I have so many images from Femme et vélo shoots that never saw the light of day, I figured I’d post another. Lindsey was the third model we shot for the project, which simply didn’t have enough (or any) pups in the photos. This is much better.
Tag: Photography
Pittsburgh (2012)
As I mentioned in my recent post about W. Eugene Smith, I love the city of Pittsburgh. I took this image with my phone from a hotel room in Oakland when I was visiting the city. If it wasn’t for the snow, I’d want to live there.
Steel Nation (2008)
Inspired by the likes of Jim Marshall and Glen E. Friedman, I began photographing my friends’ bands around 1995 when I was 14. For nearly 15 years I took photos at shows on a regular basis until I became pretty cynical about the over-saturation of cameras at shows. Shooting punk or hardcore shows was always the most fun, though. My aim was to be close and intimate with the band performing and the crowd. That is why I most enjoyed small, stage-less shows like this one of Steel Nation playing at The Brickhouse in St. Albans, West Virginia.
Ryder Hesjedal (2003)
The Tour de France starts on Saturday, and like every year I’m excited. So I thought I’d share this throwback photo of Ryder Hesjedal despite the fact he’s sitting out this year’s race. This image was taken at the 2003 NORBA National Championship Series cross-country mountain bike race at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia. Hesjedal, a two-time world champion from Canada at the time, dominated the race on that wet, muddy day at Snowshoe. It was an exciting performance to watch. About a year later, he made the full-time switch to road racing. He won the Giro d’Italia in 2012, and finished ninth in last year’s Le Tour. As a former mountain biker and competitive cyclist myself, it was a lot of fun shooting NORBAs at Snowshoe in 2003 and 2004, and I even got to meet some of my childhood idols like John Tomac. I miss mountain biking in West Virginia.
Broken Spoke (2005)
This past weekend, I visited the Annenberg Space for Photography to see the Country: Portraits of an American Sound exhibition. The exhibition included some fantastic images of iconic country musicians by the likes of Elmer Williams, Raeanne Rubenstein and Henry Horenstein. Also part of the exhibition was a short documentary by Horenstein about the Broken Spoke in Austin. The film took me back to the days when I practically lived behind the legendary Austin dance hall. I visited the Spoke a few times with my camera, and here’s an image of a couple before they headed out to the dance floor.
House Show in Austin (2011)
In January 2011, my friend Rebecca was visiting Austin, and invited me to a house show. Rebecca, with whom I went to grad school, is better about being a photographer than me and had brought her camera. When the bands started playing, it felt like old times, and I couldn’t help but borrow the camera and start shooting. Leg Sweeper and ELVIS (who became my favorite Austin band) played that night before the cops shows up — so it truly felt like I was 18 again. Here are some images from that night — first of Leg Sweeper, then ELVIS and lastly the cops showing up and ending the fun. (Note: A post with this same content appeared on my old West Virginia music blog.) Also, check out ELVIS’s 2011 album “Crime of the Scene.” It’s so good.
WWII Veteran (2004)
The United States soccer team just qualified for the next round of the World Cup. Since I’m feeling patriotic, here’s an image of a World War II veteran holding a flag at a Memorial Day service at the Florida National Cemetery. This was taken while I was working as a photographer for a small newspaper in Central Florida. One of the few highlights of working as a photojournalist in Central Florida for a year was meeting so many WWII veterans and hearing their incredible stories.
Guadalupe Peak (2013)
Avail (2005)
For about a year from summer 2004 to 2005, I lived in central Florida while working for a small newspaper. It was an interesting experience before I opted to head to Texas for graduate school. One of the few highlights from my time in Florida was living near Gainesville and seeing a number of memorable shows. This image is of Richmond, Virginia’s finest punk band Avail at the Common Grounds. I stood on stage to shoot the performance, but I only took about a dozen frames as I sang along with every song instead. Avail is one of the best bands I’ve ever seen live and this show one of my favorites I’ve ever seen. In column on the right in you can stream their album “Over the James” in the Spotify widget I’ll be updating each week.
Push/Pull (2012)
Taking place on Saturday is the annual Push/Pull at Hyde Park Gym in Austin. Many of my good friends will be competing to outdo one another in the bench press and deadlift. I wish I could be there — it will be the first time I’ve missed the event in four years. Though I, too, was competing, here’s an image I managed to capture of Luke Goebel pulling what looks like 575 pounds. Best of luck to my friends in their attempts to lift heavy things.