Roaring Tigers

As I have said in the past, practical journalism is about a 90/10 game. A lot of what I do is basically normal work, a normal job. But 10% of time, my job is awesome. I meet awesome people. I see awesome things. And frankly, even if my job was only 1% complete awesomeness, it would still be worth it. I had one of those 10% assignments last week.

The Cincinnati Art Museum has a new exhibit called “Roaring Tigers, Leaping Carp.” It’s all about Chinese animal paintings and the symbolism the specific animals carry. I was fortunate enough to get a personal tour from the curator of the exhibit. Hou-Mei Sung was obviously very passionate about this topic, after all it is her life’s work.

The paintings and sculptures were beautiful, but the stories behind the art was what really grabbed me. It was amazing how the symbolism of certain animals evolved over time. I just wish that I was able to include more of it in the multimedia piece. Anyway, it was really fun. I hope you enjoy the piece.

On the tech side, there was a great imbalance between photos and audio. Her verbal explanations required a lot of time to get through and she would be talking about specific things. So I even though the piece is over four minutes long (which is REALLY long for me), there are only 18 photos in it. I’m usually not a big motion person, but I saw no other choice. I chose to let the viewer experience the small details of the art works by panning around them. It turns the piece into more a video than a slideshow. I think it turned out well, and I hope that conhesiveness and intention of the motion lends itself to a great understand rather than making itself a big distraction.

Bam Powell

As I’ve said many times, my favorite part of being a journalist is meeting really cool people. Bam Powell (a cover name) is one of those people. He lives near Loveland, so I met him on near the bike path. For those of you not familiar, the Loveland bike path is super long and is part of a longer path that runs the length of Ohio connecting the Ohio River near Cincinnati to Lake Erie near Cleveland. Bam Powell is a drummer for three local bands and makes his living playing in those bands up to six nights a week. He also sings and was in the midst of releasing a solo album, hence the photo shoot. Bam told me some great stories about playing all over the city, including my current home of Hamilton. We hiked to his sister’s house nearby to get this shot.

This was totally his idea. I think he should call his next album Dry Land Fishin’ and use this as the cover. After this location, we decided to go down by the river. As we walked we ran into a his young daughter’s class on a field trip. He introduced me like we had hung out back in high school or something, just another hint at being a genuinely nice person. We continued on to the river and perhaps being inspired by the school encounter we’d just had, he started reciting the Pledge of Allegience using big gestures to try to make for another good shot. So that’s what he’s doing here.

Maybe he was trying to say that he was more than just a drummer, but few musicians I’ve met would ever want to photographed without their instrument. It says a lot about his philosophy on life and music. It was a truly unique encounter, and I one that I won’t soon forget.

MidPoint Music Festival 2009

So I know this post is a little late, but it’s time for a me to show a little love to the MPMF. This year was awesome. Three days, 23 venues and 260 bands. I managed to see about 20 shows. And as always there were some good ones and bad ones. This first shot is from Fountain Square on Thursday during the event kick-off. This girl was actually part a large flash mob that did a big, choreographed dance in the middle of the square. It was a big secret and happened out of nowhere. But I made this shot as she was jamming out to the music before the big show. I love the umbrella, the iconic fountain and how her pose looks like the fountain (at least a little, right?).

I love weird music, the weirder the better, especially for a live show. Because I use a lot of volunteer photographers to cover MPMF, I let them shoot the bigger shows and I try to go hear stuff that’s more off the radar. Thursday nights surprise was a band called Kuchi Guru. The frontman looked like he may have fought in WWII and he announced that he was looking for some Ohio, emo-lookin’ girls to hook up with. Music – C, Experience – A+

This next one doesn’t need much explanation nor would I have any if it did. Basically it went down like this. Crowd was digging the music. Guy appears out of nowhere with a tambourine. Guy jams out in the crowd for one song. Guy vanishes back into the mist.

I feel like MPMF is my opportunity to collect a band or two. Each year I fall in love with some band that I’ve never heard before. And most of the time, all my friends have never heard of them either. This year, it was Wonky Tonk. They play some super eccelectic, folk, Americana, Honky Tonk sounding stuff. It’s a three-piece, lead singer on guitar, a mandolin and a harmonium! You know, the plastic piano looking thing that you blow into. Very awesome! And who else in the world make wearing a feather look cool?

Saturday night is the last night of the festival and usually has some of the best acts. Mia Carrurthers from the Cincinnati-based MTV reality show Taking The Stage was performing on Fountain Square, but onstage before her was a band a very young kids called The Trouble With Boys. Not only are they all under 15, they did a Beastie Boys cover. They rocked out. The crowd was more pumped for them than the MTV reality show star. Good stuff, and Fountain Square looks great at night.

So MPMF rocked me stupid this year. It was a lot of fun. I literally worked 50 hours in three days. I had some great help from some awesome photographers. It was really sad to have everything end, though I was so tired by the last show, I thought I’d die. This last shot was taken as a band was taking down their gear. It wasn’t the last show of last night or anything, but I still think it’s an appropriate image to end a great music festival with.

Lil’ Red Riding Hood

My friend and I did some portraits this week. This was one of my favorites. I’ll probably post another soon since the shoot took place at the Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park in Hamilton, Ohio. It was a very cool place to shoot. Not only is it full of MASSIVE sculptures, it also has some great ponds and wooded areas. In honor of October, Halloween and all things involving costumes. We did this some shots with this cloak and red sash thing. Witch, Little Red Riding Hood, Forest Harpie… I don’t know. I like the way the trees dissolve with the shallow depth-of-field and how the spot color of red in the frame draws in your eye. Hope you enjoy. Watch the comments folks… she married.

Why Are You Wearing That Stupid Human Suit?

PETA is a short of a big deal now. There are chapters every where. They’ve also affected some real change in terms of both policy and perception. On a basic level, I agree with their message. But I do find it hard to take people in costume seriously. PETA, you’re legit now. I’m sure they make “big boy pants” that haven’t been treated or dyed with chemicals tested on animals. The following photo was shot during a recent protest in Cincinnati. PETA was distributing VERY well made and VERY useful “shopping guides” that inform people about companies that have taken a pledge to not test on animals. That’s a great idea, how about just handing me one? Dodging people in giant animal suits pushes the limits of my already feeble sanity.

Playhouse In The Park

I was approached by Playhouse In The Park, a live theater venue in Cincinnati, to participate in what they have called their “Artist’s Project.” In the lobby of their venue, and a sitting area near the refreshment stand, Playhouse has built-glass frame which usually display photos from whatever play or musical is currently running. This year as part of their 50th anniversary season, they decided to ask local artists to produce work for the displays. I shot photos the night that they announced the line-up for the season and while I was there made an image with my pinhole camera of the building. That image is what prompted them to ask me to participate. So I decided to go back and shoot the inside of the building to create a square dipytch showing the inside and outside of venue. The frames are perfect squares measuring 15.75 inches. The following image is now on display (and for sale) at Playhouse In The Park in the sitting area. The top image took about 5 minutes to expose with my Holga Wide Pinhole camera on 120 film, the second image took over 15 minutes to expose. The camera produces negatives that are 6cm tall by 12cm wide, that 833% more area than a typical 35mm negative. I hope you enjoy it.