Music is the Drug.

That was printed on a sticker that I got with a Cowboy Junkies CD. It really stuck with me because it speaks to the power of music.

With that in mind, I've decided to do a series of posts about music. So this is part one. If you're reading this and seeing so much text with no pictures, by all means feel free to skip the chatter for now and scroll up or down to another post to find some cool pictures to look at ;) This isn't going anywhere, so I'll see you when you come back. (OK, I will not really see you, but you get the idea.)

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You may have noticed in the posts immediately preceding this one that music played a crucial role in the wedding itself, and subsequently in the slideshows I made......

So let me go down that road for a minute.

Slideshows. Does anyone remember what a slideshow actually was? Maybe you, your parents, or grandparents have some slides around the house? It occurred to me that a “slide” may make as much sense to the yougans' out there as, say, a “record” or “rotary dial” ......something analog and archaic by “modern” standards.

Back in olden' days of film when I first started shooting, there was also this cool stuff called chrome (as we photogs called it). While the use of most film results in a negative image, slides are a positive process, not a negative one. In non-geek speak, after you develop film in toxic magic potions an' stuff, you literally get a negative image, but with slides, you get a positive image.

So anyway, the point here is that back in the day we shot slides, we would shoot, process, edit, and then put our mounted slides in a slide projector. And if we were lucky, we could find/beg/rent/borrow a dissolve unit. Those were really slick ;) With a dissolve unit, you could run 2 projectors simultaneously and the images would dissolve and blend, thus making a seamless transition that could be synced with a soundtrack of your choice. Contrast that with a clunky one projector set up where there is a pause between each slide as the projector swallows and spits out one image at a time. So with a dissolve unit, you get visual *and* auditory deliciousness!

That brings us back to music.

I still remember the images from some slideshows that I saw 15+ years ago. The reason I remember those slideshows more than other images is because of the combined power of pictures + music + words. Images by themselves can be powerful, and frankly they should stand on their own, but the power an image has can be greatly magnified when accompanied by cool music. Sound like a movie? Well, in a way it is. That would be where the show in slideshow comes in ;) I'm not a scholar, but I think one could say with some degree of accuracy that it was early multimedia. In any case, when well done, it was great storytelling, which is what photojournalism is about.

It's with that in mind that I raise the issue of (cue dramatic pause with tense music): Music copyrights!
I can hear you now. “Huh? Uhm, I was thinking something more... I don't know, exciting perhaps? Something remotely interesting?” Yeah, I'm guessing you were not looking for a buzz kill or boring crud about the minutia of legal issues, copyright royalties, music in the digital age, etc., etc.

I raise the issue because it's like a huge elephant in the room that affects a lot of creative artists—musicians, song writers and photogs alike—and to a lesser degree couples. Some photogs, wedding shooters especially, talk about the issue behind closed computers, but I have not seen it addressed that much openly.

In the slideshows I have on my blog, technically I do not have the right to use an artists music in my slideshows without their permission. You may even recall that during the heat of the recent election, some bands objected to candidates using copyrighted material without permission. Of course, national politics are a much bigger spotlight than my sliver of cyberspace, but the issue is similar.

So why is this important and why should you care? Well, it's not so much that you should care, but *I* do, so I want to provide my rationale for using music as well as some context.

As a wedding photographer, trying to secure rights to popular music is a sad and pathetic joke. Seriously. The hoops that you have to jump through are lengthy, time consuming, ridiculously confusing, and enormously expensive. It really is an onerous affair, and is most often fruitless, and if not it's because you either got lucky or you are very wealthy.

The alternative is to use royalty free music. There are companies that are set up for the sole purpose of this.

OK, so why not use that stuff? Fair question. My response: most of it sucks :( Sad but true [wow-there is a hidden Metallica pun in that!] I just cannot stomach using muzak for any of my work. Blech!!! Yuck!!!

OK, true not all of it sucks, but IMO, most of it does.

There is another reason I dislike it: often no one knows who the hell any of the artists are or any of the songs either because we have never heard it before. As such, that *usually* means that there is no common reference point for anyone. And even if it is uhm, non-sucky enough,  I know that another photographer has the same music from the same company, so they will be using the same music. Yes, I have seen that happen with other photogs work, and I swear I cringed.

Ouch.

That is definitely not the kind of familiar reference that I'm going for! The last thing in the world I want is for my work to seem generic or cookie-cutter like. More to the point, can you imagine being my client and going to look at your slideshow that I created using your stunning wedding pictures and hearing the exact same music as a friend of yours that just got married?!? You wouldn't want that to happen, would you? That would not be cool. That would be sad :(

What if I simply want to use a couple's favorite tune?? Why should that be an in incomprehenisble mess of legal BS?

