
Alice Cooper performs in South Bend

As is the case at a lot of newspapers across the country, our photo staff is being pushed to do more and more video projects. It’s been a bit of a learning on the fly situation for me as I had not shot video previously at my last job or on internships after college. When I first started at the Tribune last February, my videos were not very good, but I’ve been trying to push myself to increase both the quality and visual sophistication of my “quick hit” videos. Earlier this week, I recorded Anaya Jolie performing a couple of her original songs for a feature to run in our Sunday paper. While this isn’t exactly a polished MTV music video (they still show music videos right?), it’s a big more visual than our usual videos. For the first time I used video lights and more than one Canon 7D to shoot details as she performed. Baby steps … baby steps.
In early November, I had the opportunity to spend some time photographing William Intriligator, the music director and conductor for the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, as he prepared for a concert featuring violin soloist Miriam Fried. The photos were for a “day in the life” type of story so I spent time with the conductor back stage before and during a rehearsal for the performance. It was pretty amazing to get the opportunity to hear Fried perform pieces from the Brahms Violin Concerto to absolute perfection on her first attempt as she had an informal meeting with Intriligator before a full-orchestra rehearsal.
[Read more…] about Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra conductor William Intriligator
Had the opportunity to shoot a few portraits of local blues guitarist Taylor Scott for the paper’s weekly “Plains People” feature. I had a bit of time to scout locations and work the portraits. As a result, the portraits turned out well. Amazing how that happens. Scott, who is an 18-year-old senior at Cheyenne’s Central High School, was pretty cool and easy to work with on the shoot. Being that I’m a huge fan of the blues, it was easy to strike up a conversation with him on the shoot as we talked about Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Eric Clapton among others. If you haven’t heard him, check him out playing with his group, Another Kind of Magick.
My two main responsibilities today were to shoot trick riders at the rodeo followed by shooting an evening performance by the Zac Brown Band. They’re a neat group with high energy. Zac Brown himself played like a man possessed at times as you can see in the photo below.