The Habit at 17 Frost Street 01.31.14

I went into the city last Friday to check out a friend's band, The Habit. 17 Frost Street is a gallery space with artwork in the main room and a small stage with stadium seating in the back. I didn't really shoot much because the space was so tight; I made my way through the crowd for a song and then hung towards the back of the venue. The Brooklyn based band has a folky-Americana sound. To check out more about The Habit, hit up their website here.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at the Beacon Theater

My 2011 concert experiences ended with a bang last night. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds were incredible. I've been waiting for Gallagher to start a solo career since I was in high school. Finally free from his brother's unprofessional antics, Noel really shines. He put together a great show, visually pleasing, good light for shooting, with a string of songs that kept the audience singing along the entire night. I ended up attending this show by myself, but I really felt a connection with the fans around me. It was a great, warm atmosphere that I wasn't expecting.

As I waited for the show to the main act to take the stage, the lights came up, allowing the audience to get a good look around the Beacon Theater. It is an incredible venue that you really need to experience. The intricate Art Deco sculptures and facades were absolutely beautiful. While the majority of the audience checked social media sites on their smart phones, my eye was trained on the five photographers on the floor. They were corralled along the left side of the stage, chatting with each other as they waited. I would love to be included in their ranks, but at big shows, the press is escorted out after three songs. I can't understand that; some of the best shots happen later in the evening. It's a trade off for me. I didn't have my SLR, so my shots aren't the best I can produce, but I have images that "official" photographers don't. Still, I'm thrilled that I had a camera with me, and I'm happy with what I have to share.

Enjoy.

 

One of my favorite shots of the night. I've always had a fondness for silhouette shots, but this one really struck me. The band left the stage as Noel did acoustic versions of Wonderwall and Supersonic. Both songs were striking, and the dramatic lighting was perfect. The lights remained low for this set, as you can see in the photo below.

I was trying to do a crowd interaction shot here. This is what you see when you go to a show these days: everyone trying to capture an image with their smart phones. Just look around the next time you're at a concert and you'll be looking at a sea of LCD screens. I wonder what it looks like from the musician's point of view.

Noel doing band introductions. He explained that his guitarist somehow managed to trick him by masking his American accent when he auditioned.

I was pleasantly surprised with Noel's interactions with the crowd. Oasis, more so Liam, had a bad wrap for being stuck up. I didn't find that with Noel. He poked jokes at the fans in the front and seemed genuinely happy to be there. He commented on our cheering, really liking the Noooooo-elllllll the British fans from the balcony started.

During the encore, the right side of the first balcony got very rowdy. I was fortunate to be in this section with a bunch of fans that were singing along the entire concert. When Noel came back and played Little By Little, our section erupted into cheers and jumped to our feet. I managed to snap this shot right before, and I love the interaction with the fans in the front, cheering on our cheering.

I waited all night for it, and in the last song, Don't Look Back In Anger, Noel finally took the lead. This is the quintessential Noel Gallagher shot. It was strange for me to see him playing rhythm and acoustic the majority of the night because he is such an amazing guitarist.

Oh man, I never thought I'd find another shot to rival E's howl picture, but I did. Love the intensity.

Our section remained standing for the entire encore, unlike the lame center and left balconies, and I think Noel noticed.

There was a great mixture of old and new songs throughout the night. Noel even threw in a new song that he's planning on releasing next year. He's another song writing machine, like E, and I'm sure Gallagher has his next three albums already planned. I look forward to hearing those albums!

Set List:

• (It's Good) To Be Free

• Mucky Fingers

• Everybody's on the Run

• Dream On

• If I Had a Gun

• The Good Rebel

• The Death of You and Me

• Freaky Teeth

• Wonderwall

• Supersonic

• (I Wanna Live in a Dream in my) Record Machine

• AKA...What a Life!

