Photos: P!nk, The Truth About Love Tour 2014

I enjoy shooting every venue for different reasons. Pop concerts at the Pepsi Center usually mean an over the top show full of crazy visuals, pyro and tons of production. P!nk’s Truth About Love Tour brought all of this and more. It was visually entertaining and a ton of fun to shoot. I can’t say that about every large production I’ve had the opportunity to shoot but one really can’t complain when the artist is launched out of the stage and 25 feet into the air to start the show. The full gallery can be seen HERE.

Thanks for looking.

Photos: MamaKats Final Show

At the age of 86, MamaKat was the oldest on-air female radio host in the country. After 18 years on the air, KUVO decided they wanted to head in a new direction and that MamaKat was not in their new plans.

I made photos of  MamaKat in the summer of 2012, when she celebrated her 85th birthday and had a day named in her honor. MamaKat is easily the coolest octogenarian I’ve ever met and one of the sweetest as well. It’s a disappointment to see her go but an honor to be able to document her last show, which turned into a full-scale concert. A full gallery of images can be found here.

Radio host Justina “MamaKat” Curlee claps as she watches Erik Boa and the Constrictors perform during her final show at KUVO Studios in Denver, Colorado on January 3, 2014. 86-year-old Mama Kat, the oldest on-air female DJ in the country, hosted her final show on KUVO Friday night. (Photo by Seth McConnell/The Denver Post)

Photo: It’s Getting A Bit Loud In Here. 2013 Music Images

One of the biggest challenges of shooting music is getting past the fame of the artist to make interesting photos. Photos that are good not because of who is in the frame but because of the image itself.

I pushed myself beyond my comfort zone this year. I had set a goal to shoot 50 shows. With a full-time staff photo job with unpredictable hours, 50 felt like a comfortable number and achievable. I smashed that number shooting 75 shows, including each day of 10 separate festivals, in four states. It was a trip pushing myself outside of my comfort zones, trying to make different and interesting frames while shooting at the same venues over and over and over. It was a thrill shooting bands and shows where everyone was denied but me. It was anxiety inducing standing on stage at Lollapalooza, looking out at tens of thousands of fans cheering. It was wild watching Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats playing on a tiny porch, with the horn section standing on the roof of a 100-year-old house on a scorching July day. It was a dream shooting bands I grew up watching in basements and the back of VFW halls bringing that same energy to massive stages. A bad day making photos is still better than any day doing anything else. This year was a reminder that it is a dream to make a living this way.

Here are a few of my favorite music photos from the last year. Thanks for looking.

More photos after the jump.

Looking Back 2013

I was terrible at blogging in 2013. In fact it was the least I’ve blogged since I started blogging back in the late 90’s. I sat down and posted eight times last year… eight times. I don’t know how many blogs I sat down and started writing but never completed. Pathetic. As shown by this blog, which is 11 days past the end of 2013. Gross.

It’s not that I didn’t have anything to blog about either. It was a pretty cool 12 months. A very, very busy 12 months. I got to experience and document some firsts. Met some cool people, attended far to many shows (or not enough depending on who you ask) and even made it to Lollapalooza in Chicago. It was pretty amazing across the board. Yet I didn’t sit down and write about any of it. I should have and that is officially one of my goals for 2014. Blog and blog a lot. Also maybe finally complete a new website so I can officially push forward with some long-term goals this year.

I hate the phrase, “best of.” It just rubs me the wrong way. These are a few of my favorite images from the last year. (My co-shooter on the YourHub side, Anya, and I put together a small slide show of our favorite images from 2013 which you can view HERE. I will post a more in depth look at the music stuff I shot this in another post that will go up tomorrow.) Thanks for looking.

More after the jump.

Wrapping It Up Vol. 1 Issue 2

My favorite part of working for a newspaper is the variety. This past week was certainly no exception. I got all over the metro area and was able to sneak in a couple of extra self-assigned assignments over the weekend. Self-assigning is my favorite part of being on the YourHub side of things. I don’t have to hope to get an assignment or to cover an event, I just need to put in the footwork and get credentials set up.

My favorite assignment from this past week was a story we did on Mean Street Ministry, a group from a West Denver church that travels around to the long-term stay motels on Colfax to distribute food, candy and resource packets to residents. It was gritty and the light was only in pockets. The stories were sad and the conditions were worse. Its heartbreaking to hear people’s stories and how they ended where they did. It really puts things in perspective and how things can change at the drop of a hat. Addiction is scary and to see the worst of it first hand is terrifying.

This Weeks Galleries:

Every Time I Die, The Acacia Strain, Vanna, Hundredth, No Bragging Rights

Mile High Mayhem Wheelchair Rugby Tournament

Denver Cutthroats Pink At The Rink Weekend

Mean Street Ministry

Adams 14 English As A Second Language Program

Thanks for looking.

-SM

Wrap it up

One of my goals for the year was to blog more. We are 5 weeks into 2013 and I really haven’t blogged. So I’m going to push to blog at least once a week, posting images from my assignments the week before.

This is a good week to start as I had an incredibly busy week last week.

