Tenting!
Today is day two of white tenting and I have to sleep tonight o_O

Anything for the Duke Carolina game.

“With clarity, determination, and patience--the fruits of meditation--we can sustain a life of action and be real instruments of peace.”

Today truly tested my patience. Today and tomorrow are the last days for Lion King. There were two showings today and student rush tickets go on sale two hours before each show. I got to DPAC an three hours before the show to get in line. The line seemed short and I was excited for my $20 tickets. The line behind me gets longer and longer. Finally, they open the box office, only to find out there were only 20-25 tickets available. With the amount of people in front of me and considering each person could buy more than one, I didn’t get one. I stood in line for the later showing as well and didn’t get one that time either.

Ugh.

Oh well, we went to a nice dinner and movie instead.

a photo by V Lynn on Flickr.

I went to The Beast’s show at Motorco today. I got there late, during the middle of their set. I love the power of the camera--all I did was put it in front of me and say “excuse me, photographer, excuse me” to make my way to the front. I got to shoot for only one song, but I got some great shots. Next time I will get there earlier to see if I can get on stage with the group.

This concert was similar in lighting to the one Tues so I was good with my settings.

a photo by V Lynn on Flickr.

Today was my second shoot. The Beast has rehearsal every Wednesday at one of the guys' house. They turned the entire basement area into their practice space complete with instruments, sound equipment and wall padding. I could not stay long and only ended up with a few usable shots, but hopefully I will be able to make it here again. The fact that this is weekly will really help me in the long run.

a photo by V Lynn on Flickr.

Today I went to my first show of The Beast’s to introduce myself and start photographing. The show was at Jack Sprat, a café in Chapel Hill. The band hosts a show there every other Tuesday night, sometimes inviting other guests, including rappers and spoken word artists, to take part. Tonight they had invited a local rap artist. The guys in the band were great and were very excited to have me photographing them. I introduced myself to Pierce, the lead singer, Eric on keys, Peter on bass, and Steve on drums.

I started to photograph and was immediately challenged by the lighting. The café was very dimly lit and used red and blue lights for the stage. I set my camera on manual and tried to figure it out through trial and error. I need to start writing down what I am trying because I can’t remember right now. But looking back at my photos, it looks like I became comfortable with a shutter speed of either 1/80 or 1/60 and an aperture at f3.5, sometimes f5, f5.6. The ISO was on 1600 and 800 most of the time.

check out this article on The Beast!

here is an overview of The Beast from their site:

Equally comfortable in the worlds of hip-hop and jazz, The Beast developed its revolutionary sound at UNC Chapel Hill. While pianist Eric Hirsh (an alumnus of the prestigious Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program), drummer Stephen Coffman, and bassist Peter Kimosh were earning their music degrees, emcee Pierce Freelon was developing his intelligent lyricism at cyphers and music venues across campus. After graduating, the quartet joined forces in 2007 and quickly distinguished themselves as one of the most progressive and entertaining bands in the North Carolina through their high energy live show and exceptional compositions.

In 2010 The Beast released a free collaborative album with 6-time Grammy nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon called, Freedom Suite. Released in collaboration with Okayplayer’s jazz channel The Revivalist, Freedom Suite garnered international acclaim for The Beast’s progressive lyrics and eclectic jazz-infused production. On Freedom Suite, The Beast collaborates with artists such as 9th Wonder, YahZarah, Phonte, The Apple Juice Kid, Geechi Suede (of Camp Lo) and Branford Marsalis.

In 2009, The Beast released their fearless self-produced debut album entitled Silence Fiction. Capturing the quartet’s first two years of risk-taking and progressive songwriting, Silence Fiction was hailed as “dexterous musicianship behind detail-driven, socially progressive lyrics” (The Independent). Silence Fiction was released on the Chapel Hill-based independent label Robust Records.

The Beast’s debut EP, Belly, was released in 2008 and called “eclectic and intricate Hip-Hop shot through with soul and Afro-Cuban influences” (The Independent). The collaborative project features soul-singer YahZarah, guitarist Scott Sawyer and the Seed and Harvest Gospel Choir.

check out their website!

After our meeting I set out to find a local band. Durham has a huge music scene, something that I overlooked once I came back from New York. I went to Reverbnation, a popular online tool for music artists that is based out of North Carolina. I found this band called The Beast that is based out of Durham. The band is a hip-hop/jazz fusion and emulated what I was looking for. I reached out to them and within the hour they were locked in.

Now that I had my topic, I needed to find a professor willing to work with me and a band willing to let me document them.

At first, I thought I had to work with a professor that I know or had been in class with before. Since I have only had two classes in which we practiced photography, (intro and documentary), I decided to try and work with my documentary photography professor. Long story short, she wasn't able to work with me so I contacted Professor Antonio Bogaert. He already had two students but agreed to meet with me and talk about my project.

I am so grateful to be working with him. Our first meeting was awesome and gave me lots of hope and encouragement surrounding my project. He gave me the freedom I needed to move forward in searching for a band to document.

Starting my independent study, I had no idea what was expected of me. I searched online, I asked around, but no one could give me the definite answer that I wanted. I was confused and frustrated, but figured I may as well jump into it despite what I did and didn’t know. My photography mentor (who I owe MUCH to) and I brainstormed some ideas:

-fashion
-a day in the life
-music
-campus relationships
-etcccc

I needed to work on something I love though.

So I chose music.

When I participated in the Duke in New York program, I worked at Universal Motown Records. While there, I gained an immense amount of knowledge of the music industry and became very interested in how the industry strived to promote creativity. When they found out I was a photographer, they were eager to let me develop my skills so I got to photograph a couple shows and events.

Throughout this beginning phase, my project was molded into something that fits me perfectly.