Last Summer on Earth at Mohegan Sun: Guster

Gaining photo access to this tour was much less stressful than the last time I shot Ben Folds Five. It was my first trip to Mohegan Sun for a concert, and I was wonderfully surprised at the ease of working with the on site PR team and the beautiful light. My only complaint would be that I was forced to check my camera bag after the first three songs for each band. No photographer wants to leave thousands of dollars of equipment behind and the process took about two songs. I was also writing the review for this show, so I tried to hustle to get back to my seat so I didn't miss a thing.

I first came across Guster many years back when they toured with Ben Folds (solo) and Rufus Wainwright. I hadn't heard their music before that, but I quickly picked up their albums after the concert. Whenever I listen along to Guster, I sing along and bob my head. The harmonies of Ryan and Adam's voices just lends itself to singing along. They have a great, positive energy and a carefree attitude. I was tickled to see Ryan dressed up in a suit and tie, he's more of a jeans and t shirt kinda guy; he explained he had purchased the suit for a friend's wedding and was including it in his touring outfits to use it as a tax write off. If you need to send any of these along to your accountant, Ryan, feel free!

Lastly, a pair of shoes. I was more focused on working out the light and settling in for the rest of the night than getting shoes. Shame on me.

Last Summer on Earth Teasers

Adam Gardner of Guster

Ben Folds of Ben Folds Five

Robert Sledge of Ben Folds Five

Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies

Jim Creeggan of Barenaked Ladies

Last Summer on Earth & Gathering of the Vibes

I've had a couple big shoots over the past couple weeks. While I plan to post pictures on the blog soon, I thought I'd let you take a sneak peak in their respective publications. First is my review and photos from the Last Summer on Earth tour: Guster, Ben Folds Five and Barenaked Ladies at Mohegan Sun for Surviving the Golden Age.

I also covered the Gathering of the Vibes festival in Bridgeport, CT for the newspaper. There is a slide show up and you can check out a fraction of what I shot on the Stratford Star's website.

Roid Week: Day 5 (Belated)

If you follow me on flickr, you'll know that I only managed to upload one picture on the final day of Polaroid Week. I was shooting the Last Summer on Earth Tour of Guster, Ben Folds Five and Barenaked Ladies up at Mohegan Sun. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it back home to scan the shots before midnight. In my continual struggle to photograph concerts with my SX-70, which is both a ridiculous goal and exciting, my results were so-so. The top picture is Ben Folds, which there wasn't enough light. To shoot these, I use the PX680 Color Protection film. You're not allowed to use flash, so I've been attempting to fool my camera into thinking there is enough light. The faster speed film is getting better results with the wheel set to full dark. The bottom picture is of Guster, same settings. They had a lot more light during their set, actually, too much light. That's the hard part about concert photography and Polaroids: you have no control over the amount of light and little control over what the camera wants to do. In the past, I've played with ND filters to block out more of the light, but those have been coming out too dark. Granted, if I were able to pop a flash, these pictures would come out perfectly.

I had a few more Polaroids that didn't make the cut for Roid Week and I thought I'd share them in this post.

Bench from the Botanical Gardens in New York

Carousel Horse at Walnut Beach, Milford, CT

James, the fastest boy in the world! Shot with the blur filter on my Spectra camera.