Christmas Tree on the Plaza at Tysons Corner Center
Rising from the Plaza at Tysons Corner Center, their large Christmas tree was a focal point this holiday season. Once the holiday market tents were built, and the tree put in place, the crowds started to gather. Finally it was time for the 2015 Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony!
Earl’s – Tysons, VA
Whereas Earl’s ice rink on the Plaza was a place to play and cool off, their restaurant warms you up. After all the skating, the inviting bar at the Earl’s adjacent to the Plaza is a perfect meeting spot.
Earl’s Kitchen and Bar ice rink at Tysons Corner CenterZamboni on the Earl’s ice rink at Tysons Corner CenterBar at Earl’s Kitchen and Bar in Tysons, VA
Soon, the ceremony was ready to begin. Chilli Amar, and Loo Katz of 97.1 WASH-FM met Santa at the ice rink. Doug Hill came to give us good weather predictions for the night. Elliott Yamin sang some holiday favorites and the tree was lit!
Chilli Amar and Loo Katz at the ice rink in Tysons Corner Center Loo Katz, Santa, and Chilli Amar at the ice rink in Tysons Corner Center
Tree Lighting Ceremony
2015 Christmas Tree Lighting on the Plaza at Tysons Corner CenterDoug Hill at Tysons Corner CenterSanta Claus on the Plaza at Tysons Corner CenterElliott Yamin performing on the Plaza at Tysons Corner CenterIce skating 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 CenterPentatonix 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 CenterPentatonix 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
Photos from the 2015 Summer Concert Series straight from the Plaza at Tysons Corner Center. In order to bring more people out to their community-building space outside of the mall, they started this series last year. Together with 94.7 Fresh FM, a great lineup of musicians brought everyone outside on Friday evenings.
Piano playing – songwriting singers are my favorite, and Gavin DeGraw is one of the best. He rocked the first crowd of this year’s Summer Concert Series. His performance was so good, they shot fireworks off of the parking garage to celebrate!
Black Alley won a spot in the 2015 Summer Concert Series through a performance contest held at the mall last year. Due to the amazing reception the crowd had for their music last year, they came back to repeat raves!
The first repeat performer in the Summer Concert Series was Andy Grammer. In like fashion, his vocals really soared over the Plaza to the cheerful crowd. Whereas last time was an acoustic set with him and a guitar, the brought a full band this year.
The Legwarmers closed out the Friday concerts. During their performance, the crowd was given glow sticks to wave after the sun set. To illustrate the motion and light, I used a long exposure to blue the colors.