Another issue is that since I love music, I have a mental jukebox. I'll often think of music or song lyrics spontaneously, both in and out of context. Do you ever have moments where it's hard to find the words to express your thought or feelings, but a song puts it perfectly? That's sorta what I mean, except it comes to me frequently and unexpectedly. Kinda weird, but that just seems to be how I'm wired. That being the case, I want to use my music knowledge to fit what I'm shooting. That's hugely important! I want words + music to = more than the the sum of it's parts. Ya' know, like 1+1+3. That's what I'm going for anyway ;)

And yet, I still feel a little ambivalent. Why? As a creative professional, I value protecting my own copyright, so it does feel a little odd “stealing” music. Hypocritical? Well, I don't think so, but I could understand someone feeling that way.
The way I look at it, I like to think that I'm helping an artist in a very small by promoting their work.
I guess I draw the line at selling DVD's of my slideshows. I don't.

I use music for showcasing my work and to help tell the story, much like I would if I was doing a “traditional” slideshow. In fact, I guess that's one the very few traditional things I do at all ;)  

Michael

After having been through all of Tiff and Phil's incredible wedding pictures, I put together a really neat slideshow! :)

But I was left with a problem: there was so much good stuff that I couldn't do it justice by trying to squeeze it all into one slideshow. I do try and edit my work down, really :)  However, I then recalled that I kind of envisioned their wedding divided into two segments before I ever even looked at any of my work. So uhm, yeah, I came full circle. I guess it was my plan all along (right?).

So, ladies and gentlemen, there are TWO--yes, TWO--slideshows! Ahhhh yeahhhhhhhhh...........

The first slideshow encompases the whole wedding up until the garter toss, which often signals the end point, or close to it. Note that this one *does* include Jeremy Buck's set as that was more part of the "regular" portion of the planned wedding entertainment. (Speaking of Jeremy and the garter toss: yes, that really is Tiff's garter lodged in his Mohawk in the last shot, and yes it really happened like that.)

So being as that this was clearly *not* a "usual" wedding (you did pick up on that, didn't you?), the festivities continued as previously described (in the prior post). So the second slideshow is mostly "Tiff and Phil's 'Concert Footage'" if you will. It's much shorter at just about a minute and a half. I needed a short kick-@$$ tune that was pure rock, so be warned that you *may* want to be prepared to turn your speakers and/or the player volume down...... or crank it UP, depending on your musical sensibilities and where you're watching :) It moves fast, so don't blink. Seriously. I chose a tune from Soundgarden, which was fronted by the amazing vocalist Chris Cornell, also singing for Audioslave on I am the Highway, the track in the first slideshow. Highway was Tiff and Phil's first dance song <3 :)

Ususally I set up a slideshow to start automatically, however since there are two, I made it so that you'll need to hover your mouse over the picture and click on it to start.

Enjoy the shows! Comments are always welcome :)

Michael

Tiff and Phil had a *REAL* rock n' roll wedding in Las Vegas at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas.

So what do I mean real? I'm talkin' tickets, laminated backstage passes, "security" people, a green room, theatrical and stage lighting, bic lighters, long hair (yes, I'm jealous of all that great hair on the men and the ladies), real ink + temporary tattoos for everyone, a hot pink and leopard print color scheme, and music.

A LOT of music.

The guys wore crisp new tees of their favorite bands (complete with coordinating Vans shoes) so that they were ready to party immediately after the ceremony--all they had to do was take off their jackets :) Going by that, the processional, and the ipod selections, artists included Guns n' Roses, AC/DC, Audioslave, Iron Maiden, Van Halen and Anthrax, among many others.

Jeremy Buck and The Bang hammered out a tight set, and then after dinner everybody jammed, with Phil doing most of the vocals, and Jeremy with his bandmates and so many other people taking turns on so many different songs and instruments I lost track.

I'm still working on editing and a slideshow, but I wanted to share some of my favorites so far :)

Update: Phil sent me this kind note:

“Aloha Michael,

We got back from Maui yesterday and I must say the first thing we did was pull up your blog to view the teaser pics.  WOW!  …. A million wonderful thank you’s again for stepping up to the plate at the last minute.  You knocked it out of the park alright.  We are so very appreciate of everything you did for us and of course being so understanding…

Much Love,

Phil & Tiff”

COOL!! :)

ALSO: Their slide shows (TWO!) have been posted in a new thread.

I was reminded on several occasions recently about the most important tool any artist or craftsman has is the gray goo behind the eyes and between the ears.

For example, there is a new Nikon ad campaign featuring Ashton Kutcher doing his schtick, and now suddenly with a good camera, he can easily make great pictures even though he is a clueless idiot. Well, there is a bit truth to this; the gap between amateur and professional photog is a lot narrower. Why? Technology. Better cameras *do* help you make better pictures, and do so more easily.

And we see technology change at mind boggling speed.

Canon's highly anticipated 5D MK II is a good example. Google it if ya' want. You'll see tons of stuff come up. This is not just the new flavor-of-the-month camera. It's amazing--a huge leap in technology.

