Epic Fail energizes the Emerson

I've been remiss. And busy. And most of it has to do with photography, but when more important things -- family and friends, specifically, but also work (as in paid employment) -- enter the mix, the photography has to play second fiddle to all of the above. Which is OK; it's never a bad thing to get a perspective/priority check.

I'm going to try and play catch up with this post, and hope that later in the week, I can creep back into the pattern of staying current. Shoots I've done in recent weeks include off-camera flash lighting classes; a cycling competition in Downtown Indianapolis; a photo documentation of the Old Northside neighborhood of Indianapolis; an Indiana Tornados semipro football game that was delayed for three hours -- and that I ended up leaving an hour before start time (but I did shoot some pregame stuff); and, in the most current of all these, an appearance by the Indy rock band Epic Fail at the Emerson Theater on the Eastside of Indy.

To begin my crawl back to keeping up, I'll begin with the most current shoot -- Friday's Epic Fail show. Actually, the band was one of several on a bill of an ongoing series the Emerson hosts to give local bands a chance to get stage time and visibility. Among others performing were Push, Jump Eli Black and Everyday Losers. Epic Fail took the stage last not just because band members and fans sold the most tickets to the event, but also because, as it turned out, the band put on a wonderful show and was deserving of the "save the best for last" position.

I'd photographed the band almost two years ago to the day -- Aug. 1, 2009 -- in Garfield Park, Indianapolis, when it gave a free show for a community Back to School Day event. The lineup of vocalist Nick Smith (far right in photo above); guitarists Andrew Day (far left in photo above) and Aaron Hernandez; bassist Mike Hererra; and drummer Wolfgang Amadeus McMurray welcomed guest vocalist Julie Young -- an Indianapolis freelance writer -- to sing lead on three tunes that day. Bassist Hererra has since joined the Marines, replaced by Gabe Elam (middle in photo above).

The 2009 show was good; Friday's show, I felt, was very good -- italics for emphasis -- indicating how much the band has improved, grown and benefited from the experience of practicing, performing and composing together. It also had the biggest fan base Friday, making the atmosphere for its show the most electric all evening. "Epic Fail" might have been a clever name idea for a band in its fledgling stages, but there may be a time not too far down the road that it will be a misnomer -- assuming the guys stick with this for a while.

The big difference for me between Friday's show and the one in 2009 was lighting, although both shows presented photographic challenges. Photographing the Garfield Park gig was hampered by sunlight blasting through a white tent backgrounding the stage, forcing some experimentation with proper exposure -- and blowing out that background. Friday, the battle was low light. My plans to use my fastest zooms -- a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS were quickly doomed when I pushed the ISO to 6400 and still was not getting the exposure I wanted. I turned to a lens I hadn't used in some time, the Canon 50mm f/1.8, and the "nifty-fifty" delivered like a pro. I found myself moving around a lot more, as I fully expected I would, and the fans were kind enough to give me space in the front when I went after my closeups. I also resorted to a lot of low-to-the-ground vantage points, angles that positioned me below the stage, and therefore, allowing me to dodge backlight from the colored spotlights (unless I wanted it) and most lens flare. The only disappointment was that 50mm wasn't enough reach to get me very close to McMurray, the drummer.

I used shutter priority with first 6400 ISO then 5000 ISO; I started at 1/60 but quickly boosted that to 1/100 when I wasn't getting many freeze shots. The aperture was almost always wide open -- f/1.8. I would say that 99% of the shots I took were at that aperture. Nifty-fifty, you are still a sweet option.

To view a complete gallery of images from my shoot of Epic Fail at the Emerson, follow this link.

Above: Taking advantage of backlight to frame Andrew Day, caught in a calm moment checking his guitar moments before the show. 

Above and next two below: Lead vocalist Nick Smith bounced around the stage and used lots of arm movement to create a more riveting stage presence than I recall from the 2009 show in Garfield Park. 

Above: Wolfgang Amadeus McMurray, gets gritty during a rhythmic segment. Above him, fans bring out their cellphones and light up the darkness during a number. Above that, bassist Gabe Elam, who replaced Mike Hererra when the latter joined the Marines, hasn't shortchanged the band on energy.

Above and next four below: One can't say Aaron Hernandez's guitar-playing lacks spirit or emotion. He adds teeth-strumming and instrument gyration stunts to the show late in the set for good measure.

Hernandez isn't in sole possession of Epic Fail's emotive flair. Above, Smith uses fist power to accentuate a lyric, while Day (below) allows himself to visit another dimension while unleashing a series of guitar licks.

Above and next two below: Finding an angle to capture McMurray was one of the bigger challenges Friday. The shot above was a rare, front-and-center square shot opportunity. The next two below -- showing that McMurray, too, has theater in his blood -- were from stage left. By these points in the show, McMurray had long dispensed with the shirt in a venue cooled by ceiling and stages fans.

HDR demo at sunset

After my futile stab at trying to capture the bright orange setting sun Wednesday, I resolved to try again at my next opportunity.  That came Friday evening, and this time I decided to see what high-dynamic range (HDR) would get me in a sunset. I decided to use the Manual High School campus in Indianapolis as my backdrop. I also took a couple more shots of the railroad, which I cross to reach Manual from the park.

I realize some people still don't fully appreciate the buzz -- or even "the why" -- about HDR, so I'm including both single-frame (normal-exposure) and HDR versions of the same shots in this post, including a few with variation of treatments of the single-frame shots.

So, back to the park I went, pausing first to capture the sun alongside "The Tree," of, well, "The Tree" notoriety (see link). The HDR-treated shot appears at the top of this post; the single-frame version appears below. And yes, that tiny orange sphere on the left side of the tree trunk is the sun. In this case, I definitely prefer the HDR version. While the sun is small in both images, the single-frame version delivers virtually no pop to it.

In review, HDR photography is the melding of two or more images, taken rapidly, of the same scene, with each of those images having a different exposure -- usually one is overexposed slightly, another underexposed slightly and a third taken at normally metered exposure. In the melding process, through HDR software, optimum detail is culled from the three images to form one, dynamic image. While I'm not sure these HDR images deliver ideal "keepers" after the melding process, they do a decent job of illustrating the objective of HDR application.

On to the Manual campus (below), where you see the variation of shots I captured. In all instances, I lead with the HDR version and follow it with either one or two treatments of the single-frame variation. In instances where there are two treatments of the single-frame versions, I'll use the original, mostly unaltered/unedited version, and follow it with versions of how my edit software's "auto correct" feature felt I should handle it. The "auto correct" seemed challenged by what to do with the orange/bronze tint in the sky, and because of the dramatic change it offered, I decided to present both the unedited and software-suggested options.

The railroad tracks didn't have the sky color to challenge the edit software, so I didn't need to experiment with different edits. Only the original, edited versions (which involved only adding some contrast) are provided in addition to the HDRs.

You might be wondering which versions -- HDR or single-frame -- I prefer of these images. I'm still kicking around my thoughts on that. I appreciate the detail the HDRs provide, but I think I'm conflicted because I'm concerned that the detail -- the stadium seats and bright green grass, mostly -- negate the impact of the setting sun, which is why I went after these to begin with. Then I get to thinking that the sun is so small in relation to the other elements in most of the frames -- a fact that was out of my control -- that perhaps it doesn't deserve top billing. Maybe I should look upon the images as a composition of juxtaposition -- the sun against the Manual High School campus. The sun doesn't have to be the subject; it can be a strong component of each image's total parts. On the other hand, perhaps I can address the sun's relative size in the pictures at a later date through judicious crops. We'll see. These images were not cropped at all.

I lean toward the HDR versions in the case of the railroad shots, especially because of the added color detail. In the second RR image (shot #6), however, I sense a slight easier time finding the woman and children walking along the right side in the far distance in the single-frame version. They were not the reason I took that shot, but ... I was happy to have them as a little "golden nugget" in the shot.

Shot 1, HDR

Shot 1, single-frame, unedited

Shot 1, single-frame, edited

Shot 2, HDR 

Shot 2, single-frame, unedited 

Shot 2, single-frame, edited

Shot 3, HDR

Shot 3, single-frame, edited  

Shot 4, HDR

 

Shot 4, single-frame, unedited

Shot 4, single-frame, edited

Shot 5, HDR

 Shot 5, single-frame, edited

Shot 6, HDR

Shot 6, single-frame, edited

Lines, shapes and patterns ... in the Sunken Garden

I took a stroll to the bank this afternoon, and went via Garfield Park, as I always do. On the return trip, I took a quick look at how the outdoor tulip bulbs were doing in the Sunken Garden, adjacent to the conservatory. While leaving the Sunken Garden, the lines, shapes and patterns of the entryway gate caught my eye, and I started shooting -- yes, I'd brought along my PowerShot G12 -- and ended up with these images. I provide a perspective shot immediately below so you sortakinda know the sections I picked on to isolate in the closeups.

I end the post with a shot of the flag poles, to illustrate how windy it was this afternoon, and closeups of the Sunken Garden name on the bottom of the entry gates.

 

 

Early April sunset

 

The setting sun was a giant ball of orange Wednesday as it neared the horizon about 8:10 p.m. or so. I came upon it in Garfield Park in Indianapolis, just as the sphere was dipping below the tree line. And ... I had my PowerShot G12 in hand. I know ... flashback to February,  right?

It's been only a month a half since "The Tree" silhouette experience, but instead of being in the southwest part of the sky, the sun was almost due west. Those trees were doing a good job concealing the bright star, and I was having no luck maneuvering for a better vantage point to get more of the orb itself. It sank fast, much to my consternation. So I sprinted west to the railroad tracks, hoping to get away from the foliage and position myself for a clear shot. It wasn't to be. By the time I could get across the tracks, the sun had already dipped below the trees. But there was still this bright orange skylight and, thankfully, a few nicely textured clouds to give it some decoration.

Those are the Manual High School football stadium lights you see on the right in the photo above. After grabbing a few frames of those, I put the camera flat on the ground, tilted my articulating LCD screen up toward me to compose the shot, then pointed the lens toward the sky. It got me the shot of the grass blades, Photo No. 2, immediately below this text. I grabbed several frames of that shot as well, including a few using the G12's in-camera high-dynamic range (HDR) feature.

Photo No. 3, below the grass blades, is of the amber rays aflame just below Manual High School. 

On the walk home, while re-crossing the tracks, I looked south and noticed the white light at the rail signal street crossing along Southern Avenue and decided to see what I could get in a composition. I got low again, rested the G12 on the iron rail and took the Photo No. 4 below, again using the HDR feature.

Spring bulbs are in bloom

Friday marked the opening of the 2011 Spring and Bulb Show at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Indianapolis, and I stopped in at the show that day to grab the images you see here. The show runs through April 1. Admission is $3; families pay no more than $8.

On April 2, conservatory staff will sell all the bulbs on a first-come, first serve basis. The conservatory's hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.

The images here are from both the bulb show, which is confined to the atrium area at the front (north end) of the conservatory, and the tropical plant exhibit in the larger back end. The $3 admission gets you access to both.

I swung by the conservatory after stopping in Beech Grove to shoot pictures -- primarily for posterity purposes -- of the interior of the Benedict Inn activities center, which will close its doors due to financial reasons at the end of March. The Benedictine Sisters plan to raze the building later in the year and leave the site vacant. The Benedict's Inn retreat operation will continue to run in the building next door to the activities center.

The activities center -- known for its swimming pool and gymnasium but also used for conferences and other gatherings -- was used through the years by many churches, schools and organizations on the Southside of Indianapolis, and thus holds a special memory for many people. The Benedictine Sisters, while cheerfully consenting to my request to grab pictures of the interior (I will furnish them copies of the images, which they had requested for their archives), asked me not to post any of the photos in this blog. They have been dealing with the building's imminent closure for some time now and have emotionally put its closure behind them. They fear that posting pictures from my shoot would serve to revive sentiment in the community and force them to have to go through another round of something they feel they've already weathered.