I hate using a flash so much.

Cliff 'Em All at The Viper Room
I've shot Cliff 'Em All so many times that you'd think I'd have it down to a science by now.  Guess again.  This was the first time in a while I had seen Cliff 'Em All open for a band that was much bigger than them, and the resulting larger crowd in The Viper Room made it more difficult for me to photograph them than it usually is.  Although I was right next to the stage, I was confined in a very small space that prevented me from making some of the fine adjustments I am usually able to make to my physical position.  This photo set feels a tad claustrophobic to me.  In particular, I feel like John the singer fills up the frame too much because I just couldn't move even a few steps backward to let him breathe more in each photo.  To make matters worse, there was almost no light on stage right for the lead guitarist Chris, so almost every shot of him I got is almost a pseudo silhouette.  Not that some of them don't look cool, but compare this set to the last Viper Room set and it's like night and day in more ways than one.  On the plus side, I think I got some good shots of Dan the drummer to make up for a general absence of him in the last few photo sets, and I know he liked at least one of these photos because he made it his profile picture on Facebook.  Last but not least, Menno the bassist continues his unbroken streak of being the most photogenic member of the band, and I got several nice shots of him singing during the band's cover of Slayer's "Die by the Sword" that they performed in honor of recently deceased Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman.  Overall, this set shows improvement in my ability as a photographer, but it showed me that no matter how competent I get, I still need to learn to deal with unexpected technical and location setbacks.

JapanLA Fancy Cat Party
When am I ever going to learn how to use a flash?!  Every time I think I know what I'm doing I learn very harshly that I don't.  As you may recall, I was very disappointed with my last photo set at JapanLA because all of the pictures inside looked grainy and fuzzy.  I deduced that this was because of the soft lighting and vowed to prepare for it next time.  So, this time I had my flash primed and ready for my indoor shots, yet I am still so disappointed with the results.  The flash just makes everything look so unnatural and does not accurately represent the true colors.  So when you compare this set to the last JapanLA set, you can see two completely different reasons why I feel each set falls short.  I suppose I just need to practice shooting indoors with a flash more.  There are still some individual moments in this set that stand out, but it could and should be so much better.


I'm not sure if there's anything too exciting happening this week yet, but next week I will be seeing Katatonia headline the Roxy and I just discovered I may have the chance to meet the band at Soundcheck Hollywood before the show if I can time it right.  Be on the lookout for that group of photos to go up as soon as I can make it happen.  After that, I learned of an awesome fashion event that I hope will make for a fantastic photo set, so stay bookmarked.  Thank you for being a true patriot.