Some Promo Shots for My Friends, Dry Mill Road

I got the opportunity to shoot some promotional images for a great band, Dry Mill Road. Here are my picks from the set. All shot with Nikon D700 and prime lenses (35mm f2, 85mm f1.8).

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to give them a few different poses and scenes to choose from, while not taking away too much of their time or attention. In fact, immediately after the shoot, they recorded an entire CD in front of a studio audience. They look surprisingly relaxed given the situation, don't you think?

 

I sure had a great time on this assignment. I hope the images are useful to them.

 

Be sure to check out the band by clicking on this link: www.drymillroad.com

 

They play a great combination of original and traditional bluegrass/"newgrass" music, including some "Good Ol' Grateful Dead." That always makes me happy.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Every Once in a While, You Catch One Just Right

I spent most of last weekend shooting pictures at the River and Roots Festival in Berryville, Virginia. Using my Nikon D700, I shot a lot of photos, more than I care to edit to be honest. But, there was one that I knew as soon as the shutter clicked would be a keeper for me. Here it is:

 

 

 

Danny Catches Air, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikon 180mm f2.8 AF Lens

iso 1600, f5.6, 1/250 sec.

 

My friend Danny Knicely snuck out to the front of the stage for a little mid-song dance, as he's wont to do. I was so pleased to capture him with both feet off the ground, and literally filling my frame. Just this one shot makes all the weekend shooting worthwhile to me.

 

Danny's one of the nicest guys around, and a master of the mandolin. He constantly gives back to the community, and shares his songs and his skills freely.

 

(Click Here) to check out Danny's music.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

My Picture Chosen to Announce Larry Keel and Sam Bush at Lock'n Festival!

Larry Keel and Sam Bush, Keel Photo by Reed A. George

 

I guess my new black and white concert style must be working at some level. I was contacted by Larry Keel's agent, inquiring about the picture on the left above. They wanted to see color versions, but eventually chose to use the monochrome one.

 

I'm really happy that Larry liked the image enough that it's of some use to him! I'm more than happy to contribute a little to someone who gives so much to us fans.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

By and By Bluegrass at Gypsy Sally's - Including Some "Dreaming in Monochrom(e)" Shots

I've already posted some shots of the Larry Keel Power Trio (aka Larry Keel Experience) that I shot at Gypsy Sally's in Washington DC a while back.

 

(Click Here) to see my earlier post and link to my images on the live music blog Cosmic Vibes Live. Since that post, which was all digital shots, I've received my film back from The Darkroom. I have more Keel pictures to post, when I get to it.

 

In the meantime, here are some images of one of the opening bands, By and By. The bass player, Matt Iadanza, is a friend and co-worker in my regular job. The first set is digital, all shot with the still-amazing Nikon D700. I processed these in Lightroom using my settings to emulate Ilford Delta 3200 film.

 

(Click Here) to find my Lightroom settings that lead to this look.

 

I'll follow that with a couple of film shots from the Leica M4-2 that I'm using for the Dreaming in Monochrom(e) series.

 

 

 

 

By and By, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor AF-D 20mm f2.8, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF-D Lenses

 

And here are a couple shot with my Leica M4-2 and real honest-to-goodness Ilford Delta 3200 film.

 

By and By, by Reed A. George

Leica M4-2, Zeiss C-Sonnar 50mm f1.5 Lens

Ilford Delta 3200 Film

 

This was Matt's last show as bassist for By and By. He's now in the UK, working at the University of Leeds. Best wishes, Matt! But, the band continues on. (Click Here) to learn more about By and By Bluegrass.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Live Music - My Report on The Infamous Stringdusters is Up!

I've been writing periodically for the live music blog, Cosmic Vibes Live. Last week, they got me into a great show - The Infamous Stringdusters at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. My report is now up.

 

(Click Here) to read my show report on Cosmic Vibes Live.

 

The link above will let you read the musical aspects of the experience. I'll hit a few of the photographic aspects here.

Infamous Stringdusters, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 20mm f2.8 AF-D Lens

iso 1600, f2.8, 1/125 sec.

