Seattle

As I wrote about in an earlier post I had the chance to shoot some dance recently. The project was for Susie Lee and was a real blast. It was the first time working with artists that controlled the light in such a way as to make the light itself a character in the dance. Visual Artist Keeara Rhoades played the part of the light through a set of LCD projectors and some pretty cool software that allowed her to move the light in real time with Ying Zhou the dancer.

As for the cinematography. There was little time for me to shoot before during rehearsal due to logistics. Which meant most of the shooting was done the day before and right after the final performance. The time we spent shooting during the dress rehearsal meant that lighting cues were still being worked out as well as light intensity and colors. We would start to shoot Ying and midway through a shot the light would go from blue to orange. Or, it would drop in intensity all of a sudden. This meant that as I would watch the footage it was all a jumble of mixed light.

Since B&W is immune to color temperature changes…Voila! Make it B&W! Another thing about dropping the color was the editor Ian Louthan was able to boost the contrast and bring some solidity back to the moving light. On a down note going B&W did lead to some noise in a couple shots which is never fun.

In the end it all came together to make a film that is something that captures the essence of the piece and became a whole new stand alone piece too. Everyone was great to work with and I really hope to work with everyone that was part of this project again soon.

Here is the second set of images from The National’s stop by the Neptune theater in Seattle.  Be sure to have a look at the first set.  You will find links to other images there as well.

Enjoy!

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Over the last 13 years I have had the wonderful opportunity to watch The National’s rise through fame. From the Crocodile to Marymoor Park The National’s path is nothing but one of steady perseverance.  The last few years I have had the opportunity to shoot them each time they have passed through Seattle. You can see some of my images of from their shows at The ShowBox and Marymoor Park.

The one thing about The National is they have a great fan base and those fans turn out.  The Neptune was packed two night in a row for great shows.

The bad thing about the Neptune is the lighting (STG seems to have their head up their ass).  It is nothing but a wash in solid red or solid blue while artists perform and then changes to a nice moody high contrast white light between songs. This means that I end up shooting more between songs than the performance.

Either way here is the first round of photos from their show on December 1st 2011. Another set of images will be posted next week.

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Wye Oak the Baltimore based band opened for The National at the Neptune in Seattle.  This is the third time I had the chance to see Wye Oak. I was able to get some shots of them at Sasquatch this last spring as well as Seattle at the Crocodile.  There has been a movement it seems in Indie bands over the last 10 years of the “2-Piece”.

Wye Oak does something that is different. Lead guitarist Jenn Wasner play guitar as loud screaming instrument meant to bleed over everything including her touching and vulnerable lyrics. Here is a link to some photos of them at The Crocodile last August.

Twitter: @wyeoak

Civilian iTunes Album Link

Civilian iTunes Single Link 

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Here is a gallery of images from Wye Oak’s Sasquatch performance as well.

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Kathryn Calder came back through Seattle on tour with her second album Bright and Vivid. This time she played a larger venue and the turn out was at least twice what it was last spring.  If you know anything about Ms. Calder then you know that she is quite talented and should not be missed.  Some photos from her last show in Seattle can be seen here.

A review of Bright and Vivid can be read at Flotzam too.

Twitter: @KathrynCalder

Bright and Vivid — iTunes Link

Who are You –iTunes Link

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