Best of 2014: Concert Photography

Unlike other concert photographers, I like to put together a collage at the end of the year using one photo from each concert that I covered. The shots I select from the night might not be the best that I took, but they have the most meaning to me. In 2014, I covered 25 shows and about 50 bands. It's the same amount of shows as I shot in 2013, with about 10 bands less. 2014 wasn't so much about quantity as it was about quality; I covered a lot of bands I have loved ever since I was a teenager. I shot in some old favorite venues: Cafe 9, The Space, The Ballroom, FTC Stage One. I covered the Vibes in Seaside Park for the second year in a row. I traveled to the House of Blues Boston for another 90's nostalgia show and had a blast in a spacious photographer pit. I relished the lighting at the Klein and XL Center and I hit up the Apollo in Harlem for my favorite band.

I can't wait to see what 2015 will bring! As always, thanks for taking the time to share these experiences with me!

Best of 2014: fr EYE day

it's only fitting that this post fall on fr EYE day. these are the all the fr EYE days of 2014: 18 in total which brought me to my 100th eye. it's been a fun series and eye hope you've enjoyed it!

Best of 2014: Pictures

As promised, here's the start of my Best of posts from 2014! These are my favorite photos that I've taken this year. It's a pretty good mixture of nature, still life and portraits. I was surprised at how many bird photos I loved this year! Descriptions are below, left to right, top to bottom:

1. Aria: This was my first good portrait with the Petzval lens where you can really see the swirl bokeh. Aria had a flower crown on and it just fit that lens effect perfectly.

2. James with camera: He built his own camera out of blocks including an eye piece and a rotating lens!

3. Mom with Hannah: They were reading together and Hannah just made this ridiculous face in the middle of it. She's at that age where she loves the camera and I can't get enough of her.

4. Hannah Christmas Portrait: I said last year that there were a lot of photos in her future; I wasn't kidding. Hannah has this adorable smile that she turns on when you take a picture of her.

5. Tristan: This shot is part of an upcoming post of a family portrait shoot I did. I made sure to give Tristan plenty of goofing around time to let his personality shine.

6. Aria at the Maritime Aquarium: There is a great moon jellies display at the aquarium and it didn't take long for Aria to go up to the case to check them out.

7. Grace: She's gotten a little harder to photograph the older she becomes, but every now and then she'll agree to it.

8. Black Crowned Night Heron: There were a few mornings where I was up with the sun to get Answerbook cover shots and I happened across this bird in downtown Milford.

9. Shelton Land Trust: Another one of my favorite foliage shots from this year. The leaves had fallen on the rock just as they appear. I had my Panasonic Lumix with me that day, which just goes to show that it doesn't matter what camera you have with you, as long as you have something.

10. Green Tree Frog at the Maritime Aquarium: You know me, I love my greens! This little guy was stuck to the glass of his cage, sleeping.

11. Monk Parakeets in the snow: Every now and then, the flock of monk parakeets come to our bird feeder.

12. Shelton Answerbook cover shot: This was another early morning shoot. I didn't have a destination in mind and was just driving around town when I found this little red shed on the side of a lake. The water looked like glass and it starting raining five minutes after I got this shot.

13. Fairfield Answerbook cover shot: This was the earliest morning shoot I had all year, but totally worth it. I got up around 5AM and walked out at low tide to get as close to the lighthouse as I could; tripping on the slimy rocks in the dark! I brought along my tripod, 35-350mm lens and several neutral density filters to get a long exposure of the sunrise.

14. Portrait of a Goose: The ducks and geese in Milford let you get pretty close. This goose got me back into my frEYEday series.

15. Goat frEYEday: Finally! I wanted to take a picture of a goat eye since the start of that photo series! Did you know that a goat's horizontal pupils allow them to almost see behind them?

16. Addy: My little glam kitty. She was lying in a patch of sun and I had my camera right next to me. There's such a huge difference with an animal that has gotten used to a camera and doesn't run in fear from it.

17. Potter in Space: I looked in on Addy's old cat friend Potter this year and caught a shot of him meowing at me. It lead to a silly photo series called Potter in Places, where I photoshopped him into various backgrounds.