• Talk Tonight

• Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks

• AKA...Broken Arrow

• Half the World Away

• (Stranded On) The Wrong Beach

Encore

• Little By Little

• The Importance of Being Idle

• Don't Look Back In Anger

And if you're looking for more concert reviews, check out my fellow blogger, Hank, who was at the Foo Fighters concert last night. (And check out how many smart phones are in his picture!!!) Both Hank and I were trying to give away our extra tickets last night. My solution was to order a tea at the Starbucks a block away from the Beacon. I explained to the barista that I had two extra tickets and to give them to someone she knew loved good music. Those seats weren't next to mine, so I have no idea if they were used, but here's hoping that someone enjoyed the tickets. I'm all about the good concert karma.

Noel Gallagher Teaser

It's not easy to get a decent shoe shot from the balcony with your point and shoot camera, especially when monitors are in the way. Eventually, he moved farther back on the stage so I could bring you this super cropped in picture. Nice boots, Noel!

NYC Marathon

Over 47,000 people ran in the New York City Marathon yesterday, and my brother was one of them. I won't even get into how insane I think running is, much less running for 26.2 miles. People from all over the world come to run and as you can see, some go so far as to run in full costumes. We went to the South Bronx to see my brother run and we were across the street from some incredible drumming. Grace got a big kick out of watching the runners. I noticed more than a few runners notice Grace bouncing around and clapping for them and smile despite the pain.

We stood in front of Nick's Diner because the sign couldn't be any more appropriate. He and brother-in-law Kevin, who ran in support for more than half the marathon, approach our wild cheering section.

He's looking pretty good for running 20 miles, don't you think?

Grace totally dug the pennant I made. I wasn't able to find the illusive giant foam #1 hand, but I think the pennant was just as good.

A parting shot of Nick and Kevin. I'm so proud of Nick for finishing in 5 hours and 1 minute. Just like the banner says, You Rock, Brother!

NYC Marathon Teaser

I'm starting to see a pattern...

Day Trip to DUMBO

Yesterday was a first for me: a solo trip into the city from start to finish. Normally, I like to bring a friend along, partly for moral support, partly because everything is better when you can share it with someone else. I even braved the weather, which was not in my favor. I managed to catch about ten minutes where the rain let up enough for me to snap a few pictures.  I managed the subway system without any missteps, another first for me, but I cut my trip short as a result of the weather. It down poured the rest of the day. I just didn't want to visit the other stores and restaurants I scoped out ahead of time. I felt like a drowned rat and it was colder than I anticipated. Although I'm developing a new found love for the City, I do not love it in the rain. At all.

So what was so important for me to brave an area of New York I've never been to in the pouring rain? Check out this review:

The New York Photo Festival's Fall invitational presents a selection of images that capture the powerful relationship between photography and music in all its forms, be it solo musicians, bands, rock concerts, grand operatic productions, or intimate one-on-one sessions.

From Herman Leonard's jazz portraits, which defined an era of cool, to Pennie Smith's explosive shot of Paul Simonon smashing his bass. From Mapplethorpe's intimate portraits of Patti Smith, to the iconic photography of Anton Corbijn and Laura Levine, photography has long been instrumental in how we experience music.

Strip away the music, and what you have is an image that defines a moment, an emotion. An image that tells a story.

The photographs selected for "Audio/Visual" capture the unique relationship between photography and music - be it solo musicians, bands, rock concerts, grand operatic productions, or intimate one-on-one sessions.

"Audio/Visual: An exhibition of music photography" will feature over 100 photographs by 70 artists - on view at the famed gallery and event space The PowerHouse Arena in Dumbo (Brooklyn), from October 19 to November 3.

Is that not the perfect show for me? It's as though someone looked at my blog and saw the development of it over the year. I knew as soon as I read that write up, I had to make a trip into the city to see it.

Had I known about this exhibit ahead of time, I definitely would have submitted some of my images. I feel like both of these shots of the Eels from Williamsburg expresses that sentiment perfectly.

One of my all time favorites, Mr. Folds conducting the audience.

An old digital picture of Rufus Wainwright and his Superfan. This guy was thrusting his fist in the air and shouting, "YOU'RE NUMBER ONE, RUFUS!!!" It was so out of place for Rufus' style, I couldn't stop myself from taking this picture. Unfortunately, my high res copy of this picture was lost several years ago in a hard drive failure.

