live Archives - Page 3 of 7 - TimeLine Media Blog

February 28, 2014

SingStrong 2014 – First post

This is the 5^th year that I have covered this annual a cappella music festival. In college, I sang in a group and their scheduled performance at this festival 5 years ago spurred me to ask the organizers if I could get access. Now, I volunteer to cover it every year just because it rekindles my love of all-vocal performances. SingStrong donates all proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise, and the silent auction to the Alzheimer’s Association. Singers from across the region, and even farther will travel to attend workshops, and perform in the shows over the weekend.

It is so nice to cover singers that are sharing the passion for their art with similar minds. The styles that all-vocal groups can take is widely varied. Groups can be choral, or barbershop, they can specialize in covering pop songs, or all original music, and some take advantage of technology to loop voices or use microphone technique to emphasize percussive mouth drumming, or beat boxing. Whatever brings you to a cappella, you will be able to listen to leaders in the genre at SingStrong. I have been introduced to many different groups, and have enjoyed seeing what they come up with every year.

Here are just a few of the photos from the weekend! I will be finishing up the edit soon. If you were in a group, or are looking for a specific section of photos, please let me know, and I will pass along the link to those when they are ready. It was just another great weekend overall for charity, and for singing. In future posts, I feature other photos either on stage, or behind the scenes. Enjoy!

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

August 27, 2013

Ballroom Dance, Event, Personal, Photography | 0 comment

Needs Improvement

In my corporate job, “Improvement Needed” or “IN” used to be the lowest rank you could receive on a review. Yes it does not sound good, and is in fact very discouraging. It was meant to be a sign to the person receiving the score that they are the lowest performer. Subsequently it will likely push them out the job to something else, or out of the company completely.

Work Review

As a freelancer, it seems like I do nothing but look at where I need to make my skills better. I look at things like photo shoot setups, camera technique, composition, post-processing, etc. Then there are business things – my contracts, marketing, website – it is really an endless list. Looking back on where we are now, it would be possible to think that everything is setup just as we like it. However, I am constantly thinking it needs improvement.

I do see a correlation between my view of my work, and the work that is done by my photography subjects. I revisit many venues and events. It is easy to see the progress artists put into their craft in between the times that we see each other. It inspired me to come up with new ideas. My setup cannot be the same as the last time. It would look like I am satisfied with where I am, and what I am doing. This pushes my photography to improve every time I go out on a shoot.

©TimeLine Media - American Star Ball - Professional Ballroom Dance Competition — ©TimeLine Media – American Star Ball – Professional Ballroom Dance Competition

Use weaknesses to push you off the plateau and get to the next level. Yes, a photographer needs to have good gear, but you need to have something in the frame that will hold viewer’s attention. For a singer, singing in key is the prerequisite, but singing something that people want to hear will bring you to the next level. More shoots are on the schedule, hopefully more improvements will be made!

©TimeLine Media - Blue Jupiter at SingStrong 2013 — ©TimeLine Media – Blue Jupiter at SingStrong 2013

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

March 13, 2013

Event, Music, Personal, Photography | 0 comment

Last SingStrong

Blue-Jupiter-group-photo-www.timelinedc.com

Reston, Virginia

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 — 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!

Posts Tagged ‘live’

Share this:

Work Review

Share this:

Reston, Virginia

Blue Jupiter

Share this: