Has Spring finally arrived? We were out pulling weeds and getting the garden ready yesterday, so it sure feels very close! It has been a busy week, and today feels like a good day for a break from the usual Sunday. Happy Easter to all that celebrate, and thanks for stopping by the blog! I think I’ll try and make more photos today. Stay tuned to see if I come with anything good.
For this post, I went back to find some recent spring blooms that I have come across. Although it is not usually recommended to crank color sliders in your post processing programs, I could not help it for these. Are they over cooked to you? Overall, red pops in digital images, so it is easy to go overboard with it. However, I could not help it with the dahlia image. Perhaps the bright yellow center is a nice contrast to the surrounding color.
For the daffodils in the flower arrangement, it was not as much the yellow that I boosted, but the blues and greens. This is usually avoided in photos with people as it destroys skin tones. However, I like how all the colors mix together in this frame. Don’t be afraid to push the color!
There is lots to do indoors during the snowday! Good thing, too, since it is really snowing well in northern Virginia. I am going through the photos from last weekend’s Arthur Murray Spring Freestyles. This weather should keep me less distracted, so I still hope to have them up by Saturday to view at the proofing website. In the meantime, here are some photos from this morning. Enjoy!
This wintry morning, I had a lot photo editing to do. However, I did take some breaks from the computer. When we have a snowday in Virginia, I know that it usually does not keep its magical look for long. Just after it falls, it looks like the snow is outlining all the wintry branches. For this reason, I have the camera ready when snow it forecasted. In summary, this is what I plan for. On the other hand, I did not expect the complimentary color from the streetlights against the snow. The orange lights really vibes as a pop of color against the snowy-blue ambiance.
It is nice to capture the SingStrong a cappella community as it gathers to show off their new compositions and arrangements for each other, and perform them for others that are so enthusiastic about their art! Overall it is the same excitement I felt when I heard my first “real” a cappella recording in college. It was life changing! My ear had always gravitated to vocals in music weather they were strictly a cappella, or weather they were small vocal-only sections in music.
Some that I remember are Eric Carmen’s “Make Me Lose Control”, or the African choruses that were recorded for the soundtracks of “The Lion King”. Also the soundtrack to the movie, “The Power of One”. Moreover one season of “Growing Pains” was sung by an all-male a cappella group! It wasn’t until a friend in college loaned me his copy of the Virginia Gentlemen’s CD, “Untied” that it finally clicked. At this time I identified what drew me to this music. From there, I have been collecting CDs, and downloads, and sharing them with everyone that was remotely interested. It has been a blessing to reconnect with others by attending SingStrong. I hope to amplify enjoyment of this music by capturing the wide range of vocal music artists in photos.
Keeping that setting in mind, my life has changed a little since college. In fact, it was my girlfriend, now wife, that was taking the photos back then! Here is her photo that became the album cover for the first recording by Juxtaposition. They are an a cappella group from Virginia Tech where I served as their first music director. I, of course, was the most tame in the photo:
Album cover of “Assume the Position” by Juxtaposition
Blue Jupiter
At the last SingStrong, I got a chance to take some posed photos of Blue Jupiter – a high-energy, professional a cappella group from New York City. They put on an AMAZING show, and the members really know how to command the stage. This makes photos of them easy on the photographer. They are so comfortable in front of an audience, and they always come camera-ready especially if it is a few minutes before their show!
Marty, their vocal percussionist is also the audio engineer that sets up the on-stage sound for all the performances. His setup lets the performers sound better than they would at any other venue that weekend. Jonathan, and Diana teach and produce much of the festival. They let me roam around and be creative with my photos which helps to give an overall view of the workshops, coachings and performances. Here are a few of the photos I took of them backstage, and how I think album photos could look today. Much different from 1996!
