Matt and Amanda's Wedding

It's weird attending an event and to not be the official photographer.  I do not enjoy concerts as much if I can't have my camera with me.  I find myself thinking more about the shots, different angles, and the lighting more than I do the actual show anymore.  Last week I attended a friend's wedding and found that it is a lot like attending concerts now.  Fortunately, I was able to bring my camera, and the feedback I have received on my Facebook page has been pretty positive.  There are very few photos of the actual ceremony since the hired photographers were in between me and the ceremony.  That's ok, though.  It was a beautiful wedding!  (also, the reception had an open bar.  ;)  )

Soul Asylum at Freebird Live

I honestly had no idea that Soul Asylum was still together, let alone touring, or even better, coming to my city!  The downside, it was on a night where I already had plans.  :(  Everything turned out ok, though.  (well, almost, there were some downsides, but they are on the personal side of things.)  The plus side, I GOT TO SEE ( and photograph) SOUL ASYLUM!

The show was in the middle of the week, so the crowd was not as big as I expected.  While I feel bad for the bands when the crowd is small, but from a photography point of view, it's nice to be able to move about without worrying about people bumping into the camera or getting in the way of a shot.

Here are some of the photos from the show.

Awesome burlesque performance in Jacksonville

Hello, Readers!

I'm testing out a new way of showing photos to you.  Do you prefer this way, or the way I have been doing it where I just post a few, larger images?

The rest of the images can be viewed under the events section of the albums here on my site.

Soul Asylum in Concert

Yesterday I got lucky and was able to photograph Soul Asylum live at Freebird Live in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.  In case I haven't mentioned it before, this is one of my favorite venues to photograph a show in Jacksonville.  The lighting is almost always top notch (I say almost because I do wish they'd stop using red lights, but I'll save that complaint for another post.), the sound is great, the stage is a good height, and there is an upstairs and downstairs area, each with a bar, for the fans to view the show.

Soul Asylum at Freebird Live, Jacksonville Beach, FL

Soul Asylum at Freebird Live, Jacksonville Beach, FL

Soul Asylum at Freebird Live, Jacksonville Beach, FL

The rest of the photos can be seen here at my site, John Shippee Photography.

Sports Photography

I have never considered myself a sports photographer.  Most likely because I'm not a huge sports fan.  As I sit here and think about it, I can only think of two sporting events that I have photographed.  A Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game and a good friend's (might as well say brother's) swim practice.  There are some interesting images to be captured in most any sporting event.  There are some boring ones, too.  The trick is, as with most types of photography, to capture the right moment.  For example, the swimmer entering the water after the starting gun is fired.

That is way more interesting than a few tenths of a second later when he's completely under the water and all you see is the remnants of the splash.  But don't get too comfortable in one position.  You never know how something will look from a different angle.  If you're allowed to move around, do it.

It also helps to be observant.  I don't know much about the various swim strokes, but after watching a few laps of various strokes and listening to the coach, I learned that the butterfly stroke looks a lot better in photos than the freestyle.  Or at least that's my opinion.

The rest of the images can be seen here at my gallery.

A few quick tips to leave you with in no particular order:

1. be observant
2. shoot with as fast of a shutter speed as you can.  These were taken at 1/1000 of a second.
3. do some research online if you know you are going to be shooting a sport you aren't familiar with.  Do a quick Google Image Search or check out ESPN's website to see what images they are showcasing.
4. if there are other photogs there, introduce yourself and ask questions.  It was an ESPN photog at the NFL game that told me he shoots at 1/1000 of a sec to capture the moments.
5. don't get discouraged.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, leave me a note in the comments section below.

Concert Photography: Why I like it...

While many photographers shoot a wide range of subjects, myself included, they all have one particular subject that they consider to be their favorite.  Whether is landscapes, weddings, cars, boudoir, etc..., we all tend to gravitate towards a specific subject for one reason for another.  For me, it's concerts.

You never know what you're going to get as far as lighting.  Even if you see the same band over and over, their lighting is never the same.  I'll use a set of images from a Lucky Costello show that I shot at 1904 Music Hall in Jacksonville, Florida, to demonstrate what I mean.  The venue may have crazy lights sitting on the stage, as in this image:

This is Gerry, the guitarist for Lucky Costello.

Other times, or in the case of this show, a few moments later, the lighting will be almost non-existant, as shown in this photo of the drummer:

Adam, the drummer for Lucky Costello

But, just because the lighting isn't crazy and look super-exciting, don't stop shooting.  This photo of Adam is one of my favorites from that show.

And it's not just lighting.  Some venues really like their fog machines and will use them to the point where there's no point in photographing anything because all you're getting is images of fog.  It would be like holding a white sheet in front of your camera and just taking photos of that for an hour.  :(  Other times, though, the fog can produce some cool images, such as this:

Lucky Costello at 1904 Music Hall

The other great thing about shooting concerts is that if the band doesn't move around too much and you find you're getting a lot of repetitive looking images, you can turn around and shoot the crowd.  Lucky Costello is famous for drawing a fun, eclectic crowd.  There will also usually be a few people with LED hula-hoops.

Stephanie watching Taylor hoop

Part of the crowd watching Lucky Costello

I've also learned not to put my camera away until I'm back in my car after the show.  Had I put it away before I left the venue, I would have missed out on this awesome shot of Taylor hooping in the alleyway next to the venue.

Taylor hooping outside

The rest of the photos from this show can be seen here on my site.

These are just a few of the reasons why I love photographing concerts.  What do you love to photograph?  Leave me a comment and let me know.