18. Shooting Calendar Film Canister: Part of my 365 photo challenge, this was the moment that I absolutely, hands down fell in love with my 35-350mm lens. I used a close up filter with it, making the bokeh as smooth as butter. I ended up using this lens for a lot of important shoots as a result of this photo challenge and getting to know its strengths.

19. Kite Selfie: Just a fun perspective from a trip down to Walnut Beach.

20. Gathering of the Vibes family: I loved this moment between a father and daughter playing at the Vibes.

21. Drew and Rita Christmas Portrait: The best Christmas card of 2014!

22. Quinn & Uncle Richie: I caught this smile from my uncle who almost never smiles for photos. He was warming up Quinn's hands on a cold day and Quinn looked up at him with his silly smile which caused my uncle to smile.

23. James' birthday cake: James is so mature, it's rare that I capture him as the little boy he is. I love the honesty behind that smile.

24. Daisy dew drops: You can't see the detail so much in this tiny version, but there is a great reflection of the daisy in the droplets of water. Early morning beauty strikes again!

25. OSCAR MAYER WIENERMOBILE! I took this so long ago, I actually forgot it happened this year! The Wienermobile was parked at the Stop n Shop next to my office in February, so I brought along my SX-70 camera to get this diptych on Impossible Project film.

14 New* Things

New Years Resolutions You Can Actually Keep by The Dog House Diaries

Ok, so every year I set up a list of goals that I want to accomplish. I dislike the word resolutions because I feel like that puts a lot of pressure on yourself. Last year, I didn't reach many of my goals. This year, I'm repeating some of those goals and I've added new ones. I'll repost this at the end of the year to let you know how I've done.

1. Grain free by the end of January
I had a pretty decent paleo diet going that lasted 4.5 months. I went off of it for the holidays and immediately felt the effects. I'm not gluten intolerant, but I definitely feel better without it in my diet. I also know that it's not realistic to expect myself to jump back on it after eating whatever I wanted for 1.5 months. I thought I should try to ease back into it and try to remain paleo for as much of the year as possible.

2. Photo Challenge: Shooting Calendar
I've written objects on 31 slips of paper. Each day, I will pull a piece of paper and take a photograph of the object listed. At the end of the month, I'll start over. I think I'm going to upload these at the end of the month as a collage on my blog, but hopefully I'll upload them onto pinterest each day. I'm not starting this until February because I've gotten such a late start on my goals post.

3. Go to the gym 5x's a week for 10 weeks
The first week of this year has been a wash as I'm recovering from a sinus infection. As soon as I feel better, I'm heading back to the gym.

4. Give Blood
Since I'm posting this late, I'd like you to know that I've already achieved this goal and am signed up for my next donation!

5. Play Basketball
I had a friend from URI already offer to get together with me and play a pick up game. I do have to say, John, Rob and I came in second place in our dorm basketball competition my freshman year. Nobody thought the band geeks would be so good!

6. Run a 5K
I have several friends that are runners, and although I don't think running is the greatest thing for my knees, I want to give it a try. I have some nifty new Xero shoes that I need to test out!

7. Shoot with online photographer friends
I used to shoot with my friends all the time, but really haven't done that in the past few years. I have a couple of tumblr photographer friends that are in the area and we've talked about getting together to goof around with our cameras.

8. Shoot more concerts than last year
I think this is my most ambitious goal this year as I covered a lot of shows last year.

9. Fall foliage
I want to get outside and get some nice scenic shots this year.

10. Find a new dentist
I've been going to the same dentist my whole life, but my current insurance isn't taken by that dentist. Le sigh.

11. Take a trip to Maine
I haven't been to Maine since I was a teenager and I wasn't much of a photographer then. I want to get up there to hike and take some scenic shots, hopefully even catch the Northern Lights.

12. Find a word press template I like and transfer website over to it by 2015
I'm hoping this will force me to learn a bit of web design.

13. 30 second flexed arm hang
This is my ol' reliable goal that I've failed for the past three years.

14. Convince Andy Stochansky to record a new album and tour so I can photograph him
I feel like I should include one truly outrageous goal for the year and seeing how it's been at least a decade since I saw Andy play live, I've come up with this one. No pressure, Andy, no pressure.

And since I've been slacking in my blog posts, I'm throwing in my 2014 playlist. The new songs have been uploaded into the player up top there. Check them out; it's a pretty chill mix this year.