The best thing I've seen from this camera by far is an absolutely brilliant short film by Vincent Laforet (his great blog is here!!) called "Reverie" now hosted by smugmug because the film required so much bandwidth and the demand was so beyond expectations. It went viral and has people all over the world (myself included) drooling. It is absolutely stunning eye candy. The whole film was shot using a pre-production model with no instructions. And yes, to be abslutely clear about the film: ALL of it was shot in High Definition video using a new still camera.

My point here is that while any craftsman or artist requires good tools, the tool does nat make anything, the person using it does. If we all run out and buy a new 5D MK II, does that make us Vincent Laforet? Nope. I wish it was that easy :) It's the hard work, the skill, and the imagination, e.g., the gray matter :)

WOW.

I just got back from an amazing wedding with John again.

I know that most photographers usually say that their most recent wedding was great--which is often true....... But sometimes a wedding is so great and I have so much fun it's almost beyond words.

Gabrielle and Jeff's celebration was just such a wedding :)

So much love, warmth, humor, and joy. And FUN. The whole shindig was at Gabrielle's mom's house in La Jolla (near San Diego).

Jeff is from Australia, and many of his relatives came over for the nuptials.

And I have some really cool stories! Read on!

So being a casual outdoor So Cal wedding near the beach on a gorgeous day, palm trees swaying nearby with the cool ocean breeze, many people were out and about riding their bikes, taking their babies for walks, and skateboarding. I asked Jeff's best man if they surf and skate. He answered "Of course!" as if it was a no-brainer. Hmmmmm. Wheels turning in my head..... I spotted 2 kids on their boards, I started talking to them, trying to explain why I wanted a posse of skateboarders to ride back to the house because I was shooting a wedding and wanted John to be able to use them as a background for a cool portrait with the couple. John had set up some lights from the curb facing the house there anyway, as you'll see in some of the shots in the slideshow. It seemed only natural.

"Dude, gather some of your friends and come back when you can in the next hour or so and I'll pay you and your crew some $$!" They understood the money angle :) They came back with some friends, but unfortunately due to time constraints--the wedding timeline and the kids needing to leave for dinner or something--we were unable to do a creative gonzo portrait. Hey, I tried! However, I did play around with what I had to work with as I always do, and sure enough some folks in the bridal party were avid skaters and I got some nice picks of one of the wedding guests skating, in his suit :) Yes, I freely admit I was involved in creating the possibility of coolness, but neither John nor I had any clue how if at all it would play out, and we were both cool with that. So none of the images shown are set up; what unfolded was real, unrehearsed, and genuine.

John and I have a have a great working relationship: we read ocher other well, communicate very easily and efficiently, sometimes simply by hand signals or 10 words or less. It's great when you find people you like to work with. I knew he'd dig the skateboard thing if he could work it in amid the chaos of the group shots. Anyway, back to the next adventures an' stuff ....

I was advised how much I rocked for recruiting the skateboarders. And yes, I really did pay them, I have a witness. Best $20.00 I've ever spent at a gig :)

Also, a very cool inquiry from a nice lady about, "Uhm, I hope you don't mind my asking, but, uhh, why were you lyng down on the sidewalk next to the gutter?!?!" I explained (pontificated, really) that different angles are about seeing things differently-- literally, metaphorically, photographically, etc. I saw a light bulb go off as she totally got it. Coolness.

People totally loved the fact that I was dancing with them as I perched on benches and worked on the dance floor with them. As always, no photoshop in any of the dance pics--it was all shot that way, in camera ;)

Towards the end of the evening, I got down on my belly on the ground again and crawled under a table that Jeff's family was seated at to get a shot of their Scottish guest's kilt. I am generally hands off, and am a total chameleon-- but I do interact with people! So, why crawl under the table, to shoot up a Man's dress kilt??? Jeff's Dad dared me to. Really.  His wife was totally mortified, but just for a few moments.  Everyone at the table started laughing hysterically once they realized what was happening! Not a jaw-dropping shot, but we were all laughing a great deal! And the "kilt guy" then got up and came around to harass me (in a totally good natured, fun way), and then helped me up off the ground. I told him it was the first time I got my butt kicked by a man in a dress :) I know they will remember the fun they had -- including the above -- after traveling from half way around the world.

Some of the warmth was because it was a smaller, more intimate wedding with about 100-125 guests. I found out later that it was even warmer was because it was I was almost like family by proxy; John's wife has known the bride, Gabrielle, since around high school, so all night he was being introduced as his wife Jen's husband :) Everyone was so friendly!

U2 is Jeff's favorite band, so I used one of the bands mid-career songs for a slideshow. I'm pretty familiar with U2's entire catalog, and the song Spanish Eyes really spoke to me when I was listening to a mix CD of my own creation featuring that song on the drive back up from La Jolla and I was like--that's it!! That would pe perfect for a short slideshow!

As always, a big thanks to John for being so gracious in allowing me to use the images here! If you haven't done so already, please check out his work! You'll dig it :)

Enjoy the show, and here are some singles, plus the kilt shot :)

Jeff being "wowed" as Gabrielle comes down the stairs. Everybody was :)