The Sweet Science

It’s no mystery to most that I really enjoy shooting sports… like really, really enjoy shooting sports. I don’t get to do a lot of that in my current position, which is something I knew coming in, so when something sports related comes up I jump on it. A couple of weeks back the opportunity came up to shoot Strictly Boxing for a business profile. I got pretty giddy about the opportunity and spent three hours at the gym making images. When I left the gym I was sweating… it was awesome.

I chatted up the owners and the boxers, left a card and told them to keep in touch. They are supposed to have a few events coming up, hopefully it comes through because I would kill to spend a weekend shooting boxing.

More images can be found HERE. (Click it, you know you want to

Home and Back… Again

Since moving to Denver, I’ve made several trips home. Three to be exact and I’ve made photos every time and for whatever reason I didn’t post any…

I made a conscious effort to make more photos, correct them and get them ready to post as quickly as possible this time around.

One of my favorite things is to make photos of those around me and that are apart of my everyday life. I love making photos of my nieces and nephew, this time around I had more of an excuse as I got to meet my newest niece, Camryn Leigh, for the first time. She is a little one and came a over a month early. She’s had a rough go so far but she is getting bigger and healthier by the day. She looks exactly like her sister when she was born and already has a lil sass and attitude. Should be giving mom and dad hell in no time.

I love going home and I miss it a lot but I really like it here and can’t wait for Emilie to move down and start the next chapter of our lives.

Enough mush, a few lot of photos.

Em and I were both going to finish all of our work before I got there… we both failed.

Princess Kaylee adjusting her tiara.

Important that everyone wears the tiara.

Emilie holding ms. Camryn Leigh for the first time.

Kaylee loves making photos. I love it, when she gets a little older I may buy her an slr and teach her how to use it. She is a special kid, she is going to be an artist.

Kaylee is four and she makes pretty good photos, better than some people I know who are “professionals” (I’m not saying this is the greatest photo ever, but this is a pretty damn good frame for a four year old.)

Sometimes you have to defend the fridge at all costs, this was one of those times. Shortly after this she thought she needed to shove the rifle in the fridge and close the door. It didn’t work out too well.

A rousing rendition of the Flintstones theme, third or fourth time through.

Em throwing down a rousing version of Wheels on the Bus. John Tesh is already looking over his shoulder.

Lil’ man Elio throwing down on a rice crispy treat. Nom nom nom nom nom.

Parents got a new dog last summer, don’t think she’s made an appearance on the blog yet.

Kaylee didn’t think anyone would notice that she started her Thanksgiving dinner before everyone else. Haha.

Kaylee decided it was time to have a little, private, after dinner conversation. I get a kick out her, she is a pretty funny kid.

So just a few images. I really do miss home and love it when I get a chance to get back, unfortunately I’m not sure when I will be going home again. :/ Hopefully it won’t be to long.

Looking Back: 2011

Every time I do a year end recap, I always post it 15 days after the new year has started. Let everyone else come in, show off their stuff and then I sneak in the back door and stink the joint up… it’s just the way I roll.

I hate the term, “Best of.” I feel that is a very loaded phrase and is some how implying every image you will see is the absolute best image. I saw a certain newspapers, 100 GREATEST images of the year! (I don’t think it had an exclamation point at the end but when you say GREATEST, I think it needs an exclamation point). I made it 25 images in before I stopped as there were only about five images in those 25 that were bangin’ images. That is why I’m not calling this a best of. These are images that I liked and tell the story of the year for me. I didn’t shoot as much as I wanted nor did I blog as much as I wanted and that will change this year. More on that in a bit.

Over the last 5 years, every year has been a big year of change. A big year of growth and of evolution. This last year was no exception. It started on an insanely cold night watching small, flashing LED lights lower from a nine story building surrounded by amazing friends in South Dakota and ended on the 16th Street Mall with Emilie in my new home of Denver watching pyrotechnics explode in the sky with several thousand random people.

I spent a large amount of time covering hockey, crisscrossing the country with Jake. Spending way too much time in the car but it was a lot of fun and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I minimized the number of hockey images in this slideshow, as I did an entire video recapping the season and didn’t feel the need to do it again. You can view that here. (after looking at that I don’t know where some of those images are… e gads!)

I have to give a huge thank you to Jake for taking me on and allowing me to make images for IDS. For allowing me to travel to make images and allowing me the freedom to come up with my own assignments and shoot whatever I wanted. I got to cover some really cool things over the summer, including Cowboy Polo, which was just awesome.

I also have to thank AAron, for being an amazing friend and putting in a good word for me at the Post that landed me my current job. Shooting every day again is a dream. I didn’t realize how much I would miss it until I quit the Journal and was only shooting part time, working two other jobs to make ends meet. I’m so thankful and grateful to be working in a place that is pushing me to my limits and forcing me to grow. It’s awesome to be surrounded by so many incredibly talented photographers, to have an absolute bad ass for a director of photography and some real kick ass editors. It’s awesome to work at a place that can provide everything I need, immediately. Coming from a place where it was a fight to get what you needed or only had one option for supplies, it’s wild. I’m so, so thankful and humbled to be working here. I have a long ways to go before I am where I want to be but being here is the first step.

Which brings me back to blogging and goals for the year. I blogged 29 times last year. That is pitiful and unacceptable in my book. I put making photos on the back burner after I left the Journal and I’m not doing that anymore. I’m finally getting excited about making images again and I’m going to hit it hard this year. My goal is to blog, at MINIMUM, once a week in the next year. I’m also aiming to shoot, at LEAST, once a week outside of work. It can be something that turns into an image I turn in for work but it has to be something above and beyond an assignment. This is going to be the year of the photo. The year of grinding and putting in the work to continue the path of getting to were I want to be. It’s going to be tough but it should be fun. I haven’t been this excited about making photos in a long time. I’m even dreaming about making images… it’s kind of awesome.

I put together a little audio slide show of sorts of images from the last year. You can view that HERE. (The track playing under the images is by This Will Destroy You. Incase you dig it, because I do.)

Here are a small selection of images that I enjoyed from the past year… just a couple in no particular order.

Meanwhile, on Tattooine… er, Barnes and Noble.

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting up with the CosPlayers of the 501st Legion’s Mile High Squadron at the Barnes and Noble in Lone Tree prior to a book signing event with author Kevin J. Anderson. The actual story was on the work this troop does for charity. Every three months, the troop dons their Star Wars costumes and tours a childrens hospital, visiting sick children. Unfortunately they are not going back to a hospital until March and this was the only event they had going on. It was a lot of fun and the guys and gals in the troop were incredibly nice people. (An invitation was extended to dress up with them and “troop” at a future event… I may do it just to say I did. It could be fun.) I’m planning on catching up with them in March and following them at the hospital. Maybe making a video out of it.

More Images Can Be Found HERE

Ice Castles

Took the time to drive up to Silverthorne and check out the Ice Castle installation.

It was pretty incredible. I didn’t make many photos but I made a few. I really want to make it back down there soon and spend a little more time making photos and exploring the light. The castles are constantly changing as they continue to work on the project.

It’s hands down one of the coolest things I’ve seen and I plan on going back a few more times, or as I can afford it to make more images. If anyone wants to go, let me know.

Thanks for looking.

-SM

Breathe Carolina

More images can be found HERE.

As mentioned in the last post, I shot two shows last week. The second was a hometown holiday show with electro-rock (pop?) duo Breathe Carolina on Friday night at the Summit Music Hall. Ironically none of the photos above are of Breathe Carolina. The reason… and there are two of them. 1) This show was a joke. Being it was a hometown show for the headlining band they allowed about 25 people into the pit. Which made making photos very, very difficult as I was surrounded by cell phone and point and shoot cameras whose operators had no qualms about sticking their “cameras” in front of mine. Very frustrating. I moved to a different position but it wasn’t the same. 2) I lost an entire card of images. I don’t know what happened but when I got home and put the cards in the reader, one card was completely empty. I lost a ton of images. Most of the images above are from the band Kill Paradise. Luckily, i discovered my card problems during a time when the images are not as important as they are at my day job. (Yes the images for Reverb are important but this is mainly for fun. If something like this happens its not catastrophic).

Anyways this will be the last post about bands for a few weeks. I will be posting a few assignment related images in the next few days and a year end wrap up no later than January 1st.

Hope everyone is well and had a great holiday.

Love and Light,

Seth

One Republic, The Fray, Flobots and many more.

Isaac from The Fray played “How To Save A Life” completely unplugged. Reminded me of the Blind Pilot show. It was actually pretty cool. It’s the reason I love club dates and small intimate venues.

Cell phones are the most annoying damn things in the world. The only thing that is harder to shoot over than heads is a raised cell phone… blergh!

More images can be found HERE.

My favorite part of being in Denver so far is the opportunity to cover a wide variety of shows.

Its not a surprise to many of you that I love music, a wide variety of music. I listen to just about everything, which makes it hard to limit the number of shows I want to shoot… very, very hard. I signed on to shoot two shows this week, the first being “Denver Acoustic Christmas”, a benefit concert featuring the major label signed bands from the Denver/Colorado area. (The second I will blog about once they get it up on Reverb. I have to hold off posting things for 48 hours.)

I’m a huge fan of giving back, so when I saw this show I knew I wanted to cover it. Having the opportunity to photograph One Republic, The Fray and the Flobots, amongst others, in a fairly intimate environment didn’t hurt either. I’m a sucker for a big hook and a catchy melody… something you can mindlessly sing too. Pop music and dirty club anthems are guilty pleasures of mine. Each band only had 15-20 minutes so they stuck to the hits… The big hooks and the catchy melodies. It was nice.

