What I've Been Working on as of Late

It's been awhile, but I'm back. A couple of things came up that inadvertently put me on photo hiatus. But now I'm "back and better than ever".....? I ended up making a couple of purchases to add to my belt, including another SB-600, a mini-softbox, a flash trigger and receiver, and a stand and umbrella for my flash. Sadly, at the beginning of the summer, my other SB-600 flash broke while shooting Leslie, and the old Vivitar my dad gave me had died. Eventually I'll get the 600 repaired and order another stand, so I can have a pair.
Anywho, things have slowed down as of late and there's been a couple of things I've been working on, experimenting with, and playing around with. Had I'd known that I could get these tools at such a cheap price, I would've been at this point a long time ago but hey, better late than never. Right?
Here's a couple of photos I've taken over the past week.

Leslie and I are working on business cards for her music. We finished the back of it last night but we couldn't find any images I've taken of her actually with a guitar. We shot today in my room; here's one of the photos we came up with.


While she was making sure her hair was okay, I got curious. I ducked into the umbrella and took a photo of myself just to see what I could get. Usually you don't see a person INSIDE the umbrella so..


Lastly, here's a sneak peak at a little something Terence RUSHin (of RUSH Photography and Video) and I have been working on. We can't spill ALL of the beans yet but....."V"


P.S. Remember this:

You Can't Miss With These Two..Well, I know I can't

Over the past two years, I've shot countless people. I've had good shoots, and bad shoots, and...okay shoots. Sometimes, with certain people, it's either hit or miss. Your models will either give you exactly what you want, or vice-versa. More times than not, your vision will go right over the model's head. There are two people in particular that stand out, and that I absolutely love shooting. Both of these people go above and beyond each time, and we always come up with amazing results. With every shoot we do, the bar is raised for the next one.

Chelsea Turner

As I was shooting Chelsea the other day, I got to thinking. Every time I have every shot this girl, she not only gives me what exactly I'm looking for, but she goes beyond. Not too many people can do that, and a majority of the time people will only give you the bare minimum. I've shot Chelsea numerous times. Yes, she's a very attractive women, and yes every photo that I have ever taken of her usually comes out amazing. This time was different. I don't know what it is, but she absolutely blew my mind with these photos, and she definitely made my job a lot easier. This shoot was totally worth the 14 mosquito bites on both of my arms.
View Chelsea Turner's Shoot-June 14, 2010

Leslie Mack

When it comes to photos, Leslie and I just seem to click. It seems like we're on the same page about every aspect of the shoot. The outfits, the poses, the expressions, the scenes...everything. My Dad even made an analogy about her and I.
"You two are like the Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of photography. There hasn't been one shoot that you two have done where either you or her seem remotely look out of tune."
I believe it.
View Leslie Mack's Shoot-May 18, 2010

I know what you may be thinking, "Tristan, you should totally do a shoot with them together."
The funny thing is that we have. About a year and a half ago we did a murder themed shoot and the photos came out pretty decent. Of course, since then, I'd like to think that I have upped my game a little bit, and I'd REALLY like to get them together again and do another themed shoot. Hopefully we can do this soon.
View Cold Blooded Here

Broken Bells at Center Stage

[For those of you who haven't heard of the Broken Bells, please read my previous blog.]

As soon at they walked on the stage, I had a permanent smile on my face. These guys KILLED it. Every last song had the crowd either singing along, or just flat out screaming and "WOOOOO"ing at the top of their lungs. I felt bad for not knowing their songs, especially listening to it nonstop on a daily basis. RUSH and I, again, got in the front row as we did at the Big Boi show, and didn't budge. We got both got some awesome photos, and I recorded my FAVORITE song, "The Ghost Inside", as well as "The High Road." We also got some awesome(expensive) schwag. T-Shirts and a Matchbox....with matches in it of course. This show was perhaps one of the greatest experience I've had in awhile at a live performance. The best part-they sounded EXACTLY as they did on their record. I loved that. The performed eight songs to open the show, then for some reason, they just walked off stage! No one knew whether that was the end of their show, or what. They didn't wave or anything. But every second of the wait, the crowd got louder and more excited. Then out of nowhere, James Mercer comes back on stage with a bottle of beer in his hand, followed the rest of the band. These guys definitely know how to work the crowd. They performed four more songs, and closed out with a SICK instrumental. One by one they each left the stage in about 2 minute intervals, each waving at us before their exit.

From entrance to exit, these guys were total crowd pleasers. Sadly, the Broken Bells conclude their nation wide tour tonight (6/11/10) in Athens, GA at the 40 Watt Club.


Below are a few photos I took of the show, and beneath those are the two live performances of "The Ghost Inside" and "The High Road"
The full set of photos can be viewed here.






The Ghost Inside Live!
The High Road Live!

Broken Bells to Perform in ATL at Center Stage 6/10/10

Listen up! A couple weeks ago, that boy Terence 'Beer Haterade' Rushin got me hooked on to this band called The Broken Bells. The first song I heard from them was titled "The Ghost Inside". Although the song was about a prostitute, it sounded pretty...neat.The band consists of two members: James Mercer, the leader singer and guitarists of "The Shins", and Brian Burton, also known as Dangerr Mouse. (You may have heard of this guy, he produced the Grey Album without warrant). Anywho, after listening to the first song I decided the get the album. Dopeness.
Next week on June 10th (three days after my 22nd birthday. I want a scooter), they will be performing at Center Stage in Downtown Atlanta. I don't know how much tickets are so ya'll might wanna hit up TicketMaster right quick.

