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.

Redscale Film

With my goal to shoot more film this year, I've been following along with Believe In Film's photo projects. Last month, they challenged their readers to shoot Redscale film. From wikipedia:
"Redscale is the name given to a technique of shooting photographic film where the film is exposed from the wrong side, i.e. the emulsion is exposed through the base of the film. Normally, this is done by winding the film upside-down into an empty film canister. The name "redscale" comes because there is a strong color shift to red due to the red-sensitive layer of the film being exposed first, rather than last [the red layer is normally the bottom layer in C-41 (color print) film]."

There are plenty of brands that sell premade redscale film, or you can create your own if you have a dark bag. I turned to my buddies at Old School Photo Lab, who created their own redscale film from expired Kodak 400 ISO fim. I rated the film at 100 ISO per their instructions, and these are the results. The film was scanned by Old School Photo Lab as well.

I shot most of the roll of film on a bright snowy day. The beaches in Milford were completely covered in ice and the ocean was partially frozen. The redscale film really made these scenes look like a Martian wasteland. I used my Canon Elan 7 with my 35-350mm lens (focussed manually because that lens hates the sensors on my Elan 7) and a few fisheye shots. The results have a wide variety of colors: from deep reds, to yellows and oranges. I even got a bluish shot of a seagull on the ice. None of the colors were manipulated in photoshop. I have a second roll that I want to do as a double exposed roll, but I'm waiting for better weather before I play around with it.

This month's project is cross processing slide film. I have an old roll of tungsten based slide film that I can't wait to shoot outdoors.