Inpop at GMA
Again, this is really overdue but I don't wanna skip it... while at GMA Week I got to shoot the Inpop GMA showcase.. here is my fav pic:
I also got to see the two banners I had designed up on display which was really fun... esp. since the superchick one was a 20ft banner that crashed my poor little MacBook Pro & photoshop about 15 times... check it out:
Muisc Builds Tour Kick-Off
This post is long overdue, but better late than never! This year I got to attend GMA (Gospel Music Association) Week in downtown Nashville, TN with an "artist escort" badge courtesy Inpop Records who I was interning for at the time (I now work for them!) While it wasn't supposed to I found out later on, this badge got me into the "Music Builds" Tour Kick-off showcase at the Wildhorse Saloon not only for FREE, but it also later got me into the press pit in front of the stage by flashing it to some very lazy security guards. Did I mention this was on my 20th birthday? It was a pretty cool night. The lineup included two of my favorite bands, Jars of Clay and Switchfoot. Here's a shot of Steve from Jars during sound check:
The headliner was Third Day... which baffles me because while I understand that they are a very popular band, if it was up to me the lineup would have been the exact opposite... Third Day, Switchfoot, Jars of Clay... Nonetheless each band got a lot of playing time and the show was great. Also met a really nice girl & her dad who bought me water and later got me into the Switchfoot M&G. Here's a shot of Jon from Switchfoot crowd surfing...
After the show I had the pleasure of running into Steve from Jars by the merch table and he ended up asking me for some photos after recognizing I was the girl sticking the telephoto lens in his face all night. I ended up emailing him some shots and he says he'll use 'em somewhere so we'll see! Just the fact that he liked them was amazing to me because Jars is probably my favorite band of all time (tied with the newsboys) and they literally changed my life, so it was fun to be able to give something back to them, despite how ridiculously small a thing it was.
HOW Design Conference
Incase you somehow haven't heard, I'm currently in Boston, MA attending the HOW Design Conference thanks to the UCF Office of Student Involvement sending me here with my pal and coworker Kyle. My two good friends and coworkers Bonnie and Sarah also came along for the wild ride.
I'm writing this blog right now from my hotel room in Boston, after another exhausting yet amazing day. I must say it was a bit slower day today and felt a little awkward to be attending the conference since the past few days were spent out on the town. Since I had absolutely no idea that New England was still rather cold in late May (in my home state a degree below 90 is considered a cool day in May) I didn't bring adequate clothing to prepare for the 55 degree weather, so I was a bit cold as well, but it was fun. I attended three sessions today and went in the sponsor expo again to pick up more swag. I have so much swag now I could probably fill another large suitcase with all of it. Amazing! So far my favorite booths to visit have been french paper, wacom and the "cougar booth" where I got to take this amazing photo w/ my friend Sarah & the lovely Cougar of course.
I feel like I've already done an entire vacations worth of stuff yet I know I've barely scratched the surface of all Boston has to offer. It's an incredible city with such rich history. Some highlights have included walking almost the entire freedom trail, boston common, amazing fettucini alfredo in the italian district, "cheetah girl" in the park who taught Bonnie and I to run just like a cheetah (stay tuned for a video of our adventures) and a picnic at Harvard...
Overall, I've been a slightly underimpressed with HOW so far... I feel like it has tons of potential but that it needs to be organized more effectively. It's too hard to tell what skill levels the sessions offered are for. One session I went to I learned a lot and it was fantastic, and another I felt like I was in design 101 being taught things that I learned my first day on the job. Another problem I find is having sessions at 7:30 am. Seriously? 7:30am?!! Ugh.
By far my favorite session was the last one I saw this evening, and it wasn't even design related. It was given by a man who set out to clean all of America's rivers, starting with the biggest, the Mississippi. His story was amazing and I had no idea that prior to his efforts and his organization, there had been no large-scale river clean-up effort in effect on these rivers... and it's astonishing how badly they needed one.
You can check out his efforts & progress at his organizations website, and find out how you can get involved if you live near a body of water that needs help.
Caladesi Island
I grew up just a few minutes from the number 1 rated beach in the USA. That list includes Hawaii by the way. I have missed that beach a lot. Even when I lived there I didn't go to the beach nearly enough. They say you never know what you got till it's gone. Isn't that the truth. Well I got to go back to it a few weeks ago with my comrade Justin and while the water was still a bit cold it was quite enjoyable as it was a beautiful sunny Florida day, with just enough cloud cover that we didn't get completely fried. We tried our hand at skimboarding with a board I found collecting dust in the garage at my house in Palm Harbor... neither one of us knew how to skimboard and their are virtually no waves on Caladesi, so while I was waiting for a wave Justin snapped this nearly perfect pic:
Justice - DVNO
A little late in the game but just discovered Justice. This video for DVNO is one of the coolest music videos I've ever seen...
Buy the album!
GO Tour Take 2
Got to see the GO Tour again a few weeks ago in Indiana... the last time was before I worked for Inpop back in November in Clearwater. This time was a bit different however, because I had a backstage pass. I'm still getting used to the idea of not having to sneak backstage... I keep waiting to be kicked out... it's great... so needless to say I had much better photo opportunities. So many in fact that after the show Paul Colman said to me "I was wondering who the blonde chick taking all the photos of me was." Without further ado, here is my favorite shot from this show:
Oh and on a side note, I had never been to Indiana before so that marks another state off my list. Woohoo. 16 down, 34 to go.
Heart Support Tour
I drove up to Kentucky with my coworker Justin a few weeks back to see Family Force 5 in the Heart Support Tour. Turns out Heart Support isn't just a clever tour name... it's actually an organization reaching out to hurting teens and providing them a place (an online message board) to find healing and love. Yay FF5 for supporting what seems to be a really cool organization. Check them out at www.heartsupport.com. It wouldn't have been like me to attend a concert without taking hundreds of pictures... but unfortunately the lighting was HORRIBLE at this hotel-conference-room-turned-rock-n-roll-venue... soooo only about 100 pics made the cut, and they aren't very good. Here is my favorite from the lot:
Enjoy! And do yourself a favor: If Family Force 5 comes through your area, go check them out. The show is amazing whether or not you are crazy about their music. Support Christian Rock!
Today I'm going to see my favorite band of all time, the Newsboys. Stay tuned for pictures.
February Tornadoes
Incase your head was in the sand, last month a huge storm in the south spawned tornadoes that killed 52 people. The area where I live in middle TN was spared, but they weren't so lucky about an hour north of me in Macon County, TN, which was the hardest hit with 14 deaths. I drove up there about a week after the storm to take some pictures that I was hoping I might sell to go to relief efforts but nobody really cares about natural disasters once a few days pass and it's not headline news anymore. I just stopped at the first destroyed house I found and asked the guys that were looking through it if I could take some pictures and they said it was ok. We ended up talking for a long time about the storm and the unpredictability of life. I'm glad instead of watching TV that afternoon I had the idea to drive up there...
This dog belonged to the guy who lived next door. This is my favorite picture from the shoot.
In Studio w/ Superchick
Ok so I was going to do another post today about my experience at Vibe56 recording studio last week with Superchick (one of my fav bands) but Max beat me to it on his blog so you can just go read his post instead, which is here.
For those who don't know, Max Hsu is a producer/songwriter/dj who is the mastermind behind the band Superchick amongst other things. I have been reading his blog since he started it back in 2004... and I have to say in my opinion that it is one of the best out there if you are into recording, the music industry, photography or just good stories... and today Max posted a pic I took of him in on his blog :)
All the pics I took at Vibe56 are up at my flickr account too if you wanna check them out... here's the photo set.
I think my favorite is still this photo because Matt was so awesome to pose like that for me:
Btw, I am sworn to secrecy about details but I can tell you that Superchick's new album is KILLER. And as Matt would say "fresh." "Rock What You Got" on June 24th people!