If you end up goin, hit me up. RUSH and I will be in attendance.

Click Here to give "The Ghost Inside" a listen.
For more information on the Broken Bells, visit http://www.brokenbells.com/

Broken Bells
Thursday, June 10, 2010
1374 W Peachtree St NW
Atlanta, GA 30309-2904

Big Boi and Jay Electronica Perform in Midtown Atlanta

Terence, Twist, and I got extremely lucky, or maybe it wasn't luck. Maybe it was supposed to happen. We found out two days prior that Big Boi would be performing for free in Midtown Atlanta, so of course, we planned on being there, and maybe getting up close to shoot him. We got there an hour prior to the show, and there was a good sized crowd waiting to get inside the venue (The Yaarab Shiner Temple off of Ponce de Leon in Atlanta). For about an hour, we waited, then they FINALLY opened the doors to let everyone in. There were at least a good 100+ people in front of us, so I didn't think we'd really get a chance to get close to the stage. Funny thing-there was an open bar, so as soon as the doors opened, people started bum-rushing the bars. While the alcoholics did that, Terence, Twist and I made our way to the VERY front. Perfect. Shout outs to KIN and Microsoft. They really know how to host an event...FREE EVERYTHING. Along with the performance, they gave out FREE shirts, FREE stickers, FREE buttons, and FREE posters!!
Here's what I got:

Jay Electronica-I've heard some of this guys stuff before, but I never knew it was him. I didn't realize it was until he started spittin' his lyrics. The dude is a lyrical master. He hasn't been in the game for a long time, but he WILL be a force to be reckoned with.




Big Boi aka Lucious Leftfoot aka Daddy Fatsacks aka General Patton aka Son of Chico Dusty- I think you get the point. It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. This guy knows how to put on a show. Of course, he's been doing it for awhile, but there's something about watching an artist doing what he does best-you can see it in their (his) eyes. They will NEVER get tired of doing what they do. His performance was timeless.

Dear Tristan,

Let's snap back to where you were last year. You were happy last year, correct? Good. Do you know why? Don't allow me to answer this for you, you know exactly why. Now get back to that point again. I want to you stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself, because it will not make things better. Fix yourself. You have a lot of things that you need to work on. A lot of these things you will deny at first, but take the time to look into them. Stop holding back, and be honest with yourself. You are a good person, but you are not perfect. You know this better than anyone. I want you to have Jesus in your life, more than you ever have before. You are NOTHING without him, and nothing good will ever come if you do not have him. Forget the things that you long for, and let him do for you. He only wants what is good for you, so do not be afraid to let go. You will be blown away by the abundance of life you will receive. Embrace the people around you, because they WANT to be around you even though they necessarily don't HAVE to. They are there for a reason, do not push them away.

Please Tristan, listen to me. Lately you have failed to do so, and I am getting tired of it. I won't give up on you, but you have to meet me half way. Promise me now, that you will start meeting me half way. I'm telling you all this now. It's nothing but talk. I want you to take what I'm telling you, right now, and get the ball rolling.

No one can do this but you.
NO ONE can do this but YOU.

Sincerely,
Your Gut


P.S.
Stop being so soft and harden the hell up.
Grow a backbone.
Learn to say "no".

New Doors

A couple of new doors have opened for me in the world of photography. As photographers, we can only do so much of the same work, that often times our work becomes redundant. This isn't always a bad thing, but it can lead to just being a one or two dimensional artist. Lately I haven't been feeling as creative or motivated as I should be. Usually when I take photos, I get two or three shots that I'm very happy and proud of. That hasn't really happened in awhile; this was changed inadvertently.

First things first. I usually photograph live shows at least twice a month. When I first started a little over a year ago, I took images and got results that I couldn't even fathom. Of course, as time went along I shot more and more shows, and my photos began to look more and more the same. My satisfaction with my images began to drop lower and lower..until one night, March 13th to be exact. It was the night of the Smokers of Lyrics and BABY BABY concert at the Alley Cat. S.O.L. was up first and I began snapping away. I was coming up with the same old pictures that I usually get; I had a feeling of extreme discontent. Despite the feeling, I kept going. Later on BABY BABY went on. Something happened, and it was a complete accident. For some reason the exposure on my camera was set to 3 seconds. I took one photo, and was more or less puzzeled at what I got. It was a stream of lights, with the drummer in focus. A light bulb went off in my head and I began to experiment. I upped the exposure to 6 seconds, and adjusted my aperture to 6.3. I hit the shutter button and "painted" out the streams of light for the first 5 seconds. On the 6th second, I aimed my camera at the bassist, pointed my external flash at him, and came up with one of the greatest shots I've ever taken. I did this several times with each of the band memebers of BABY BABY (Fontez Brooks, Grant Wallace, and Kyle Dobbs). I've always read about long exposures, and even tried it once or twice, but I never got images like these. Door Number One:

We FINALLY began to start working with film in my Photo II class here at school. I've shot film before-35mm with a Canon AE-1. I've never developed my own film before though. I finally got to, and it was a long, exciting process. Out of 12 exposures, 3 came out well. Here they are. Door Number Two: