Shooting for Cincymusic.com

Music was how I began my life as a photographer.  I was 19, my boyfriend was in a band and I needed my own creative outlet.  I enrolled myself  in photography school with no clue of  how to turn on a camera.  Once I figured out how to use it, I would bring my camera to their shows and rehearsal space and practice as much as I could.  Back then I was shooting film, and my very inexperienced so most of those images will stay buried in the archives.  Though it's fun to look back and see how much I have grown since then.  OMG I just added it up, I have had a camera in my hand for almost 17 years, wow! :)

  Bands are still one of my favorite things to photograph.  I love the energy that is exchanged at live shows.  Part of me feeds off of it.  I used to take my little sister to Warped Tour every year.  I would sneak my camera into the venue to grab some pictures of the bands and the crowd.  A lot of my friends are also in bands,  I try photograph them as much as I can.

 Recently I got the chance to shoot some shows for Cincymusic.com.  It has been an awesome opportunity.  I dont have to worry about getting my camera snatched from me or getting kicked out, and I have the best seat in the house.  It's also nice to be able to help promote the bands I photograph.

I put together a small collection of images I have shot this winter.  You can go to cincymusic.com to see the full galleries plus lots more.

I linked all of their facebook pages so you can dig a little deeper if you want.  The Tongue and Lips, Valley of the Sun, Honeyspiders, Electric Citizen, mr. Gnome, The Sword, Roky Erikson, Black Angels, Blackberry Smoke, American Sharks, In This Moment, Devour the Day

Music Makers

I love surrounding myself with creative people, I feel like I feed off of them.  Music is probably my biggest source of inspiration, so I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with some very talented musicians over the past couple of months.

This is my friend Jeremy and his band The Tongue and Lips. From a recent review by Zach Braun " With a tight rhythm section that veers from Jazzy explorations to Sabbath-style crushing heaviness, reverbedout  guitars, and a vocalist that sounds like Captain Beefheart on meth, The Tongue and Lips are one of the best new bands I've heard in forever. "  Perfect!

Their debut album is being mastered in Los Angeles and will be available very soon.  You can see them every Monday in April at MOTR Pub in Over the Rhine. Another one of my good friends, Shawn and his band Jody Stapleton and the Generals.  They are putting the finishing touches on their debut album.  You can check out a few of their songs here.  I love this review of them from Cincinnati.com "If you wax nostalgic about the musical style of the 1970s, well, then Jody Stapleton and the Generals is where you should start getting your modern day fix. The four piece has mastered that decade of sound, but has also added some upbeat, modern pop beats into the mix to create a well-rounded, enjoyable experience."

After the promo shoot I got to check out their show at The Drinkery in Over the Rhine.And this is the beautiful Abiyah, a beautiful musician and poet.  A wonderful description "Abiyah has an edge that you rarely find in contemporary women singers—White-bred and pre-packaged, ol’ girl isn’t. As a writer, she’s passionate and onstage she sings, rebel-yells, dub-chants or raps about empowerment like she’s this cunning linguist who studies different languages and stirs them up in her own little dutchie. Abiyah skirts convention, and there are obviously some influences from a wicked orgy of pop-culture pacesetters"  Yes!!!!  Big thanks to Christine Rice for the amazing make up on this shoot!