And one of my newest, this shot of Jon Brion. It was the emotional and musical crescendo of the show and I'm so proud of capturing the moment, especially from such a crummy position in the audience.

It was a great exhibit, and I'm really glad I went to see it, despite the miserable weather. I've only just started to look at the work of other photographers. I think I've always been worried about being influenced too much by what I've seen. I've developed my own voice as a photographer, so I'm not worried about that anymore. The main thought going through my head as I looked at the photos was, My work is just as good as this. I can do this. That might not be a surprise to some people, but that's a huge step for me. 

I don't know if New Englander's are more subject to self deprecation. I definitely have the constant strive for perfection mixed with the realization that I will never achieve said perfection; classic Virgo. Throw in the Napolitano upbringing, I'm a trifecta of self doubt! It's taken many years for me to not hate my work. I used to be completely nervous before a shoot. I remember that I actually made myself sick right before the first big photo assignment I got for the newspaper. My photo editor later told me that he didn't even care if I got usable images, he just wanted me to work out the kinks. I don't feel those nerves any more. Now I feel excitement.

I'm definitely still learning and expanding my photography. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with it. I'm not sure if I can support myself solely on that, but my confidence is growing. And for me, that is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome.

Maybe you'll be seeing more of my pictures in the future. I could be one phone call away from having my own exhibit. A series of photos of musicians shoes. You never know...

Avon Breast Cancer Walk

A few short hours after the Kingston Trio concert, I hopped on a train to the city to be able to meet up with a friend. Rachel was visiting from D.C. to support her mother's team at the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. The event spanned two days, where participants walked a full marathon on Saturday and another half marathon on Sunday. No small feat! I was thrilled that Rachel invited me. She's one of those people that you'll drop whatever you're doing to spend time with, and her family is just so darn amazing, you can't help but feel like an adopted member of the Kaplan clan.

It was oddly surreal to be walking the streets of New York and have complete strangers cheering you on, and not just the volunteers. We had random people high fiving us, beeping their car horns and waving. I couldn't help but giggle every time it happened.

And it was a perfect day outside weather wise. Clear and crisp, not quite Fall just yet, but close. I really had a great time catching up with friends and admiring the city. I've always viewed New York as this big scary place that I struggle to navigate. It used to really stress me out, but I've taken such a liking to it after the events I've gone to this year. (Thanks to Vanessa and our crazy Eels concert experience!) I don't think I'm ready to say that I could live there, but I'm not nearly as apprehensive as I once was.

Reese Witherspoon was the spokesperson for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. She came out, did her super bubbly thing and handed out over 8 MILLION dollars raised by the walkers in the form of giant checks. I was pretty far back and didn't bring my telephoto with me, but I think you can still tell that it's Reese.

The closing ceremonies were emotional and our group wanted to do one more picture. I directed them to stand in front of the signage. As we're trying to take a quick shot, security comes up to us and tells us we need to move aside to get a vehicle through. I recomposed my shot, took it and packed up my camera.

A few minutes after, we see what vehicle we made room for. I'm so so sorry for not having my camera out for this shot, so I did my best to recreate it via some purposefully bad photoshopping. After two days of walking 40 miles, where each member of a team had to raise $1800 minimum, little Miss "I'm so proud of all of you!!!" Witherspoon has the audacity to zip by in the back of a golf cart. I can't make this stuff up. Ask the Kaplans, they were there, they saw it, too!

I did tell this story at the gym the following day and someone pointed out that Reese had recently been hit by a car while jogging. For a brief moment, I felt horrified at how angry I was by her golf cart incident. When I got home, I read up on this accident, which was over a month ago and all she suffered were some bruises, so I don't feel bad anymore. But you should still feel horrible, Reese. Shame on you!


During the walk, we passed Comic Con.

I kept thinking, this is the closest I will ever be to The Oatmeal...

Congratulations to all who took part and raised a staggering amount of money!