Best of 2010: February
The story of February in DC was snow, snow and more snow. I had at least five potential assignments canceled because of the multiple feet of snow that got dumped on DC over the course of two major storms in one week. The first snowstorm was pleasant - tons of fluffy snow but not windy or bitterly cold. I stayed up until 3 in the morning the night of that first snow, shooting nighttime scenes in the city, and then got up the next morning to do an all-day outdoor shoot with Margot MacDonald. While there were some unique challenges with shooting in this weather, lighting was not one of them: the entire outdoor world was aglow in beautiful, soft white sunlight, and taking advantage of it was the formula for success. I did get a bit more creative as the sun went down, but my favorite shots were simple, natural light ones, like the one above. Also: Margot was apparently immune to cold while a camera was pointed at her. Impressive to say the least.
A few days after that first snowstorm, the big one hit. This one was accompanied by massive wind gusts and frigid temperatures, and unlike the first storm the conditions outside were exceedingly uncomfortable. (Even Margot probably would have looked cold if we’d tried doing our photoshoot in the middle of this storm.) Despite the National Weather Service’s warnings about “life-threatening blizzard conditions,” I ventured out to take a few photos in the whiteout. I spent an hour or two outside walking around, and got no photos as entertaining as the above.
Aside from the snow shoots, February was still a successful concert photography month. One of my favorite shows was a set by Holly Miranda, opening for Tegan and Sara; her atmospheric music, combined with the gorgeous light at the Warner Theater, really captured my imagination. The photo above is of her guitarist bathed in that fantastic lighting treatment. Some more February highlights are below: a fantastic performance from Hotspur, who later hired me to do some promo shots for them, at the 9:30 Club; a terrible show by the Black Eyed Peas at the Verizon Center that was nevertheless a visual feast; and yet another great show by St. Vincent (her fifth show in the DC area in less than two years) at the 9:30 Club.
More to come…
Tags: Best of 2010
June 7th, 2011 at 1:04 am
[…] clubs, I got another chance to see and shoot Holly Miranda, whose opening set I had enjoyed so much back in February. This time around, she was playing at the much smaller Black Cat backstage, where the lighting is […]