photography from baltimore & d.c.
Nether Street Art made a piece of street art from one of my photos of K-Swift & Scottie B. It’s up now in Baltimore City (as you can see above)!
Here is the photo it’s taken from:
One of the funnest events of the year, this weekend was Baltimore-based label A389′s anniversary party, as well as the last local show for veteran hardcore band Pulling Teeth. Such a fun night, full of a long list of great bands and so many old friends (most of whom were old dudes like myself). Thanks to Dom of A389 and everyone at the fest and Sonar for making an amazing night. Apparently Mike Riley of Pulling Teeth rocked so hard he literally collapsed a lung! Get well soon, sir.
Click through to the photos below, there are a ton more, including an unspeakable mystery from the men’s room.
In the grand tradition I’ve been following for the last few years (see 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007), every year I try and make a photo set of my favorite shots from the year. It’s a good exercise, I recommend it for all creative types, it lets you see how your work changes and grows over time.
This year, I am doing it a little differently… two posts. I posted my top concert posts yesterday, this is the Top Non-concert ones. Here we go!
In Chronological Order:
Rogue: This was shot in my studio. Fun lady, easy to work with. We went to a bunch of places to get shots, but this one stands out for me.
Be Eazy: Baltimore DJ and producer. Also in my studio. Something about this one…
Horses, North Dakota: Shot on my uncle’s property in North Dakota, these are my cousin’s horses. They were VERY concerned about what I was doing on THEIR land, they wouldn’t stop checking me out.
Miller’s Island, Hurricane Irene: This was the wettest I have ever gotten for a photo. It was unbelievable out there. Tagged along with J.M. Giordano, who was working on a story about Miller’s Island and the hurricanes it has endured, and snagged this shot while he was interviewing someone. Really invigorating, but I took a long, hot shower as soon as I got back.
Officer Torbit protest: Citizens protesting the city and the BCPD’s handling of the Officer Torbit shooting. Torbit was shot by several other BCPD officers, who were cleared.
Baltimore Grand Prix: Mazda Sport winners enjoying the traditional champagne “toast”.
Blood on the Sidewalk, Baltimore: I walked by just after the fight that caused this happened. Two guys arguing over something, one goes off in an ambulance. I like the hat and the cards on the ground, and the fact that if I had walked by five minutes before or after, I never would have seen anything – they washed the blood off about 2 minutes after I took this photo.
War On Women: Fun shoot, in my studio. I think this is going on their new album?
Director Matt Porterfield: Shot this for the Baltimore Sun, on the set of his movie I Used To Be Darker. Great experience, so many creative people and it’s always fun to watch Matt work.
Avey Tare: Shot this during a break in sound check at the U Hall in DC, for the post. Sometimes fast, off the cuff shots work out the best.
Schoonover Cemetary, North Dakota: Shot this at the very last second before dusk, driving around backroads with my Dad. Every grave was 100+ years old. I love North Dakota.
Stevie Boi: For the City Paper. Stevie is someone I’ve known for a bit, a fashion designer who makes custom shades for artists such as Lady Gaga, Madonna, and so forth… but he lives (for now) in Baltimore! Great to get to profile him for the paper.
In the grand tradition I’ve been following for the last few years (see 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007), every year I try and make a photo set of my favorite shots from the year. It’s a good exercise, I recommend it for all creative types, it lets you see how your work changes and grows over time.
This year, I am doing it a little differently… I am breaking it up into this post, which is my Top 15 Concert Photos of 2011, and another post of my Top 12 Photos (non-concert) of 2011 (check back tomorrow for that one). Cheating, maybe, but shooting more non-concert stuff is a goal of mine, so I decided to break them up. I’m also going to try and write a little about each… so here goes!
In Alphabetical Order:
BB King at the Birchmere. I shot this on New Year’s Day, I believe. Was pretty happy to get a chance to see him play, and I managed to get really close, which is unusual at the Birchmere, because many showgoers rushed to get close when he came out, so I went up to. Never seen that before there.
The Black Keys at Virgin Fest. Kind of a classic shot, but well-executed, I think. Not the biggest fan of these guys, but they got the crowd super-excited and were one of a very few actual rock bands playing this year.
Celebration at 2640 Space. One of my favorite bands in town, this was an amazing show, the 2640 church was decorated with floating clouds and specially lit with ambient lights and projectors… really great experience. It was VERY hard to shoot, however, and I got this out of 100% total luck, going back during the last song to snap a few from the crowd. It ended up being published several times.
Coroner at Maryland Death Fest. Again a bit of a standard shot, and one I barely remember taking. MDF is (by far) the most fun and amazing cultural event in Baltimore, even if you don’t like metal, but it can be grueling… so many bands over 4 days. This one just works for me.
Darkest Hour at 9:30 Club. I used to love this band, and they are still great live. This was a tough shoot, pitch black in the photo pit, bad lighting, stage lights strobing… we were given little instruction about rules but I saw the other photographers switching to flash, so I did too. This was the first shot I took and by far the best from the show.