The Ogden doesn’t have a “pit” (the area between the stage and the fan barrier) so I ended up shooting from the crowd, which proved to be incredibly interesting… and by interesting I mean slightly frustrating. Being on the kinda short side in height makes shooting over people’s heads a little difficult at times. I made the best of it and had a lot of fun shooting this show.

Touche Amore- Blast-O-Mat

I first started going to shows in the fall of 1997. I saw the Promise Ring at the Dahl Fine Arts Center for $5. I went with my older sister, who was incredibly reluctant to bring her little brother, who was not quit cool/punk rock enough to be there. That didn’t matter to me then and it still doesn’t matter to me today. I love live music but more than anything, I love hard core/punk rock. I love sweaty, shitty little clubs. I love shows that are played in garages and VFW Halls. I love seeing bands in any place other than HUGE venues and I was reminded of this on Sunday when I had the opportunity to photograph Touche Amore, Pianos Become the Teeth and Seahaven at the Blast-O-Mat, a literal hole in the wall venue here in Denver.

I saw Touche Amore in Rapid in the summer of the 2010… in a two stall garage in South Rapid. It was hotter than hell and cramped but it was amazing. So it was awesome to see them again… in pretty much the same style of setting. I like photographing big shows but I feel much more at home in an environment like this. The shows are much more intimate and you know you are seeing something unique, unlike an arena show which feel so rehearsed and at times forced. Relying more on lights and odd visuals to connect with the audience and keep them entertained than the music itself. I like that there are no rules… no three songs, no barriers, no security guard up your ass about having a camera. It’s free, it’s real and I love it.

I, once again, shot this for Reverb. A link to the entire gallery is below. (This show was rad and the light was interesting in the Blast-O. I can’t wait to get back and shoot more shows there. It was a rad space and everyone was actually really nice, met some rad kids.)

Many more images can be found here.

Funny story about this show (and a way to really get to know me)… So I don’t get starstruck by anyone… ANYONE. I’ve had the opportunity to meet some incredibly famous people doing this job and not once have I really cared, nor had one of those shit-myself moments of giddiness upon meeting them (this isn’t bragging it’s merely setting this up.) People are people are people, I think… but I have had my one moment of starstruck dumbness.

I really like Pianos Become the Teeth. Their music reminds me of when I started going to shows. It just has this total DIY, late 90′s emo/screamo/hardcore vibe that I love. I found them through one of the members blogs. I subsequently found Touche Amore, La Dispute, Make Do and Mend, Balance and Composure, Tigers Jaw and a lot of other bands that I really, really like through this blog as well. Basically every band that I love at the moment, I found through this obscure blog run by the member of an obscure band. So I was at the table buying merch (because I don’t buy music and I often don’t pay to get into shows, I at least buy merch or stuff some money in the tip jar because it helps keeps these dudes going.) and I look over and there is said blogger and I nod but I can’t form words. I swear to god, I got tongue tied and star struck by someone, who is not even remotely famous but has had more of an influence on me musically than anyone has in a long time. So I nodded, snatched my newly purchased hoodie off the table and walked out. I hate fan boys and I think I felt like one at that exact moment and that’s why I didn’t say a thing. It always makes me uncomfortable when people come up and gush and go on about how they like something (it’s flattering, but I’m a pretty shy person and I like to keep to myself, I never know what to say) and I didn’t want to do the same. I laughed when I got out to my car and almost went back just to say “Thank you” and “For the love of god, update your blog it’s been 3 months and I need new music” Nerdy I know, but if nothing else, this tells you a lot about me. funny shit.

Blind Pilot- Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO.

One thing that I was really looking forward to before I moved here was going to shows. Denver is kind of a destination for a lot of bands. Being in the middle of the country it doesn’t get skipped over a lot, plus there is a large variety of bands who stop through.

I managed to get hooked up with Reverb, the Post’s online music blog/magazine/arts and entertainment section. After a series of emails, I locked down my first show last week. Portland’s own, Blind Pilot was making an appearance at the cozy confines known as the Bluebird. I’m not a huge Blind Pilot fan but I know them because of Barker and I really needed to get my first show nailed down so I could request more. My plan was to show up, shoot the first three songs, stay for the fourth and split. I had an early morning and after the opening band, wasn’t really feeling like staying… then… I bore witness to one of the most captivating bands I’ve seen in a while. Their stage presence wasn’t much but the music… every time I thought, “Okay, last song. Leave after this.” I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I wanted to hear more. I’m glad I stayed because they closed the show with this incredible moment. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gVbGnUceno) (This is not a public video, you have to have the link to watch it). They played the title track of their last album, completely unplugged. It was quiet, sincere and amazingly beautiful as everyone in the damn building sang along.