 

First, I usually rely on my Nikon DSLRs (D700 and D300) for indoor live music events. The high iso performance is unmatched by my other cameras.

 

Many concert photographers shoot with two or three zoom lenses. In the Nikon system, that's usually the 24-70mm, 70-200mm, and 12-24mm lenses, all fixed f2.8. I prefer to shoot Nikkor prime lenses. On this evening, I took a 20mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.8 and 180mm f2.8. I understand the tradeoff between primes and zooms. Yes, I have to change lenses more frequently in a crowd than I'd like. However, the generally faster f-stops are worth it. They're also a lot lighter to carry. On the long end, my 180mm f2.8 Nikkor is one half the weight of a 70-200mm f2.8 zoom.

 

I used the 20mm f2.8 on my D700 a lot at this show. My strategy was to move right up to front row center at the set break. While I didn't get all the way to the barrier, I was only one row of people back. I did have to lift my camera above everyone's heads, but that worked. With the 20mm field of view, it was relatively easy to compose overhead, even without an articulating LCD screen. I rarely use LiveView on my D700, but it came in handy for this.

 

 

Infamous Stringdusters, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 20mm f2.8 AF-D Lens

iso 1600, f2.8, 1/125 sec.

 

The 20mm also worked well for shooting people in the audience close up, though there was a lot less light:

First Set List, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 20mm f2.8 AF-D Lens

iso 3200, f2.8, 1/30 sec.

I also shot a lot with the 85mm f1.8 on my D300. The APS-C sensor makes this roughly the equivalent of a very fast 135mm f1.8 lens. Occasionally, I used the other lenses, or even swapped the 20 and 85 between the two bodies to take advantage of the different field of view due to sensor size differences. The D700 is better at high iso than the D300, but both perform very well at iso 1600 or even 3200.

 

Jeremy Garrett of the Infamous Stringdusters, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF-D Lens

iso 1600, f2, 1/250 sec.

 

I have been having a lot of fun writing and shooting for Cosmic Vibes Live. I hope to keep this collaboration up for a very long time.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Live Music Coverage - The Woodshedders' New CD Release - Shot With Nikon DSLRs

This weekend was live music-filled. I went to two release shows for The Woodshedders' new CD, "Wildfire."

 

(Click Here) to go to The Woodshedders home page. If you haven't listened to them, you should give them a try. An uncommon mix of bluegrass, jazz, and overall Americana, their music has a lot of soul.

 

Anyway, Friday night's show was at the Opera House in Shepherdstown, WV.

 

Shepherdstown Opera House, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF lens

iso 200, f8, 1 sec.

 

This is a great venue, an old cinema converted into live performance space.

 

(Click Here) to see what other shows are coming up at Opera House Live.

 

Kicking the night off right, The Green Boys warmed the crowd up. Maybe that's a poor choice of description; it was so hot that night that we could all have used a cooling down. In any case, this Richmond, VA-based group plays bluegrass in lively fashion. I've known these guys for a couple of years, and really enjoy every chance to hear them.

 

(Click Here) to check out The Green Boys.

 

Ryan Green (The Green Boys), by Reed A. George

Nikon D300, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF lens

iso 3200, f1.8, 1/60 sec.

 

My go-to Nikon DSLR is the D700. Full-frame, reasonable resolution (not so high that noise becomes an issue), the D700 is the single most capable camera I have ever owned. Not as fun as a Leica rangefinder perhaps, but definitely more flexible and capable, especially at high iso. I recently picked up a nice D300 from KEH for a second body. With the APS-C size sensor, the D300 is not quite as good as the D700 in extremely low light. That said, the D300 performed quite nicely here. The shot above shows what fast class can do for you.

 

Dwayne Brooke of the Woodshedders gave me the opportunity to shoot some pictures of the band. We made good use of the loft area in the Opera House, and here are a couple of my favorites.

 

Marilyn Dropped by the Session, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 35mm f2 AF lens

iso 400, f5.6, 1/125 sec.