Deep Sleep at the Ottobar. What to say about Tony Pence but that it’s impressive that a man of his advanced years can both rock pants that tight AND do a split.
Iceage at Golden West. This was chosen by SPIN magazine as one of their top 10 best live photos of the year. It also led to me getting a soundcheck (two page photo spread) in SPIN, my first. Pretty awesome to fufill what for me was a life goal since I was in high school.
Crowdsurfing with pizza at an Integrity Show. A one in a million capture at last year’s A389 Fest. This guy is crowdsurfing on top of 100s of kids, eating a slice. I can’t believe I managed to catch this guy’s finest hour. I salute you, man.
Ke$ha at Patriot Center. Ke$ha surprised me… WAY better than I expected. I like this shot because it’s different than the normal ones you see of her, or pop icons like her. I submitted it not expecting them to go for it, but it ran on the front page of Style! A nice surprise.
Mana at Patriot Center. I shot a lot a Patriot Center this year, probably because Kyle didn’t feel like driving out there. Mana were pretty ridiculous live, sort of like a Latino U2. They had more lights than I had ever seen at a concert before, and the entire set was wall to wall unironic huge rock ballads. Pretty fun.
Moby at DC Massive. This was a frustrating shoot because we were supposed to have really good access, but then we had really bad access. So I couldn’t get on side stage, or anything else… but sometimes when that happens, it’s good because you challenge yourself to think beyond the standard shots. Moby was behind this huge console so you couldn’t see his hands or equipment, and he had all these laser lights, so I decided to play around with what I had to work with. Pretty happy with the result.
Odd Future at U St Music Hall. These guys. Wow, this was a crazy shoot. This was the first or second night of their first major tour, they had no idea what to expect. Tyler exclaimed loudly “man, I fucking LOVE playing shows!”, and their exuberance and excitement were palpable. They also hazed me pretty hard when I got to the shoot, which was during their sound check, making fun of me, calling me names, etc. After awhile though, they settled down and realized I was just doing my job, which was nice. Cool to see young stars on the cusp, still visibly excited by playing music.
Patti Smith at Virgin Fest. Have to admit, never thought I would see her. Of all the bands I saw this year, she was just about the ONLY ONE who had anything vaguely political or rabble-rousing to say from stage. Great show, even though 80% of the kids in the crowd didn’t care about what she was saying, or perhaps didn’t even know who she was.
Skream & Benga at DC Massive. Another shot created out of necessity at not having access. I love the stillness in this one, in what was NOT a still situation. Very hard to get this through walls of fog and strobing lights/lasers. But I think it came out well.
Tuneyards at Red Palace. One of my favorite shows this year, I had never heard her before this, but she put on such a good performance and has so much stage presence. She creates loops live, with instruments, pedals, and her voice, then her and her band accompany them. I imagine no two shows are alike… really fun.
If you want to buy any of these as prints, just post in the comments or contact me, they are all available.
Yesterday I went out to take photos at the Schools Not Jails protest. A large group of people rallied at Central Booking, where several speakers talked about the proposed new Youth Jail, which is being built at a high cost at a time when the city is cutting Youth programs like rec centers. Then, they marched to the site of the proposed new jail, entered the property, and erected a symbolic schoolhouse, complete with (small) library and teachers.
At the same time, a tent was erected on the sidewalk, which was to serve as a place to teach those who did not want to enter the fence (and thus be at risk of arrest). The plan was to have a week or more of activities and workshops on site… the police, however, arrested those inside the fence, and took down the tent. But there are still activities onsite, from what I am told.
I apologize for my poor writing skills, you can glean MUCH more from this piece by Fern Shen on Baltimore Brew.
And to see the rest of the pictures I have posted, click here to go to my Schools Not Jails flickr set. There are two pages, and they are ordered chronologically.
Shot Lady Alma for the Washington Post at Blues Alley. Great, intimate little venue in Georgetown, if you have never been. Go check out the Exorcist Steps then see a show! Lady Alma was great, this was one of those shows I probably wouldn’t have gone to on my own, but had a good time. She was full of energy and spark, and was determined to get the crowd going strong too.
I shot these with Dan in his house in… 2009? Wow. Don’t know why I never posted these. These were for XLR8R Magazine, which no longer exists in printed form (RIP). The fabric in the background is the fabric that was used (he had it hand-made) for the tent that is on the cover of Bromst (which was photographed by the lovely & talented Baltimore photographer Frank Hamilton).
See more photos from this session here.
Here’s the XLR8R layout:
I shot Baltimore-based designer Stevie Boi for the City Paper in his studio in downtown Baltimore. He is a rising star in the fashion word, his hand-made designer sunglasses sell for 100s of dollars and are worn by stars like Madonna and Lady Gaga. He is just about to launch a new line, as well as move to new york. Read more about it here, in the story written by Baynard Woods.
See more in my Portraits photo set.
