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Posts Tagged ‘A cappella’

Event, Music, Photography | 0 comment

Pentatonix performs at Tysons Corner Center

Pentatonix visits the HGTV Santa set at Tysons Corner Center

Pentatonix visits the HGTV Santa set at Tysons Corner Center
Pentatonix visits the HGTV Santa set at Tysons Corner Center

Pentatonix!!

If you are a popular music fan, you have probably heard of the a cappella group, Pentatonix. They came onto the scene when they competed and won NBCs competition show, The Sing Off which had groups from all across the country come to compete each week. Being a fan of a cappella groups from before this current craze began, I really gravitated to watching the show. In college, I spent all my extra time rehearsing with my a cappella group, and all my extra money on CD and tape recordings of other groups.

Pentatonix visits the HGTV Santa set at Tysons Corner Center
Pentatonix visits the HGTV Santa set at Tysons Corner Center
Pentatonix visits the HGTV Santa set at Tysons Corner Center
Pentatonix visits the HGTV Santa set at Tysons Corner Center

It was a very exciting opportunity for me to photograph Pentatonix as they came to perform in the Concourse of Tysons Corner Center. Since it was in the holiday shopping season, they performed some holiday his for the crowd. If you are unfamiliar, a cappella group produce all of the sounds using their voices as the only instruments. They can produce all the backing tracks as well as percussion sounds with their creativity. This adds to the interest when listening to this style of music to see how they interpret and create these sounds with just their mouths!

Concourse Concert

Pentatonix performs holiday music at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Pentatonix performs holiday music at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Pentatonix performs holiday music at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Pentatonix performs holiday music at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center

As part of the holiday celebrations at the mall last year, Pentatonix walked through the HGTV Santa set to look through the Elf village and visit with the big guy. After their visit, they went to the Concourse where a GIGANTIC crowd was waiting for them to perform! This was the most amount of people I have ever seen gathered for an event at Tysons Corner Center. They were stacked almost all the way down to the end of the Concourse almost filling in the width of the space!

Thankfully, Nick Tettey from JB Elliott Photography was there to help me cover this with me. Once I was in position right at the front of the stage, I could not move, so Nick helped me to get some other angles with the crowd a little further back in the crowd. Pentatonix did not disappoint in their singing either! They really sounded amazing, and they got a great reaction from the crowd that came to see them. Luckily there was no problems even with all the people that gathered to see them. Thanks to the mall security that had a great plan for keeping everyone safe and able to enjoy the music!

Pentatonix performs holiday music at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center
Pentatonix performs holiday music at the Concourse in Tysons Corner Center

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Event, Music, Photography | 0 comment

SingStrong – A Cappella Music Festival

A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media
A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media

Reston, Virginia

Last March, I was invited to cover the SingStrong in Reston, Virginia. SingStrong is an a cappella music festival held at South Lakes High School on this occasion. Overall, musicians come together to do workshops, have master classes, and hear from performers from around the country. A cappella, in short, describes a style of music where all of the sounds from the band are create from the human voice. Popular culture has show off these performers especially in movies like “Pitch Perfect” or TV shows like NBC’s “The Sing – Off.”

A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media
A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media
A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media

Main Stage – South Lakes HS

Blue Jupiter are the main hosts for all the attendees of this event. Diana and Jonathan emcee the larger shows over the weekend including the Aca-Idol competition and the main show on Saturday evening. Marty sets up the audio-visual presentation on the stage running the sound board. The sound of the singers sounds amazing from the crowd and along with the theater lights really elevates the concerts.

A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media

The 2015 edition of SingStrong continued their tradition of bringing passionate musicians together. They spend a weekend full of learning, networking, and inspiring each other. I enjoy being a part of the weekend to help preserve some memories that the groups can look back on when they get back home. I hope it keeps them working to sound better, and to continue their progress to be even better. The proceeds from participating or attending the shows over the weekend help to support the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. With the tickets and silent auctions, all of the funds help to support an amazing cause. I hope to see what the groups have in store next year!

Blue Jupiter performing at SingStrong - A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media
Blue Jupiter performing at SingStrong – A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media
Ball in the House performing at SingStrong - A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media
Ball in the House performing at SingStrong – A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media
Main Stage at SingStrong - A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media
Main Stage at SingStrong – A Cappella Music Festival ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Event, Music, Photography | 0 comment

SingStrong – Without Color

Blake Lewis at SingStrong DC - ©TimeLine Media

Photographing SingStrong musicians performing is one of the most exciting projects you can have! These artists have done hours of practice with their groups before going on stage. In a cappella, all-vocal music, the performers are really bare out in front of the crowd without any instruments to “hide” behind when singing. The groups really rely on each other during their sets.

A cappella Festival

Blue Jupiter at SingStrong DC - ©TimeLine Media
Blue Jupiter at SingStrong DC – ©TimeLine Media

The musical art form obviously is focused on affecting your ears more than your eyes. A photographer is usually concerned about the visuals – trying to keep distracting elements from getting in front of your main subjects. Anything that can be moved out of the way prior to firing the shutter will save lots of time in Photoshop later. For photographing live music, there is a lot of things in front of the performers that serve the primary function for the audience – speakers, wires, microphones, etc.

Ten at SingStrong DC - ©TimeLine Media
Ten at SingStrong DC – ©TimeLine Media

All of these things add to the environment of the scene. At SingStrong, the sound setup is one of the best I have ever come across for vocal music. Marty and his crew really work magic to make sure the audio is perfect for both the performers and the people in the seats. The lighting setup makes it very easy to photograph giving lots of options to shoot the performers. They have strong backlights, spotlights from the front of the house, and other accents that they use throughout the night.

Blake Lewis at SingStrong DC - ©TimeLine Media
Blake Lewis at SingStrong DC – ©TimeLine Media

Changing these select image to monochrome helps to blend the distracting elements so that the performers are still front and center. Pushing the high ISO settings from the camera, then additionally pushing the sliders in post make for a nice grain in dark areas. It transforms these images in a pleasing way to me. It shows how hard the performers are emoting and working to connect with the listeners.

Monochrome A cappella - ©TimeLine Media
Monochrome A cappella – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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