Weezer at the Del Mar Racetrack

Saturday, August 21 was not your ordinary day at the races in Del Mar. The horses put on quite a performance but it was followed by an incredible show by Weezer. Rivers was all over the stage and at several points he actually took off with the wireless mic into the crowd. He even ran back stage for the lucky peeps with special passes and jumped up on the row of porta-poties since there was not a stage back there. I have never had so much fun shooting a concert. It amazes me how I got hooked on Weezers music in High school back in 1994 and they are still adding more high school kids to their fan base today. Be sure to check out Karl’s corner on the Weezer web page for more photos. Enjoy the photos!

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Matisyahu at the Del Mar Racetrack

On friday morning I got an email from Matthew Miller, better known by his Hebrew name, Matisyahu. He asked me if I could photograph his show on Saturday at the Del Mar Racetrack and this is what I was able to shoot. First of all, like many concerts, flash photography was not allowed which meant that in order to have an image correctly exposed and not totally blurry, I would have to shoot at a very fast film speed (iso 1600 or higher). Shooting at a fast film speed allows you to capture fast moving subjects in low light but it ads a lot of grain to the image. Since I knew this ahead of time I took a more creative approach, knowing that the images would have a grainy film-like look. On several shots I intentional positioned my self with the stage lights pointing directly into the camera. This fundamentally breaks every rule of photography, but in this case, the result was an abstract dream-like image. I figured since a perfect sharp crisp image was not possible in these lighting conditions, I might as well have some fun and push the limits a little bit. This is where shooting in full manual mode really is crucial. The stage lighting is constantly changing and if you try to use the cameras light meter to expose the image it will, in most cases, expose the image incorrectly. So once I got an exposure that I was happy with I pretty much stuck to that same exposure. Most of these images were all shot at ISO 3200, f4.0, 1/60 sec.

Another idea that I had going into this shoot was to shoot a lot of stills in rapid fire and piece them together in a stop motion animation. The main goal with every event that I shoot is to capture the vibe and energy in a way that will make people that didn’t attend the event feel like they missed something special… and for the people that did experience the show, I hope to help them relive the great memories and to re-live some of the emotions that they felt. This video is a quick rough cut of what it was like at the Del Mar Racetrack on Saturday night. Matisyahu put on an incredible performance and I highly respect him for staying true to his religious beliefs as a touring musician. Enjoy and I would love to hear any feedback.

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

Size

5×7 $15.00 8×10 $35.00 16×20 $75.00

The Band from TV

Making Music Magazine wrote a cover story about actor, Greg Grunberg and his role in The Band from TV. They needed a cover shot for the magazine and they contacted me to see if I could get together with Greg at their opening show at the NASCAR race in Fontana to take some photos. I got up bright and early and got to the race track at 7am for the bands sound check. I got the cover shots done with Greg right away, before the rest of the band got there, so that he could focus on the sound check once they started. When shooting cover shots it is important to leave some space at the top and possibly around the edges for the magazine to insert their masthead and story titles. This can be challenging if you like to crop in close to your subject which is what normally makes a better composition. This one didn’t make the cover but I liked the excitement and energy of the shot.

This is the shot they ended up using for the cover.

Bob Guiney sang a few songs.

Lobbying for Music Education on Capitol Hill

On May 11-13 the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) coordinated a unified effort to advocate for music education on Capitol Hill. Altogether there were over 80 meetings with members of congress and their staff, including an event with the John Lenon Educational Tour Bus at the Department of Education with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

The main message that was shared with members of congress was to include a strong emphasis on music education in the reauthorization of the ESEA . To conclude NAMM’s efforts on Capitol Hill there was a Congressional Reception with special guests, Jonathain Cain of Journey and Taylor Dayne . Watch videos of their compelling speeches here . I shot these videos with the Canon 5d mark II

Harry’s Mustung at Tikki Oasis 2009

Several years ago Harry Decker and his wife won a lottery in Germany that allowed them to move to San Diego. Harry’s first job in San Diego was working with me at an advertising agency in La Jolla. I have been good friends with Harry ever since. Upon arriving in America’s finest city, Harry has dreamed of owning a ‘65 Mustang convertible. After several years of saving and searching he found his dream car. He repainted it from red to black and added a custom designed surf board (his own design of course) and entered it into the Tikki Oasis 2009 car show.

These are some shots I took from the show last year and I’m looking forward to his return to the show in a few months.