18-55mm lens at 55mm, f/5.6 at 1/125 sec.
Yes, it’s small. Yes, the Bronx Zoo is much more impressive. But who does not love the Central Park Zoo? It was a hot day and, as usual, the animals were smarter than the visiting humans. A lot of them were hiding away in the shade, out of the sun’s heat. This sea lion was doing lazy laps, clearly showing off and making us all extremely jealous. Sucker. Still, it’s always a wonderful treat to view… I do believe it’s true.
18-55mm lens at 18mm, f/3.5 at 0.3 sec.
Back in January of this year, my wife and I lost our beloved cat. Immediately, our apartment became excruciatingly empty. A couple days later we visited the wonderful no-kill shelter, Bideawee. We came home with a gorgeous little girl and within a month, decided that she needed a brother. Kitty Kind to the rescue. We got ourselves a cat who couldn’t have been any different than her sister. Angela is an absolutely beautiful, dainty, and confident Queen of Sheba. Friday is a dog. Playful, clumsy, and hilarious with melt-your-heart puppy dog eyes. He’s also scared of everything, but he’s getting there. He’s slowly becoming used to his dad’s terrifying camera.
18-55mm lens at 37mm, f/4.5 at 0.3 sec.
Last night I caught a very nice band at Arlene’s Grocery called The Grand Prospect. Much like The Band, this lovely ensemble has many different singers who take the group by the reins and weave their way through different musical genres… country, rock, soul… and just to bring the point home, they ended the set with a solid take on “The Night The Drove Old Dixie Down”.
18-55mm lens at 50mm, f/5.6 at 0.4 sec.
Ian Svenonius of The Makeup - Philadelphia, PA 9/16/95
I started really getting in to taking pictures later in high school. By then I was fully immersed in playing music. My band had used a photo I had shot for our first album cover. That got me more interested in photography, taking pictures in black and white, composition, etc. When I got in to college, I immediately found myself surrounded by a new group of musicians. They opened me up to a whole new world of music… everything from avant garde and free jazz cats like John Zorn and Ornette Coleman, to the bands on the Washington, D.C.-based Dischord Records. My new band followed along the lines of the early to mid-’90′s math rock genre: complex time signatures and abrasive vocals. With that, I attended as many shows as I could, point-and-shoot camera in tow.
For my band’s second show, we had the honor of playing with punk legends: Chisel, an early band of Ted Leo of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists fame. The Warmers, featuring Alec MacKaye, brother of Ian and formerly of harDCore bands Faith and Ignition. Also in the band were Juan Luis Carrera and Amy Farina, both from the band Lois. Amy currently is in the band Evens with Ian MacKaye. The last band was The Makeup. Born from the ashes of The Nation of Ulysses and Cupid Car Club, The Makeup set fire to this loft show on Walnut Street. Ian Svenonius, easily one of the most entertaining frontmen ever, did not disappoint. When I got the above photo back from the developer, I was hooked. I would take as many photos of bands as I could. Over the next four years, I snapped a ton of live shows. The great majority of them were very pedestrian, but I still cherish them as they capture a specific moment of my life that I will always love. If I got a really good shot, that was just a bonus.
(All of the pictures seen here are scanned from the original prints. The negatives were unfortunately lost. The scanner is not of professional grade, so there is a lot of noise. When the chance arises, they will be rescanned and edited. Again, all of these were taken with a basic point-and-shoot camera with black and white film.)
Ralph Darden of Franklin (now of The Jai-Alai Savant) - Philadelphia, PA '96-97
Guy Picciotto of Fugazi - Washington, D.C. 9/16/95
Ian Svenonius of The Makeup - London, England '97
Ian Svenonius of The Makeup - London, England '97
June of 44 - The Black Cat, Washington, D.C. '97-'98
Gregg Foreman of The Delta 72 (now in Cat Power's backing band, The Dirty Delta Blues Band) - Newark, DE '96/'97
