On March 25th (on suggestion from Christian) I ventured into DC to attend the Photoshop World Expo (which was free that day). After getting a little lost I managed to . . . → Read More: Trip Report: Photoshop World Expo]]> Now this is a little bit of a deviation from what I normal because it’s not live or promotional music photography…though it does involve music photography.

On March 25th (on suggestion from Christian) I ventured into DC to attend the Photoshop World Expo (which was free that day). After getting a little lost I managed to make it to the convention center on 7th Ave where the Expo was being held. When I navigated my way to the area where the expo was being held I was met with quite a sight. I spied Adobe demoing Lightroom 4 and scurried on down.

See more after the jump!

I did a fair amount of wandering around, bouncing from booth to booth. I found a crowd of people around a model who was lit expertly and decided to join the herd and snap a few photos myself. Portraits are not my thing but I gave it a shot.

After doing a fair amount of wandering I stumbled along a rather unexpected booth. The Lens Bracelets booth. With Adam Elmakias himself standing there. For those of you who don’t follow music photography Adam is one of the more well known music photogs, especially for his work with A Day To Remember. Needless to say I did not expect to run into him here. After chit chatting for a bit I followed him over to the Nik Software booth where his presentation convinced me to actually buy software for once. Seriously, I almost never buy software anymore since I’m all set with Lightroom and I bought that ages ago.

After his presentation I decided to do a little shooting around the Lens Bracelets booth, both for my own practice and to get some shots for Adam. Quite a few people were confused as to what the purpose of them were and once they found out that you just wore them proceeded to walk away. Though for the most part the booth was popular and quite a few people stopped by. Including Nick DiNatale, another music photographer I knew who happened to be in my Boy Scout troop long ago. Check his work out, you won’t be disappointed.

Around 5pm the Expo finished up and I ended up going with Adam and his booth mate (who’s name I forget annoyingly enough) to grab lunch with Nick and his friends. We ended up going to a Five Guys Burgers and Fries (I recommend this) and just ate and hung out there for a while. We ended up parting ways after giving Adam directions to the nearest movie theater (Chinatown, right down the road).

All in all it turned into a pretty solid outing as I got to meet a music photographer I look up to and see an old face from the past. Hopefully I’ll be seeing both Adam and Nick on this years Warped Tour.

-Ethan

Count to Four, a pop-punk five . . . → Read More: 3.23.2012 The Barn]]> The Barn was a nice little venue, provided by a church, in the middle of the woods. It was small, but in a good way. On the other hand it did have a lot of couches, causing the crowd to sit down a lot.

Count to Four, a pop-punk five piece from the Philly/South Jersey area. They were, a little out of place in this show, but still good, if you like a little heavier stuff.

Markets and Dwellers is a nice little slow pick me up after a long day of working hard. They also played an fantastic cover of Sugar We’re Going Down. 

Me Equals You is a band from the Maryland/Delaware area. Doing best with what they have, the have managed to get a gathering of folks since August 2011.

Proginal Son is Orion Moses, from Lancaster, Pa. He put on an awesome solo act where him and his guitar rocked out!

Traveling all over the world, and reporting his travels via song, is Shane Palko. His is the nicest guy that you’ll ever meet, and it shows in his melodies, that he creates.

The Last Dinosaur coming from Newark, De, is the catchy music of this band. They put on an interesting live show, with their synth player rocking out and dancing and the lead guitarist and singer Josh Hensley singing with a deep inspiring facial expressions.

View all the photos here

It’s no mystery that Transit is one of my favorite bands. I mean I’ve shot them a million times and seen them a million times. Now they’re raising funs for a tour documentary! And they’re not just doing  a boring old kickstarter, they’ve started their own fundraiser, except it’s a “Fun-Raiser!”. . . . → Read More: Transit start “Fun-Raiser” for Tour Documentary]]> (via Property of Zack)

It’s no mystery that Transit is one of my favorite bands. I mean I’ve shot them a million times and seen them a million times. Now they’re raising funs for a tour documentary! And they’re not just doing  a boring old kickstarter, they’ve started their own fundraiser, except it’s a “Fun-Raiser!”. Check it out here and read a statement from the band below.

We came up with a cool idea… We want to put together a tour documentary to give our fans an inside look at all the insanity that happens on the road and share the experience with all of you.

In order to ramp up the excitement-factor, we decided to basically pimp ourselves out and do a bunch of crazy things – while capturing all the footage. What’s even better is that you can be a part of some of them (see the options below).

We also put together a “Best of Transit Thursday” digital download with 10 of the best Transit Thursday covers (chosen by our fans) which is included in every single price option below. We plan to use the money we raise to help fund the documentary, and also to buy beer. Kidding… but not really.

There’s an option to choose five songs for an upcoming show, I’m thinking of chipping in a hundred bucks for a chance to hear some old Transit songs (like xFTWx five times)

Check out this video of Seahaven performing a new song entitled Honey Bee!

I’ll have a few of these at every show I shoot, be sure to get some before they’re all gone

Enough with that, though. I had the privilege of covering a band I never thought . . . → Read More: 2/2 Squid the Whale w/ The Composure @ Lisa’s Pub, Indian Head, MD.]]> Ah, finally. My first update all by myself! Aren’t you proud of me?  This update unfortunately was pushed (way) back due to some personal priorities, but it is finally here! Sorry, you’ll find me to be a bit over-enthusiastic sometimes.

Enough with that, though. I had the privilege of covering a band I never thought I’d be able to see live, and also to showcase some local talent as well. For your viewing privilege, all is behind the cut…

The venue was quite odd for a rock show. The sign outside read “5 bands for 5 bucks.”

On one half of the building, a bar with patrons mostly 40+ discussed how odd “those strange kids” appeared. The phrase, “When I was a teenager…” was heard more than a few times. However, all seemed to welcome this ‘screaming’ music after a few drinks. The other half of the building, presumably built for wedding receptions, was where “those strange kids” were gathering.

The bands to play  that night were Transitions, Lifeblood, Ad Astra, The Composure, and Squid the Whale. The Composure and  Squid the Whale were on an almost two-month long tour together, sponsored by Pup Fresh 

Transitions, a newly formed local metal act were the first to play.

Next up on the set list were Lifeblood, a once-local Christian metal band that has since branched out.

Ad Astra,[lat. for ‘to the stars’] a local melodic alt band were next to play. They had previously been invited by Squid the Whale to open for them at a show in Detroit.

Finally, one of the two touring bands, The Composure took the front.

The final act was, personally, who I’d been really excited to see. (If you read my tumblr at all, you’d have seen that one of my birthday wishes was for Squid the Whale to do an East Coast tour. I was so happy to have my wish granted.)

Check out all the bands mentioned above here:

Squid the Whale

The Composure

Ad Astra

Lifeblood

Transitions

Becki Beckmann
bbphtg@yahoo.com
Flickr 

Big things are coming.

-Ethan