Portraits: Bryan John Appleby and Band

In February I found myself sitting on a bench next to Bryan Appleby outside of the Conor Byrne Pub.   I had a new camera, a 1938 Rolleiflex Automat 6x6, and was looking to start shooting portraits.    I asked, he agreed and four and a half months later I stopped by their house to shoot six rolls of black & white Kodak Tri-X pan film ISO 320, expiration date 1996.


The day was overcast and it was around 6:30 - 7pm.   We shot in natural light using their house and shack as backdrops.    The portraits were shot at f-3.5 and 1/50 hand held.   I over-processed the negatives by two minutes to bring out more tone and grain.   

Group shot original scan.   Bryan and I discussed the overall look of the final prints.   He was looking for something with a bit of contrast and grain.    To work within time constraints I scanned the film and worked with digital files.   I tried to keep the post production in Lightroom true to what I could have achieved in a darkroom using filters, dodging and burning.     I intentionally kept some of the dust on the negatives to reflect the feeling and mood of their vinyl album which includes pops and crackles in the background of their songs.


 The final prints:

Thank you to Bryan John Appleby, Cole Mauro, Joe Ruppert, Kyle Zantos, and Luke Messimer.
 

You can check out their music here:
Fire on the Vine
Facebook Band Page 


Also, BIG thanks to Vanja Horonic and Matthew Corcoran for the use of their film scanners.  

Also, also, to Drake Hokanson who gave me the film years ago.  Not only for his generosity of bestowing 60 rolls of film on me but for the constant inspiration and guidance he and Carol have given me. 

Road to Port Townsend

Last weekend I left my house on my bike and ended up in Port Townsend to visit a few friends.   It was liberating to travel without a car for a  couple days.   I wanted to share a few views from the road. 

Red House Music Night

One of my favorite things about Seattle is the music community.   I am lucky enough to live only a few blocks away from some incredibly talented musicians.    On Thursday they hosted a house show.  I decided to invite myself over, cobbler and camera in hand.

The performers played acoustic sets with original music.    The space was perfect, complete with a bow, antlers, a shelf of Nat Geo magazines and instruments in every corner.   The most amazing part of the night was getting to experience the music in its whole.   The attendees (friends, artists, musicians) were listening so intently to this intimate experience you could hear a pin drop, or a shutter close in my case.  I tried to take as few frames as I could to preserve the quiet reverie while still managing to get enough photos to share with you.   I may be posting two video clips in a few days.   

Line Up:
Brad Duncan
Matt Kinder - The Parade Schedule
Introductory Song: Luke Messimer and Kyle Zantos 
Johnny Panlener
Bryan John Appleby

 

 

 

 

 

Japan Compilation Video

 

Light test # 2: Interview

Light Test #4: Album Art

I recently had the opportunity to work with No Theft of Le Grand Cru on a film project.    Le Grand Cru has partnered with local Seattle and other emerging musicians to create a compilation album to raise money for the relief efforts in Japan.    The album is digital to allow the proceeds to go directly to the cause and not be filtered through production costs of physical merchandise.   Release date: May 3, 2011 on bandcamp.  

Tommy approached me a couple weeks ago to discuss the idea of an interview promotion for the album.    One sunny day in Seattle, we shot the film at his house.   The promotion piece combines an interview about the compilation as well as clips of No Theft creating the album artwork and speaking on the inspiration behind it.    

Please visit the Vimeo page to check out the video.   It turned out quite well.   

The artists featured on the compilation:

Pablo Trucker

Campfire OK

Garage Voice

Pickwick

Lemolo

Noah Gundersen

Young Lions

Hot Bodies in Motion

Le Wrens

Adam Pasion

The River Empires

Keith Tutt II

Timothy Robert Graham

Visit bandcamp. 

Go to the video

Patrick Toney . Living Statue . Street Performer

click to view the video

Patrick Toney
Living Statue . Street Performer

Patrick is an incredible person and was gracious enough to allow me to follow him around for a day.   He is a street performer working as a weathered statue in Seattle, WA.  He can be found outside of the West Lake Center and around town during events.   In addition to his performance work, Patrick is also a talented artist, musician and an all around nice guy.  You can find out more about his music at www.garagevoice.com



Why I started the project:

My background in photography is photojournalism.  Since I haven’t found a newspaper to call my own, I have tried different venues of photography over the past three years with little luck.   I have wanted to get back into creating stories with my images, shooting for content with a deeper meaning and not just for visual appeal.   I have also wanted to invest time in long-term documentary stories.  I’ve never been much of a writer so I decided to start working on a series of short multimedia pieces for the year of 2011 - a character series.  

I’ve paired still images with audio and some film clips to create the following video.    It is the first multimedia piece I have ever attempted and in the process I have learned a lot and realized just how much more I need to learn.   I am excited to start sharing these stories with you.   I hope to create at least ten similar pieces.  Please feel free to like, share, tweet the project if you enjoy what you see.    Feedback is also welcome; let me know what you think.    Thank you.  I appreciate you taking to view my work.        

Characters

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have incredible friends in many walks of life.   I like characters and have been lucky throughout my life to meet some fascinating people.   I have always said that the most interesting people are those you meet every day.   If you take the time to talk to a stranger and talk about something other than the weather, you are bound to hear a few remarkable stories and experiences.    It is amazing the different paths we take and what experiences result in those choices.   I have decided to try and document a few of these characters over the next year.  These multimedia pieces will simply be snapshots in the everyday lives of people who have let me be a witness their stories.    I only hope to do them justice and provide a platform for others to appreciate the uniqueness and beautiful quirks and personalities of others.    

I will be releasing my first story this week.  An interview with Patrick Toney, Living Statue. 

Cherry Blossoms

I wanted to try and visually represent the feeling of a spring morning; a crisp breeze flowing through fresh blossoms, collecting and mixing a momentary perfume that you hold in a breath, trying to record it's unique notes and subtle tones.   Memories.  

I shot these images by flipping my lens backwards and holding it up to the camera body.   This method turned my 24-70mm into an extreme macro with a very shallow depth of field.   I used a slower shutter speed to allow the blossoms to blur slightly in the wind.