Easter Roundup

Didn't it feel like Easter was waaaaay too early this year? Nonetheless, my family carried on the time honored tradition of Easter Pie Day. For those new to the blog, it's an entire day of cooking the day before Easter. (Because cooking for Easter just isn't enough!) We make an obscene amount of Easter Pies, aka Pizza Gain. This year we produced 16, although the last pie was really a double wide because we were all worn out by that point. Family members come and go throughout the day and many a pie was devoured.

My day started off with my bed being stolen by these two cuties. Little did they realize Addy was so close!

Crazy morning curls!

This was the only time Hannah partook in the Easter bunny ears, but Grace loved them.

Pie filling. Unlike every other Pizza Gain recipe I've ever seen, we add rice to our pies. We think Grandma May did this to stretch the amount of pies being made, but I can't imagine them any other way.

Quinn's first taste of Easter Pie

Cousins

James working the dough

Hannah digging in

Baking carnage

Easter morning, I talked the girls into a quick photo shoot. I'm still working on perfecting the white seamless backdrop, but there are a few keepers here.

My personal favorite

I goofed around with some new filters on this one.

And on to the Easter Egg Hunt! James and Aria were at another gathering this year, so it was much easier to take pictures of two crazy kids running through the yard.

Jukebox the Ghost, Little Daylight, Secret Someones @ Heirloom Arts 02.27.15

Remember at the start of the year when I was all like, "I'm gonna post concerts right away! I'm gonna write more often!" Yeah, that totally fell through. This concert was my first time at the Heirloom Arts Theatre in Danbury. It's a smaller venue with pretty nice light when the bands decide to use it. I'm not so keen on the drive, which is all windy back roads. Thankfully, this show fell during a respite from the snow; I don't think I'd have done the drive otherwise.

If you've been around my blog for a while, you'll know that this is the second time I've covered Jukebox the Ghost. They're a fun band to photograph, full of personality and silly faces. What I really enjoy about them is their interaction with their fans. They are very active on social media and said hi to several of the fans at the front of the stage, calling them by first name. That's pretty cool to see. I have a certain fondness for them because I got my gig with Surviving the Golden Age as a result of my first Jukebox the Ghost concert shots. I've covered way more through StGA than I ever would have on my own.

Secret Someones

Secret Someones were missing their drummer, so they did a more "acoustic" set. I got very excited about the light at the venue. They have the best photos as a result of just leaving the house lights on. I really enjoyed their energy and their banter between songs. They were a lot of fun to photograph and I got some great interaction shots.

Little Daylight

There aren't many color shots of Little Daylight. They came out to near complete darkness and only raised the lighting up to that lovely magenta/green combo. You know I love green, but not as a primary skin tone. The black and white shots came out pretty solid, so I can't really complain. I guess I pride myself on salvaging color whenever possible. Sometimes, it's not possible. Their set was enthusiastically received by the audience who bounced and danced the entire time. It really flew by.

Jukebox the Ghost

Then there was the hour long break between sets. It was pretty painful to wait through, especially since I had gotten to the venue three hours before they went on. I set up on Tommy's, the guitarist's, side because Ben's keyboard set up tends to block your line of sight of the other band members. I figured I would be able to sneak some of Ben from this side, but I couldn't see him at all under the mountain of gear he set up. Luckily, I was able to get to the other side of the stage to get some decent shots of Ben, which doesn't always happen at smaller venues. The angles are a little extreme, but they're different than what I've seen before and I kinda dig that.

I always enjoy photographing a band that I've seen before. I have a better sense of how they'll move and interact on stage. Although their antics and banter can get to be a bit much, I really do enjoy their live show.