New photography challenge

[Dana Grant]

Jonathan came up with a great idea in another thread, so I'm bringing it here to have its own space!!!

Here we go........

Photograph someone with a Musical theme. They could be playing, listening, conducting, or participating in some other way...



OK, I'm going to get thinking on this one.......(Lindsey is not here for me to photograph!!! Drat!!! She's working on a Rachmaninoff piece right now and it would have been so easy to photograph her practicing!! ha ha -- guess I'll have to be more creative!!!)

[Susan Unger]

I'll keep my eye out for when my mom practices. Or maybe I'll do a self-protrait.

[Dave McClung]

Jacob, my 2 year old grandson gets his music from YouTube. I am not sure exctly what it is, but one guy does several different parts with his mouth -- I guess you can call that music.

[Dana Grant]

OK, here's my first submission to the challenge -- I call it "Music of the Heart" -- There's no one in it, so I guess it's not strictly following the challenge, but believe me, it was a challenge!!! ha ha ha

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[Susan Unger]

OK, here's my first submission to the challenge -- I call it "Music of the Heart" -- There's no one in it, so I guess it's not strictly following the challenge, but believe me, it was a challenge!!! ha ha ha

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That's so LOVELY!!!!!!!

[Gina Stevenson]

cool, Dana !!

[Dana Grant]

(by the way -- the music is Scott Joplin's "the Entertainer" -- in case you're trying to figure it out!!! LOL)

[Dana Grant]

Where are all of the entries into this challenge, people???? LOL

I thought this one would be EASY!!!

[Susan Unger]

Stressful winter but I haven't forgotten about this challenge.

[Jonathan Long]

Dana,

Sorry for taking soooo long... I've been extremely busy with work.

A few weeks ago I photographed a "tea" for the school's orchestra booster group. It wasn't just any tea.... They contracted with a professional electric strings player - Mark Wood. He worked with a group of Middle school and then a group of High school kids that got to perform with him during a concert that was used as a fund raiser.
The theme of the fundraiser was "A Rockin Tea". They played classic rock music....

Here's a picture of Mark as he performs his solo portion of the concert.
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[Dana Grant]

Love it, Jonathan -- the lighting is excellent!

[Jonathan Long]

Dana,

The lighting on this stage was terrible! This is our brand new school auditorium, the sound there is wonderful.... the lighting leaves much to be desired. I don't think that anything has been done with the lights since they were hung. One side of the stage was really bright (over 2 stops brighter), the apron of the stage had lights that were aimed too far back, so any child near the apron basically was unlit. It was a nightmare to shoot. I had my ISO set to 1600 and was shooting with a 300mm f2.8 lens wide open, I ended up using a monopod because my shutter speed was about 1/200th (too slow to handhold the camera).

This was one of the few shots where I liked how dramatic the lighting looked on the performer. He had just moved so there was some strong backlighting, and then when he tipped his head back I shot a burst of shots...

Jon

[Dana Grant]

Wow, that's a lot to go through to get a shot!!! ha ha ha It looks impressive, though!

[Susan Unger]

Yes, it looks like it was perfectly planned.

[Dana Grant]

This is the guy, by the way....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnULlACN1mw&feature=related

[Susan Unger]

Thanks, Dana. Pretty cool. The ballerina within me [studied for 10 years] wanted to get up and dance during the first song. Not so much during the rock concert part... but still interesting overall.

[Dana Grant]

Well, I had never heard of this artist, so I decided to "youtube" him -- ha ha

I might be listening to more of his music -- I really enjoyed what I have heard so far!!

[Jonathan Long]

Let me tell you about the concert...

He had 120 kids on stage with him in2 different groups (middle school and high school). They played classic rock music using a few electric instruments being backed up by the other kids using their conventional stringed instruments.

Mark uses a one of a kind instrument himself... it has 7 strings and can cover the range from violin to bass.

It was amazing to see the kids "Jamming" away to rock tunes! It may very well have been the most musically inspiring performance I've withnessed. Using a very uncoventional method to inspire a new generation of musicians!

I heard him asking the kids what their favorite song was... and then he'd play a short segment of every tune they came up with. I was impressed with his ability to know how to play that many different tunes!

Jon

[Susan Unger]

Let me tell you about the concert...

He had 120 kids on stage with him in2 different groups (middle school and high school). They played classic rock music using a few electric instruments being backed up by the other kids using their conventional stringed instruments.

Mark uses a one of a kind instrument himself... it has 7 strings and can cover the range from violin to bass.

It was amazing to see the kids "Jamming" away to rock tunes! It may very well have been the most musically inspiring performance I've withnessed. Using a very uncoventional method to inspire a new generation of musicians!

I heard him asking the kids what their favorite song was... and then he'd play a short segment of every tune they came up with. I was impressed with his ability to know how to play that many different tunes!

Jon

Not surprised he could do that - he was pretty impressive on that clip.

[Dana Grant]

Excellent, Jonathan.....

Don't know if you are familiar with Lorie Line (pianist), but she also has a segment in her concerts where she turns up the house lights and takes requests from the audience. She has a clipboard and pencil and writes down 15 or 16 tunes that members of the audience shout out to her -- everything from Bach to Who let the Dogs Out!!! ha ha ha And she will sit and instantly come up with a medley that includes all of those songs -- it is quite impressive. Oh to be so gifted........not to mention she spends 8 hours a day practicing piano on her off season when she is not touring.....

I love talented musicians!!! Thanks for introducing me to a new one!!!

Dana