Bend, Oregon
Salvaging vibes in Bad lighting and Loud Crowds in Bend oregon
So yesterday we made it to the town of Bend in cold, cold, oh so COLD Oregon. We were 30 minutes away from a very snowy mountain top. Despite that fact, at 7:30pm we had a line that extended all the way to the next block! a full house!
Oregon has the award for the loudest, rowdiest crowd thus far! It was a good vibe.
The interesting thing about concert photography for me is the unpredictability, you never know what kind of venue you'll be working with till the day. It really forces you to be creative as well as really understanding your camera, because some scenarios like last night really took some understanding.
The stage was extremely small from what you can see in some of the photos perhaps
Additionally the lighting was straight up AWFUL! Our whole set, Protoje was washed in a dim purple light. It took a lot of post processing to tweak the white balance to get some good shots. But this is part of the job and the fun. Regardless I think I got some good representations of last night's jam!
Full gallery below, or click here - As i'm writing this from a warm hotel lobby, we are performing at Spokane in Washington (which is also cold)
Arcata, California - Humboldt State University
Humboldt State - Arcata California | Winter Greens Tour
It was my first time being at a university outside Jamaica. Humboldt State Uni is up north in California somewhere near San Fransisco, featuring a pretty cold breeze, and tall green redwood trees. We walked around the university to catch some of the dope visual action on campus
Tell Adidas to hit me up
Dope Campus.
Thanks to all the students and residents in the area that came and showed out at Humboldt State!
Up next is Bend, Oregon
Full Gallery Below or Click Here
Chico, California - Senator Theatre
Show 1! Senator Theatre in Chico California. Full house and a great vibe! Tonight we're at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California
Full Gallery below or click here
9 Mile Music Festival
Familiar faces with Protoje at 9 Mile Music Festival
First stop on the Winter Greens Tour, was the 9 Mile Music Festival out in Miami. A pretty full crowd. A lot of familiar faces.
A fairly Unique sight there was Yaadcore on stage with Protoje
I think the patrons were pretty fortunate to see Kabaka, Proto, and Chronixx all one stage. Something not even Jamaicans see all the time.
All in all it was a good vibes, thanks to everyone who came out to 9Mile Music Festival
For the full gallery, check below, or click here
Throwback Feature: Kabaka Pyramid Live
A throwback feature to Kabaka Pyramid's epic live show at Triple Century Sports Bar, back in 2013. Gallery Inside
For this Thursday's throwback feature, I dived once again into the archives of my older hard drives and found a set of images fairly dear to my heart. I found images I took from Kabaka Pyramid's live show at Trippple Century Sports bar, to promote his freshly released "Lead The Way" EP, back in 2013.
Here's the promotional trailer for the show for some TBT feels (not my work btw):
If memory serves, I do believe this was the first Kabaka show I attended (meaning his own show, that he headlined), and as a fan I was eager to be apart of capturing that moment in time.
Unfortunately, Though I had found my bearings where composition in concert/stage photography is concerned.. I was still shooting JPEG (for all who know what that means) on my Nikon d700 (Also might have been my first concert shooting full frame), and the double whammy is that I didn't save the original files (fail!), So I couldn't even apply a refreshed edit to them like my Who Knows Feature. So the images you are seeing are just the same as they were released initially, how I edited them along with my old watermark, haha!
Kabaka and Masicka performing "Choppinz"
Despite the above negatives, I can still say these are some of my favourite images, I remember the joy I had when I reached home after this show and loaded up my memory card. The images (to me) reminded me of the photography I would see of young rappers or afrocentric acts performing in underground clubs in NY. The images felt super authentic to me, while capturing an energy I myself love to see.
The show itself was amazing, one i'll never forget.. an endless session of high octane bars, and Kabaka kept the crowd going with a seemingly endless set of features: Koro Fyah, Keznamdi, Masicka, Jesse Royal, Protoje, Iba Mahr, Chronixx and the Mystical I-Wayne.
Trust me it was exciting. Very glad I still gave these images to share with everyone!
Gallery after the jump! Click Images to enlarge (works on mobile too!)
Rebel Salute 2016: Beyond the Stage
A leisurely study into some of the activities beyond the stage at Rebel Salute 2016. Gallery Inside
This year I attended the second day (and night into morning) of Rebel Salute's 2016 staging. This was my first time at Rebel Salute ever, after having repeated shows like Reggae Sumfest, and Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival. Working with my dad, he was contracted to reach the location early, specifically to capture images of the setup for a client, but was invited to stay for the actual show.
Rebel Salute Stage
what was very special about this visit was I wasn't really there to cover the stage performances, I had a lot of free time and was essentially just a patron most of the time there. This gave me the opportunity to really experience the fullness of Rebel Salute.
I had a specific interest in the vendors there- what I found particularly interesting was the authenticity of the various persons on the grounds at their stalls hustling. Moreso, Rebel Salute being an event based on rastafari values, most stalls were of goods that were owned by rastas, or fit inside their lifestyle values - Vegan foods, Marijuana based edibles, hemp based clothing, and natural handmade goods.
Everything on this table incorporates marijuana in the ingredients.. Cakes, Coffee Drops, Ointments, Even herb bag-juice
As I mentioned.. Herb Bag-juice
the photos I brought home reflect more of a study of the hustling that goes on at Rebel Salute, something that was very fun to immerse myself in and study. I hope you enjoy the images!
Throwback Feature: "Who Knows" Music Video BTS
A short recap of the photography and video BTS (some unseen before) from the Who Knows video shoot. Gallery Inside
One of the earliest works I did with Protoje, before creative directing for him, was a BTS feature for the music video for the first single off Ancient Future; "Who Knows". Working with Nickii Kane for the first time we were tasked with covering both a photography and video aspect of what was going on over the 2-Day shoot process.
At the time, I was still just learning how powerful social media was, so a lot of these images didn't see the light of day (at Least on my channels). I happened across them while doing some backing up of old data, and while the images are only JPEG (cringes), I still think aesthetically, and historically they are worth seeing, So I edited them over.
"Who Knows" was Directed by Storm Saulter, and has made crazy waves internationally, especially in the UK where it was playlisted on BBC
Protoje and Chronixx reminiscing on old memories during an on the spot interview
I should also mention I was particularly favourable of the wardrobe and styling of the video
You can watch "Who Knows" here
Gallery after the jump