A dream come true, I finally got to shoot Roller Derby! It’s a little more dangerous than shooting the fights, and it’s hard to figure out what’s going on sometimes, but it’s all fun. This was the Bay City Bombers vs the Orlando Thunder at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.
For some reason, I find the accordian to be the most interesting instrument photographically, and often musically. I’ve got piles of accordian shots taken over the years. This is Dave Haaz-Baroque’s accordian, this shot is from the last weekend of the Shadow Circus Vaudeville Theatre ever. Hopefully Dave will continue to play and do his puppets.
One of my favorite musical performance subjects for the last five years, Ruby Ruin puts absolutely everything into her performances. In addition a great singing voice and a great look, Ruby is a photographer’s dream because of her dynamic performances. The Saints of Ruin play a lot in Northern California and tour nationally.
Sorry for the bad joke, this was backstage at the Paradise Lounge in San Francisco, at the Battle of the Bands event for the Haight Street Faire.
The photograph is all about deceit, at least that’s what my photographs are about. It’s about what you think it’s about, not what it might have been at another moment. Sort of the ephemeral view of things.
I love makeup shots. I’m not sure why, but I do. Here’s one from a fashion show a few years back…
So the last time Bone played, everything was color. Given the dive bar atmosphere of The Rite Spot – not just dive bar, sort of like a speakeasy – this time is black and white. If you’ve never seen Bone play, you should. He’s a guitarist’s guitarist, his songs have a raw feel to them, like you’re part of whatever he’s experiencing.
This is something of a landscape, which is truly unusual for me. I generally avoid anything that smacks of landscape. It’s at a location in San Francisco I go to regularly but only occasionally shoot. Sutro Baths is right at the edge of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay and it once had a huge structure that housed a number of swimming pools and water slides. It burned down in the 60s and what’s left looks like this.
Apparently this happens every year but I missed it until this year – a lot of people bring pillows to Justin Herman Plaza and hit each other with them. It was at 6PM on Valentine’s Day and the weather was terrific. Shooting is kind of tricky, you can’t really get much if you’re in the middle of the fight and you have to work with the quickly disappearing light and a flash. There’s a full presentation here.
