Bike Polo and No Sleep For the Bear

The summer is without a doubt in full force, and being a recent college graduate and fun-loving phenom means that to me, summer will never end. So far I've been catching up on some missed climbing opportunities, and have been guiding and climbing regularly at Wisconsin's own Devil's Lake state park. I definitely feel like I am getting a stronger connection with the unique rock here, and because of this have become a stronger climber all around. While in Milwaukee I have been doing my best to play bike polo regularly again, and have been feeling (at least for a while) like I've never played better. Its great to get back on the court and really give it a good go, every game is a new challenge and provides me with many exciting near misses, real misses and plenty of spills.

I took a weekend off to attend the North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Tournament held in Madison, WI. Here I was able to meet up with polo players from around the country, and even from as far as Australia and France, as well friends from Milwaukee and Madison. The competition was serious, but the off court conversation was friendly and I got to play in several pick up games that were going on throughout the three days. The temperatures were through the roof in the relentless sun, and it was easy to get exhausted with all the biking, sweating, and free Ale Asylum. On the first day one of Meg's friends gave me a disposable camera... it had 13 photos left on it that were quickly snapped away by many folks.

This tournament was only my second, and first outside of Milwaukee. It was an excellent time and once again I had a great time hanging with anyone with a bicycle and a moment to chat. I met so many great players and entertaining people, and I am excited for the next tournament to come around the bend so I can do it all again. Next time I hope to get a team of friends together to compete, lets see if I can handle all those games in a weekend!

While back in Milwaukee I was contacted by my friends in No Sleep For the Bear for a last minute photo shoot for their press kit and website. They were really open to my ideas, and after a short brainstorming session we compiled a few guidelines for successful images. The list was pretty entertaining, and the main guidelines were... no sexy eyes, no jump kicks, and no cut off t-shirts (unless everyone is wearing a cut off t-shirt). The list continued in this fashion, and the more and more we narrowed down the "lame" ideas, we thought of some seemingly less lame ideas to try.

The photo shoot was made easier by everyone just jumping into my station wagon and just driving around the city. We had our eye out for interesting street murals where I hoped to photograph the band playing a game of Jacks on the sidewalk. As always the ideas evolved with every turn, and one location would lead to another idea, and in the end a totally different photo. Overall we just improvised and tried to make the shoot a fun time, along with getting some not-to-cliche images along the way. So we followed our guidelines, and I kept snapping away...

In the end the above image turned out to be my personal favorite. The mural we found looked to be painted by children who attended the school is was near, and the mural was home to some really interesting imagery of historic people and places. All we had to do was walk up and down the painted wall looking for interesting renderings or people in the background to shoot in front of. We thought the one of The Beatles would be an interesting match, as well as the colors being relatively varied all around.

We ventured onward and into the school playground, and gravitated towards a fence with a decent view of the city in the background. The lighting was pretty good, and waiting to shoot later in the day was certainly a strategic move on my part. The sun filled in the foreground with even light, which was warm and not over dramatic or too bright. I wanted to do a shot of them all sitting on top of the fence with only sky in the background, but because of the drop off on the other side, the band was a little reluctant to take this risk. We did a few of them climbing on the fence, but I liked the more straight forward look in the end. Overall the shoot was a good time, and a fun challenge and learning experience to do on such a short notice. I wouldn't say shooting bands is my calling, but it is certainly a fun way to work, and with every shoot I am getting more articulate and comfortable with art direction and in visioning how the final product will actually turn out.

Rock N Roll and Other Concerns

Six weeks ago I had the pleasure to start working with photographer Francis Ford and a handful of other wonderful MIAD folks who enrolled in his summer coarse "Rock and Roll and Other Concerns." This class would be my last class for MIAD, and after its completion on Thursday I am now officially a college graduate. The class was all about photographing people in different niche groups who all have their intrinsic looks, wardrobe choices, social interests and talents. Throughout the coarse we photographed different bands, martial artists, dancers, improv comedians, and even a donimatrix. Each opportunity presented different editorial challenges, and it was always up to the photographer to take control of the set, and manage not only the lighting and composition, but successfully direct the subjects into an interesting and unique pose or look. An exciting challenge for someone such as myself, who doesn't usually work in the studio, and usually doesn't have much of an opportunity to manipulate what the subject is doing or how they look. Over the six weeks I definitely improved, and at the end I was very comfortable working with groups and thinking of new ideas on the spot.

The last group the was scheduled to be photographed was the band Little Saint Anything. These guys had a cohesive look, each wearing a semi-classy looking grey suit coat and tie. They seemed pretty open to getting creative with their poses, and I made sure to avoid the standard "grin and grip" group poses. I wanted the photos to reflect something about the bands music, and although I hadn't heard it before the shoot, they told me it was some blend of phsicodelic noises and lights with rock and roll, or at least this how I translated their explanation.

I brainstormed for a few moments while I was having them hang upside-down from each others shoulders, and then snapped a few unsuccessful photos. I was inspired by how much the blood had rushed to their heads, and found myself thinking about the phsicodelic imagery of The Flaming Lips. I've seen several photos of the band, as well as heard stories of live performances, and I always remember a very distinctive use of color. I looked around the studio for some props, and found myself a gold-mine of color just ten feet away in the form of long rolls of colored back drop colors. I had them each grab a bright colors roll then come back to the set. We tried a few different ideas and some were genius, while others awkward, but without a doubt they were all colorful.

I also wanted to shoot individual portraits with the same lighting and background. I have found that when shooting a group it is often hard to have every single person be in the light perfectly, or have cohesive or complimentary expressions and poses. I shot the individual portraits to gain a little more control, as well as have a more straight forward and clean looking series of the group. Overall I am very happy with the shoot, and am glad to have done conventional portraits along side the less traditional group shots.

Another interesting day was photographing a practitioner of Japanese marital art Kendo. It was something I had never really encountered before, at least outside of some main stream movies. I was glad to learn more about it through my time with him. The armor worn during Kendo also seemed to present and interesting challenge for me, and although I liked the completed look when wearing it all, I was unsure if I was showing enough of the individual under the armor. So we just started there and gradually removed different aspects of the armor until eventually I had covered most of the angles that I could visualize.

Most of the shots presented themselves naturally, and just had to be tweaked a little. I would rearrange some of the objects, face the mask towards the camera, and redirect his eyes around the scene. In the end it was very simple changes that seemed to make the most dramatic effect, and everything seemed to stand out pretty well against the all white backdrop. Photographing something that is unfamiliar was refreshing and also educational, and its great to know that just by simply taking photographs, you can learn about the world around you, and that people are always willing to share what they know about their unique interests and passions.

The class was an all around blast, and besides the occasional printing hang up or group dropping out, there was no summer class bummer times. Besides having additional photos to add to my website and portfolio, I also have many ridiculous studio photos of my friends and old classmates. They were always the most willing to try out different poses and ideas, and through this I learned the real power of the Run DMC pose... The class would not have been the same positive learning environment without Frank Ford and all my classmates willingness to try nonsensical ideas and put themselves on the line, resulting the most strange and entertaining poses. I guess risk taking can really still happen in the studio...