Enough yammering. A few images.

I love the marquee at the Bluebird. So cool.

I love this moment. Every time he would check his phone, she would lean over and check it too. I loved the light, so I made a frame and then a second when he kissed her on the forehead.

More images can be found here (forgive the edit and the similar images. They want 20 or so images from a show. I edit tight and hate repeats but with a band like this, you are not going to get 20 unique images in 12 minutes… so a lot of similar stuff.)

Something New

This is officially my 100th post here. 100 posts in two years is honestly not that many but it’s been a pretty crazy, almost, two years. I’ve lived in three different states, had half a dozen jobs, done some cool stuff and met some amazing people and I think I’m finally ready to stay in one spot for a while.

With that I want to introduce a fun, new, little thing that I plan on doing on this here blog to more aptly document my day to day life. I don’t have a name yet for this little feature, but I’m working on it. I just thought of one, Googled it and found out that it’s already taken… by a comic. I could still use it but I want it to be my own. I don’t know how often I will be doing it but I’m hoping a weekly round up would be nice.

The premise is this. As a photojournalist, I see, do and experience a lot of cool and fun things. Things that I often, either don’t document or don’t take the time to share. I want to share these things. This is, hands down, the coolest job in the world. I was thinking about it today and that is the most frustrating part about this job. When I have a bad day (and we all have them) I can’t really complain because at the end of the day, no matter how crappy everything was, I still got to do some rad stuff, spend some time with some cool people and experience something most people don’t get to. So I’ve started taking the time to make photos of my day-to-day adventures to create a visual diary of my adventures here in Colorado and my time spent working at the Post.

I’m not making these images with my camera but with my iPhone (yes I bit the bullet and got an iPhone… judge away). I’m choosing to do it this way because they are snap shots of my day and adventures. They are not meant to be perfect. This is not some pretentious bullsh*t, either. I’m not into that. I like mindless fun. That is why I like this medium of story telling. I honestly don’t have to think. I don’t have to worry about anything, other than composing and pressing a button. Honestly, it has got me really excited about making images again. I feel like I did when I first started making photos a decade ago. It wasn’t complex, there wasn’t eight million rules and I took pictures because it was fun. I’m looking at light differently and looking at shapes and how they create patterns. I’m making bullshit images, that are fun. That I like and maybe you will too. Maybe you won’t, but ultimately that is your problem not mine because this is my story and if you don’t like it… F*** off, tell your own.

Images and stories:

I spend an insane amount of time in my car. Often stuck in traffic… Traffic was light here.

Kicking it with Nemo at the Butterfly Pavilion. Rad space, great light and…

This guy hangs out, out front. Destroying buildings.

Second angle. (Literally got the idea for doing this, after making this photo)

If you are in the Westminster area, I highly recommend checking out the Pavilion. It’s pretty cool.

I really hate that the days have grown short.

Waiting for intermission at the PACE Center, so I could shoot n’ scoot.

Mahala and I got all zombied up for Halloween before heading out to a “Where’s Waldo?” themed party… there were not enough Waldos at the party…

I just came out on the wrong end of a fight (on a side note, I lost that hat the next night… blergh)

It took two years, but I finally saw La Dispute and it was everything I was hoping it would be.

Watching the light die.

There are still trees with beautiful, colored leaves on them here. It’s November. In South Dakota, the trees shed their clothes 6 weeks ago.

Uber Sausage… is amazing. They are on Colfax, GO!

Hey Golden PD, thanks for the speeding ticket on the highway when I was only keeping up with traffic… (he waited for me to pull off, drive 2 miles down the road and then pulled me over.)

Ever seen an erotic quilt? You have now, your welcome.

Moo.

Finally made it to Red Rocks. I watched a rather grizzled looking elderly woman play an extended version of Inagodadavida on the spoons. I’m pretty sure she was high.

She had the audience captivated though…

(Do you see the ghost?)

I went to my first NHL game. The AVS are terrible, I miss my Rush.

Sunrise from the old Stapleton Control Tower (apparently they filmed scenes from Die Hard 2 here…)

The tallest building in Rapid City is a tie between a hotel and grain silo. I love that I can see downtown here from the mountains… It looks like Oz. (Do you see the question mark?)

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…. traffic. Some nights it takes me over an hour to get home. In SD, that means you are pretty close to be in Wyoming…

AAron taking control of the situation in the studio…

Creepin’ in an abandoned mall that is in the process of being torn down… creepy.

Demo.

I love driving into the city from the north. I love the bridges and how the skyline is almost always silhouetted. Pretty sweet.

So there are a lot of photos here, I’ve been collecting images for a couple of weeks. In the future they will be shorter and there may be more writing. I’m making this up as I go we will see how it evolves.