Flash (Nikon SB800) Bounced Off Ceiling

Another example of the flexibility of the Nikon system. Outfitting myself for an evening of low available light shooting, I decided to throw my SB800 flash in the bag. Not knowing that I'd get the chance to pose the band, I wasn't sure I'd use it. When the opportunity came, I simply set the camera to TTL flash, pointed it toward the ceiling, and away we went. This would not have been as easy with any of my other cameras.

 

 

The Woodshedders, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 35mm f2 AF lens

iso 400, f5.6, 1/125 sec.

Flash (Nikon SB800) Bounced Off Ceiling

 

Here are some shots from the show itself. I don't know how these guys survived the heat.

 

Onstage, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 35mm f2 AF lens

iso 3200, f2, 1/125 sec.

 

Jesse Shultzaberger, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF lens

iso 2200, f1.8, 1/125 sec.

 

 

Ryan Mayo, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF lens

iso 2200, f1.8, 1/125 sec.

 

 

"Fiddlin' Dave" VanDeventer, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF lens

iso 2200, f1.8, 1/125 sec.

 

 

Jared Pool, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF lens

iso 2200, f1.8, 1/90 sec.

 

 

Dwayne Brooke, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF lens

iso 4500, f1.8, 1/125 sec.

At the intermission, both bands retired to the loft to chat with members of the audience, many of whom are person friends; these guys have quite a following around here. The shot below was made then, and is one of my very favorite images from the evening. I saw the red light outlining this young lady's hair, and that drew me in. The blue further back adds to the scheme.

Intermission, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 28mm f2.8 AF lens

iso 6400, f2.8, 1/45 sec.

The crowd stayed lively throughout. In fact, some were so happy they were swept off their feet (or levitated?).

 

Uplifted, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 35mm f2 AF lens

iso 2200, f2.8, 1/60 sec.

Flash (Nikon SB800)

 

What a great show! If you're interested in seeing more from this show, (Click Here) to go to my web page, creativeobjective.com.

 

I'm still sorting images from Saturday night, and will post them separately. More to come!

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

Shenandoah Riverside Festival - My Photos and Writeup at Cosmic Vibes Live!

I recently wrote another piece for my favorite live music blog, Cosmic Vibes Live.

 

(Click Here) to read it and see all of my pics at cosmicvibeslive.com.

 

I'll use my own blog here to share a little info about the photographic details.

 

First, I decided to take it easy at this show, and shoot what I felt like. That included a Leica IIIC with Summitar 5cm f2 (the lens I've picked to pair up with my M9 for the Whole Lotta Leica series this month). Here's a shot from that combination:

 

The Woodshedders, by Reed A. George

Leica IIIC, Leica Summitar 5cm f2 Lens

 

I also shot my Skeletons From The Closet Camera for June, the Konica Auto S1.6, with color film:

 

Banana Express, by Reed A. George

Konica Auto S1.6

 

When nighttime came, I switched from the fun film cameras to the workhorse - Nikon D700.

 

The Hackensaw Boys, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.4 AF-D Lens

 

Like I mentioned above, click over to Cosmic Vibes Live to read the full story and see a lot more pics.

 

It was great fun shooting the Leica and Konica, especially wandering around backstage. The Nikon came through as always.

 

I am still really enjoying the combination of great live music and my photography hobby!

 

Happy Crowd, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF-D Lens

 

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

My First Experience Shooting in the Studio - Headshots For A Friend

So, one of my friends and favorite local musicians, Melissa Wright, inquired about my interest in shooting headshots for her. Having never done any studio work before, of course I was excited to give it a try. It took a couple of weeks to find a rental studio and get our schedules in sync, but we finally pulled it off.

 

(Click Here) to see all the full resolution images on my site, creativeobjective.com

 

We met at 9:30 on a Saturday morning, at which time I was still fooling with lighting setup. Both a little tense, we jumped right in and started shooting. I think the tension shows in the first shots.

 

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f8, 1/250 sec

 

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f8, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f11, 1/250 sec

I've known Melissa for a few years now, so it didn't take long for us both to loosen up. With headshots, by the conventional definition, your main goal is to show a person's face, what they really look like, without cheesy grins or fake expressions. Once we both felt that we had that covered, my goal was to experiment a little, and see if we could capture a range of expressions. As I've read many times, the trick is to get your minds off of being on both sides of a camera, and capture the model in her own mind, thinking of things. I think we did that pretty well. You be the judge.

