Hello visitors!
If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been updating this site lately because I’ve started a new blog over at Tumblr (sorry, WordPress!)
To see some of my more recent photography, just follow the link here.
I still love to receive comments so don’t be shy and come say hello at my new home.
Last year’s Record Store Day I was too broke to buy anything, but this year is a whole new story. With my hard-earned cash in my pocket, I set out to capture Record Store Day in Toronto for SoundProof and to acquire some gems for myself.
Here’s the score:
- Tom Wait’s Mule Variations: The anniversary issue that includes a digital copy and a photo of Waits by Jim Jarmusch.
- Charlotte Gainsbourg 7″ LP Sunset Sound Session: her latest album IRM is just fantastic. Well, anything produced by Beck is simply great.
- Fela Kuti’s Fela Kuti: 10″ LP includes four songs recorded in Los Angeles in 1969
- She & Him Volume 2: not part of the list of LPs/EPs participating for RSD but I wanted to pick it up for a while.
I have a new favourite band and it’s Vancouver’s own Bend Sinister. They played a memorable show during CMW at the Horseshoe where they not only played an upbeat show but they also covered a memorable version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” – and pulled it off without being cheesy. Since then, I’ve seen them play at The Rivoli and Bovine Sex Club where they have continuously impressed the crowds and gained new fans. Case in point: I was getting my haircut at the Grateful Dead Collective, when I heard a familiar song play over the stereo’s loudspeaker. I realized that it was “Because Because” by these guys, one of the hairstylists was at the Bovine show, bought their album and raved about them at work. The picture above is an outtake from my photoshoot before their Rivoli gig, check the rest of the pictures on Soundproof Magazine.
I will be posting some images from my 2006 trip to Africa. Some of these are imperfect. I was just learning about photography and how to use a film camera – I had the exposure wrong, all of the settings wrong, I even developed it incorrectly, but I’m attached to these images. They remind me of the beautiful countryside I saw and fell in love with.
Vincent Pollard @ Cafe Stella
Coppelia and a rejected engagement
She’s the last remnant of the legendary red-light district. Christened “Queen of the Main”, this house of strip and tease has lovingly entertained her audience since 1895. This year she will put on her best outfit and bright feathers to dance one last time. Thanks to the city’s art-centric renewal project, plans to demolish this historic building has been in the works for months, much to the chagrin of those who have called it home. The city will continue to have an abundant amount of strip-bars, keeping its openness about sex alive and well, but their neon sign advertising tits and ass will never come close to the sophistication that Cleo has. Despite the numerous attempts to save her, her chances to survive look bleak.
If interested in saving the café, please sign the petition on their website.
Dinosaur Bones | Canadian Musician
My picture of Toronto’s mega-fun indie band Dinosaur Bones made it into Canadian Musician magazine’s December issue! It was taken during the Canadian Music Week last March, at the Trash Palace. They’re a fun band to watch, projecting a lot of energy that their audience seem to give back to them. I’ve had many opportunities to shoot them live and off stage throughout 2009, and I hope to see more of them in 2010.
This screenshot was taken from the magazine’s website but here’s a close-up version of what I took:
Dinosaur Bones | CMW 2009 Trash Palace Showcase
Enjoy!
When it comes to live music photography, I prefer candid shots. You’re given an opportunity to see musicians when they’re at their most intimate, an almost vulnerable state. Their focus is on their practice, their show, their notes or instruments, not on you, the viewer. It’s the small little things that makes this private opportunity a fascinating one to capture.
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Soundstreams organized a concert that included respected Canadian and German classical musicians to perform a show called Berliner Konzert. Some of the pictures below were taken during their practice.
Conductor Ruben Gazarian | Soundstreams
Wurttemberg Chamber Orchestra | Soundstreams
Soundstreams
Soundstreams
Trio | Soundstreams
Aftermath | Soundstreams
Lou Ziani
Lou has been seen a few times on my Flickr stream. I’ve followed him and his Americanos from Caffe 163 to Saving Gigi to now, Rockabilly Rock. Lou and I enjoyed a good hour together, catching up on our news while I enjoyed his coffee and toasted BLT with cheese sandwich, which was delish by the way. His cafe is small and intimate but a feast for the eyes. I’m confident that I’ll be visiting his place again very soon.
