, IN EXISTENCE. Some awesome ethereal being made me save a few on my camera, which is not the same awesome ethereal being that made my Dad delete everything off of the computer. Accident, of course... I should be more careful with where I store my photo's; all 18 000 of them.



So picture A is a picture of a chief called, wait for it, "White Lightning." Yeah, it's pretty hardcore. I took a photo of him and didn't realise I was close enough to be included in the ceremony, let alone to get struck.



16 Chiefs gathered to join in on traditional dance and ... traditions, obviously. While members of one tribe sang, others struck their drums in synchronisity, the dancers did their thing in a circle, rotating, round and round. There were a number of interesting things one could watch out for, including a man in a motorized wheelchair who persisted to join in regardless of the feathers and traditional dress he was lacking. However, What caught my eye most was this thing:

It's a GIANT ICE-CREAM MAN!


That is all, as I myself don't know what it was doing there. Regardless, White Lightning did not seem to be lactose intolerant, which sucked of course, because there was not going to be epic battle for me to shoot.

On a side note -{HA! CATCHY, maybe not}- I saw another Ice Cream man down at VEMF.

As far as my life is going at the moment: Awesome. Things seem to be falling in place. My cellphone seemed to have fallen out of my pocket last night too. I was in a park, and when I came back in the morning - because you can do that in Canada - I found it covered in dew and water. It works, but there is water in the screen. As well as this, I spent my time between 06:30 and 08:00 picking up garbage and drying wet benches (I swear, the Gardeners think that watering the wooden benches will make them grow). The grass was really thick in the Mediteranean Gardens - which no one goes to - and I got my shoe's soaked. I don't think the crazy hole at the bottom of my shoe helped either.

Today was also my first day working at the gate, handling a lot of people's cash, a lot of the time. Actually, all the time, and always walking, and squeaking and walking, and squeaking... faster and faster and squeakier and squeakier. I got the job done, though.

Another job I need to get done is organising my photo's. I have too many, and too many people want some uploaded/surrendered to them. Tomorrow I will be doing all of this. Because it is the new month, I have another 100 mb's on flickr, so my slideshow I posted earlier will GROW.

Also, a toast to serendipity.

o.O