Verona Rock in the Park for BarSmart

About two years ago, I did some freelance work for a website called BarSmart.  It's a pretty cool site, so when founder Paul emailed me earlier this week asking if I could shoot at a concert for him, I was all about it.  Despite being there for 4 hours, I only photographed two bands - Sunday Morning (a No Doubt tribute band I did promos for last summer) and a set featuring Billy Sheehan and Reb Beach.  They were ridiculously awesome.

I got there, hung out with Sunday Morning for a bit, met another photographer named Wes, and took pictures.  Sunday Morning rocks at what they do, and they're all over the stage, which makes for a super fun show.

And then....it started raining.  The band took it quite well, and continued playing.  The horn player, Steve, is pretty much my hero - he got a woman in the audience to give him an umbrella to cover his laptop.  Once a tent was rigged to protect the back part of the stage, Steve started running around, giving the other band members momentary shelter under the umbrella.  One of the best moments at a concert ever.

 Rain slowed as Sunday Morning was finishing up, but keyboardist Mary Beth, who is a model of mine, and I went to my car to acquire umbrellas because we knew it wasn't going to hold off.  We were right.  It rained.  A lot.  Of course, it's hard to hold an umbrella while shooting, so I kind of gave up after awhile, especially since the crowd was huge.  Like I said before, the guitarist and bassist are pretty well-known, but the I think the singer and drummer are local.

As you can see, it's raining.  I was impressed that they didn't cancel - everyone was real troopers.

Beer might have helped.

Yeah, it was awesome.  I mean, I was completely drenched, and could not wait to drive the hour home and put on dry clothes, but it was a great show, and the rain made for interesting photos.  I'm happy.

What I've been working on lately

It's been awhile since I last updated. I graduated in June and have been doing some freelance work including something a little different from my usual style lately: SENIOR PICTURES! Dun dun DUN! The one to the left here is my lovely cousin Meghan. Some moms are a little worried that I'm too edgy to do senior portrait, but I do a decent job. Yes, some of my images may be interesting looking than your average portrait studio senior portraits, but who's to say that's a bad thing?! Not all kids want the cookie-cutter photos that so many of the major studios in the area offer.


I've also been doing some promos for local bands such as Sunday Morning (a No Doubt tribute band) and Ohio metal band Resistance 13. Photographing bands is very, very different than photographing high schoolers, but the variety keeps my perspective fresh. Sunday Morning especially was a challenge because we were attempting to keep with the No Doubt aesthetic. Mimicking their style was definitely fun and the singer, Courtney, is a graphic designer so I provided her with images that she then made into a flier, seen below.