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AiS Lens

iso 100, f16, 1/250 sec

 

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f9.5, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AiS Lens

iso 100, f16, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f9.5, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f9.5, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm AF-D f1.4 Lens

iso 100, f5.6, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm AF-D f1.4 Lens

iso 100, f5.6, 1/250 sec

 

Melissa is a very talented singer and strummer of many instruments. Her latest effort is called "Mink."

(Click Here) to see the Mink page on Facebook, and determine when and where you can see Melissa perform.

 

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm AF-D f1.4 Lens

iso 100, f5.6, 1/250 sec

 

As you can see, I chose to shoot with my Nikon D700, 50mm/f1.4, 105mm/f2.5, and 85mm/f1.8 lenses. The studio was set up with multiple backgrounds (we used black and white only), two large light boxes, and a somewhat improvised hair light. It was also setup with a wireless trigger system. It took me a few minutes and tries to get everything right, but once that was done, I could leave it as-is and worry only about composition and getting the right expression. Focus was pretty quick and easy, even with the manual focus 105mm AiS lens. Because there was so much light, setting f5.6-11 for appropriate depth of field worked well.

I took a few shots with my medium format TLR, the Minolta Autocord, but it was really more of an afterthought, far into our session. I haven't gotten those processed yet, but my expectations are not that high. The Nikon really pulled through for me.

 

I found that I really enjoyed shooting this way. It is quite different than my normal shooting experience. I liked having full control of the lighting, and the challenge of capturing who Melissa really is. I'll do more of this as opportunities arise.

 

Thanks, Melissa! I hope the images are useful to you.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

Using my Leica M3 DS at a Bluegrass Festival

I recently added an M3 to my Leica collection. Part of my motivation was pure curiosity. I have understood that the M3 was a milestone development for Leica, being the first M body produced, way back in 1955. Otherwise, it wasn't obvious to me why so many people were in love with their M3s, seemingly more so than other M models. One thing I really didn't get was that the M3 has limited framelines in the viewfinder, meaning that the widest lens you can use without a "goggles" attachment is 50mm. More on this later.

 

I decided that I wanted to get an early unit, which meant that it is a double stroke (DS) - this simply means that you have to wind the lever twice to fully advance the film. I looked at a few different cameras, but didn't find exactly the one I wanted until I contacted Youxin Ye, Leica repair master. Youxin has serviced several cameras for me in the past. He happened to have a very early M3 ready for refurbishment.

 

(Click Here) to go to Youxin's page. Youxin provides quick, reliable service. He has my full endorsement.

 

In any case, the other "features" of the early M3, besides DS, are the lack of a frameline lever for manually changing the framelines in the viewfinder, and a glass film plane plate, for maximum film flatness. Glass was replaced with metal later in the M3 production cycle.

 

Needless to say, Youxin provided me with an absolutely gorgeous M3 DS at a reasonable price. I fell in love as I opened the box. Looking through the viewfinder sealed the deal. You see, since the finder is not as wide angle as other Ms, when you do use the 50mm lens, you get this beautiful, bright image in the viewfinder. Making it wide enough for say a 35mm lens on other M models makes the 50mm framelines cover less of the total finder image. Since I am a 50mm guy, I'm quite happy with the M3s finder being optimized for that focal length.

 

Enough about the camera. I popped my vintage 1955 Summicron 50mm f2 collapsible lens (which was my Whole Lotta Leica selection for April) on and went to shoot a daytime bluegrass festival near my home in Loudoun County, Virginia.

 

(Click Here) to read about this special lens.

 

Here are some results:

 

 

 

All Images by Reed A. George

Leica M3 DS, Summicron 50mm f2 Collapsible

Kodak TMax 400 film

 

As usual, The Darkroom processed my film with excellent results.

 

(Click Here) to visit The Darkroom and use their awesome mail-in processing services!

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com