Shooting a band is oh-so-slightly different than shooting a wedding, and it gives us a chance to play in ways we normally don’t. We love the playful aspect of shooting musicians, but the other side is that there are a lot of clichés to avoid (think railroad tracks and brick walls).  For this shot, we decided to draw inspiration from the same source that the band did.  The title of Divided by Friday’s new EP, The Constant, is a reference to Lost–specifically the fact that Penny (the one whose boat it isn’t) is Desmond’s constant–the thing that keeps him anchored in time/reality/whatever was going on. If you haven’t seen Lost, go ahead and watch all seven seasons. The rest of us will wait.

Okay, I guess you’re back. Wasn’t that great? Well, yeah, maybe not the last episode, but otherwise, awesome!

Anyway, Wendy and I were discussing the idea of a constant–something that draws you back to a central point, like home. We decided that food is something that draws people together (think holidays like Thanksgiving), and it could be cool to see the guys drifting away, yet pulled back together by the fellowship of a shared meal. Admittedly, I also liked the idea of putting a rock band in my mom’s kitchen (thanks, Mom!). This is what we got:

If you have some free time, feel free to use this like a Highlights magazine and circle all the floating food in the image.

If you prefer your band pictures with more gravity and fewer calories, here’s another from the shoot:

Now, the event that actually inspired this post is the release of Divided by Friday’s latest video, their version of “O Holy Night”. Are you looking forward to Christmas? Do you like to rock? Yes? Then check it out!

After that, go check out the rest of their music on Myspace.

Here’s Lunch Money.  They will rock your socks off!

Now for a few of Lunch Money’s biggest fans… the spicy kids!

Lucy is both spicy and sweet.  Last Valentine’s Day, one of my favorite gifts was a Valentine’s pencil she gave to me through J.P.  How thoughtful little ones can be!  Thanks again, Lucy!

Phoenix is quite the observer.  I was so intrigued by her attentiveness and many expressions.

You may remember pictures of a much tinier Isaiah.  He’s growing fast and learning how to use his eyebrows very effectively.

Alexandra is getting pretty good at eyebrow language, too.

Did ya bring any food, Mom?

Balloons should be available at every concert.

I met some really great people at this last show, and Cecelia’s parents were among them.  Cecelia loves to dance and pretty much added a free recital to the rest of the day’s events.  Just look at the spirit in this little lady!

So there you have it – great music and cute kids.  These kids and their parents had something really special to be a part of last Saturday afternoon.  Folks like Lunch Money, who contribute their time and talents to community events, are such a blessing!  They are one of the reasons I am thankful to live in Columbia.

The band rocked out both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, and an audience bundled in coats, mittens and hats couldn’t help but move with the beat.

During the Lunch Money show, Lucy kept shooting me these adorable smiles and then trying to hide behind Henry’s head.  Finally, I pulled out the camera and caught her!

Henry, Lucy and I got to spend some quality time together while the band was setting up and breaking down.  We had faces painted and heads adorned in balloon hats.  We also visited the dress-up tent to try on masks, swords, feather boas and sparkly fairy wings.  Henry was thoroughly enthralled with the instrument petting zoo, and Lucy was delighted to skip through the kid market.  Bubbles and bonbons seemed to be floating everywhere.  There was plenty around to keep a kid happy all day.

LEAF was a wonderful time to experience art, nature, good food and great music.  It was, however, freezing cold. Fortunately, our next post (three posts in a week!) contains the perfect solution to chilliness. If you’ve ever wanted to stay warm without raising your heating bill or longed to join a cult, the next post is for you!

We (maybe I should say Jay) drove into Chicago at around 12:30am on Friday morning.

Chicago’s finest came out to greet the crowd.

Although Lollapalooza is pretty much packed with music fans of every age, Kidzapalooza aims at a decidedly younger (and more adorable) demographic.

Yeah, I know. I’m pushing into Cute Overload territory.

That’s Henry rocking out as he plays his part in “HEY! YOU’RE A ROCK STAR!”, a short interactive play put on by The Cool Table, a Chicago improv comedy troupe. Henry was the guitarist in “Sponge Blue Square Blue”, the greatest rock band the world has ever known.

The little guy above didn’t have a role in “HEY! YOU’RE A ROCK STAR!”, but he played his part by watching from the sidelines and having excellent hair.

Meanwhile, the child below practiced for a life of indie rock shows by looking vaguely put-upon by the whole affair.

In addition to the adorableness, though, there was also awesome kids music to be heard.

There was Frances England, who I got to meet for the first time (she’s awesome!):

…and Secret Agent 23 Skidoo always gets the crowd on its feet…

At the end of the day, Lunch Money played, and it was every bit as warm and toasty as it looks.

But fortunately Lucy figured out the key to a good first day at Lollapalooza–a good umbrella.

By the time we finished playing at the end of day 1, we were all pretty worn out, so that’s about it for pictures from that day. Come back soon, though, for pictures from the second and third days of Lollapalooza, including more kiddie cuteness and even a band or two.

That leaves Danielle Howle.

Capturing life as it is experienced by a diverse array of characters, she explores topics as wide-ranging as the loss of a mother, being the wife of a philandering husband, and being a teenager who doesn’t fit in with the girls who have “big puffy girl handwriting”.

But I’m not writing an album review.

Danielle, on top of her amazing talent, is also just a great person. Wendy and I asked her to perform at our wedding and she graciously agreed. I suspect that many of our guests didn’t fully appreciate just what a treat they were getting, but we did get quite a few comments that, “That girl who sang at your wedding–she was really good.”
Apparently Bob Dylan, The Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco thought so, too, since she’s opened for all of them.

Danielle is currently an artist in residence at Awendaw Green, a new music venue in Awendaw, South Carolina. (If you knew that there was a place called ‘Awendaw’ in South Carolina, please give yourself a pat on the back; it was news to me.) Wendy and I drove down to Awendaw last Friday to get some pictures with Danielle, and the following are a few we particularly like. We hope you’ll like them, too.

We hung out at the home of a friend of Danielle’s who lives on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Danielle kept pointing schools of fish out to us and suggested that they might even attract dolphins. I think I have a somewhat idealized view of dolphins as a result of their portrayal in movies and on television because my first thought was that they’d like to play with the fish…

…then I realized fish don’t like to play the games dolphins play with fish.

Danielle decided to play with the fish as well, and her game was no more fish-friendly than what the dolphins had in mind.

(No fish were harmed in the making of this blog. Seriously, she didn’t catch anything.)

For this next photo, I feel it’s important to note that neither Wendy nor I suggested that Danielle climb this tree. It was totally her idea.  If you decide you’d like us to photograph you, it’s far more likely we’ll instruct you to recline languidly on a couch.

What can I say? Danielle likes trees.

Well, now you’ve seen her, it’s time to go listen to her music. Her website is currently under construction, but you can hear some songs on her MySpace page and then go become her fan on Facebook. You’ll be glad you did.

They’re called Divided by Friday and they’re based in North Carolina, but this summer they’ll be playing in Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana as well as at the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois.  Shooting them was pretty cool because my first real ‘photo shoot’ was for Luke Marr’s Unemployed Potential, the band of one of my former students. It was exciting to once again come up against the problem of how to shoot ‘a bunch of dudes’ and not fall into one of a half-dozen cliches employed over and over in band press photos but this time to have a lot more tools in my mental arsenal.

In any case, we squeezed the shoot in between school and another event that I had that evening so the band’s big photoshoot was with a guy wearing khakis and a tie. I’m sure that’s the way they pictured it–very rawk. In any case, they’re good guys and they play good music so check them out if they come to your town.

I absolutely love the lens flare in this image.

One of the questions I hear pretty frequently when taking group shots of guys is, “Are we smiling?”

Yup.

You’ve done it! You’ve made it half way through TEN (business) DAYS OF BLOGGING or, if you haven’t read the other four posts, just scroll down or click on the banner up top…and then scroll down…or click on the tag below that says “TEN (business) DAYS OF BLOGGING”. I’m all about options. Come back next week; there are two more weddings, two more moms-to-be, and a girl swimming in a pink ball gown.

I promise I am not making this up.