Read the rest of this entry »
Slow month, due to the holidays/traveling! I only shot FIVE shows, some kind of record for me:
- Nadastrom & Scottie B @ Red Maple
- Daybreak reunion @ Golden West
- Art Department, Other Colors, Dave Fell, Quiet Hooves @ Golden West
- Dan Deacon, Celebration, Matmos @ Ottobar
- Beirut @ 9:30 Club
You can see photos from all these shows in my December 2011 Shows flickr set!
Last summer, Dana and I went to Montreal for a few days. Beautiful city, and it was a really affordable trip. Highly recommended if you have never been. Check out the rest of the Montreal photos here
Photos taken in Mount Vernon in the last days of fall to announce their blessed union!
Though it almost feels like summer now in North Dakota (nicest winter I’ve seen here ever), it’s not quite as nice as in the above photos. I took these when I was in North Dakota this summer for a family reunion.
Awesome show, from beginning to end. 3 very different, yet complimentary Baltimore music groups, all on one bill! A great weekend for the Ottobar, who also hosted a sold out Wye Oak show the following night… anyway…
I have seen Matmos several times, and they are always different. This night, they chose to create a droning/grooving sort of atmosphere with a Caribbean (to my uninformed ears) feeling type of beat, very noddable and swayable. One of their songs got pretty minimal industrial, again to my uniformed ears, and I would SWEAR that on one song they used the same sample as Ministry does on one of their “Land of Rape And Honey” era records… but maybe I am just a goth.
Celebration remains one of my absolute favorite bands to see live in Baltimore… I love their old material and their newer stuff is growing on me more and more now that I have seen it played live a few times. Their set has morphed into only having one or two songs from the “The Modern Tribe” era, and they are still a treat to watch.
Dan Deacon used this show to introduce his new five piece ensemble (who I have posted about here recently) , and I really enjoyed the additional instrumentation. I think it worked best on the newer songs, ones that I assume were written for this group, but even on the classic Deacon songs, I think they added alot, especially the dual percussion. Live drums really can create a feeling like nothing else. The crowd seemed to agree, they went CRAZY, which is too be expected, and it was a really really fun set. Somehow I managed to stick it out the whole time at the front… a bit of a while since I managed that, but I was having a blast!
This summer, I was invited to the set of Matt Porterfield’s new film, I Used To Be Darker, to take some photos for the Baltimore Sun, and ended up shooting some stills as well. It was a great experience, a tightly knit film crew who were good at staying on task and getting the job done, but were also experimenting, creating shots on the spot, coming up with ideas, abandoning them if they didn’t work, and moving on. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
In the past few months I have become involved with (In) Parenthesis, a Baltimore-based photography collective. Our goal is to broaden knowledge about current issues in the field of contemporary photography, and our first curated show, Fields of Vision, is on display now at CaseWerks Gallery (1501 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore).
The Baltimore City Paper (who I work for often) wrote a story up about the show, which you can read here.
Photo L-R: Marian Glebes, Dean Alexander, J.M. Giordano, Jill Fannon, Sean Schiedt, Josh Sisk. By me & Rob Brulinski.
Dan had me shoot a few photos last month, to go out along with the announcement of the new Dan Deacon Ensemble, the planned new record, and his signing to Domino Records. Above are a few of my favorites from the session.
Along with Dan, the other members of the Ensemble are:
- Denny Bowen (Double Dagger, Roomrunner)
- Chester Gwazda (Nuclear Power Pants)
- Jordan Kasey (Zomes)
- David Jacober (Dope Body)
I am in North Dakota, visiting family. Today, my Dad and I drove around some backroads, looking at old run down buildings, cemeteries, and trying to spot some wildlife. This is the first winter I can recall where there isn’t a blanket of snow on the ground, which makes it harder to spot wildlife. We did find a cemetary from the 1800s, though, which was interesting.
See the rest of the photos here. I’ll be posting more over the next few days…
November 2011 Shows I shot:
- Avey Tare @ U St Music Hall
- Marketa Irglova @ 9:30 Club
- Thee Oh Sees & Total Control @ Sonar
- CMA Songwriters Series @ LoC
- Meshell Ndegeocello @ Birchmere
- Dean & Britta @ National Gallery of Art
- Screaming Females & Roomrunner @ Golden West
- Thou @ Sonar
- Natural Child & Tremors @ Golden West
- Shelby Lynn @ Birchmere
- Chris Young @ Fillmore
- Premonition 13 @ Sonar
- Purling Hiss @ Sonar
You can find photos from all of these shows here, in my my November 2011 Shows set.
Last week, I went to an (I think) all-local Unregistered Nurse show at Golden West, featuring : The Art Department, Other Colors, Dave Fell, and Quiet Hooves. I had only ever seen The Art Department before, and this was their first show in awhile – perhaps after some sort of hiatus (great journalism, I know). Of the other bands, I though that Quiet Hooves were particularly interesting.
I am at my parents for the holidays, so stay tuned for many updates with photos from the last few months (and perhaps beyond…)