 

Some weeks, no matter now much you plan, nothing seems to go right. This past week was a prime example of this. I had planned my week so I would have a light day on Friday and be well rested for a visit from my parents over the weekend. Unfortunately my co-shooter on the YourHub side got the flu and my well planned week went into the trash on Wednesday. It happens and being flexible is a big part of this job. Thankfully I had set up my schedule the way I did and was able to “easily” absorb another 5 assignments. -There is nothing easy about absorbing assignments late in the week but I got it done-

Thankfully most of the assignments were full of opportunities to make good images. Plus I got the opportunity to make photos of one of my favorite bands of all time on Sunday. Love me some Hot Water Music.

Galleries:

Hot Water Music, La Dispute, The Menzingers

Cherry Creek hockey returns after 24 years

Brighton Construction Boom

Red Rocks Community College Opens HVAC Training Lab

Elk Creek Elementary Morning Exercise Program

Thanks for looking.

-SM

A Year in the Pit, Best of Music 2012

It’s no secret, to those who regularly follow this blog, that music plays a huge role in my life. It’s the reason I picked up a camera nearly a decade ago and is the one thing I look forward to shooting the most… minus hockey.

This year I ramped up the number of shows and music related events I made photos of. Coming from South Dakota, where there was a very small, sporadic music scene, it was a blessing to shoot so many shows. It was also a challenge to come up with a way to shoot that kept it fresh and interesting on a weekly basis. I try to limit myself to a show a week or 4 a month. Which is about the right number of shows to balance out my daily assignments and still give me time to take up projects, events or any other random event that comes a long that might make for interesting images.

I had the pleasure of shooting a random assortment of shows this year, from huge artists (Madonna, Aerosmith, etc…) to local bands playing Friday night gigs in dive mexican restaurants. I will say that I enjoyed the local artists and the small shows a lot more than the huge shows. I enjoy being able to show the interaction between an artist and the fan base much more than the canned, soundboard shoot with a 500.

It’s also a challenge to get past the idea of a photo being good because of who is in the photo or how famous that person is versus it actually being a good photo. To be 100% honest, I didn’t like most of my photos of incredibly famous artists. They were not terrible photos by any means, they just didn’t have any soul to them. They just felt like photos of famous people and while they are easy for people to connect to, they don’t do anything for me. (I also managed to destroy three MacBook Pro’s this year and lost a few concert takes amongst other work. Including some of those big takes. Yes I back my work up but when your computer dies the following morning there is not much you can do.)

Anyways, I broke this down into two sections. 11 of my favorite photos and I also put together a video with some other photos that I really liked. You can view that here (2012 Best of Music Seth A. McConnell)

Comeback Kid at the Marquis Theater.

One of the Hardest venues to shoot in Denver but fun as hell. Nothing like being packed shoulder to shoulder in a beer soaked club.

The Hives at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. One of the best bands I shot all year. Tons of energy.

David Vandervelde at the Bluebird Theatre. Sometimes the opening band is more entertaining than the headliner… or it provides you some space to shoot some interesting frames because no one is around. The hat makes this shot.

Security- Three Doors Down at the 1st Bank Center. Sometimes you get three songs to shoot and you get bored after two. That is what happened here, even the security was bored.

Jack White- B Show- Denver, CO. One of the coolest shows I’ve ever been too. Jack White in the parking lot of a small mechanics shop. Awesome.

The Line- Bluebird Theatre. They didn’t have my credential at the box office so I had to wait… and wait… and wait. The line grew… and grew… and grew. I wasn’t happy but the wait provided an opportunity to make a few frames. You have to make the best of every situation.

Five Iron Frenzy practice before their first show in 8 years. Denver, CO. One of the coolest stories I had the pleasure of working on last year. It happened by chance but it was a lot of fun and the entire band was pretty open and welcoming.

Fans twirl strobes lights and glow sticks during Skrillex set- Red Rocks Amphitheatre. A classic case of taking the time to look around you to see what else is going on. Sometimes the story telling image is behind you.

Rise Against- Fillmore Auditorium. Step back. Work the light. Shoot wide. Magic.

Kerry King of Slayer. Comfort Dental Amphitheatre. Working the light, trying to find a clean background. The fog is sexy.

Mayer Hawthorne. Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Red suit. Enough said.

Photos: Denver Presidential Debate Fest 2012

I had the pleasure a few weeks ago of being on the Post’s coverage team for the first presidential debate at the University of Denver. My job was to cover the musical acts playing an outdoor concert on the campus of DU in conjunction with the debate aptly titled Debate Fest. The fest featured a line up of local musical acts including The Lumineers and Nathaniel Rateliff.

It was a huge honor to be apart of the team covering this historic event. Even though I was not in the hall, it was amazing to be a part of the entire process. My favorite part of the day was getting the chance to work with AAron, we tag teamed Debatefest while the rest of the Post staff worked the Hall, Spin Alley and made other features. It was a blast to get out there and work it. Pushing each other and knowing that if I missed something, that AAron had it and vice-versa. It was easily the most intense credential process to shoot a concert. Very rarely does making photos at a concert involve a full background search by the Secret Service. It was well worth it though as I got full access, including the chance to make photos from the stage.

Thanks for looking.

-SM

More photos: Denver Presidential Debate 2012, Debatefest

Photos: Underground Music Showcase 2012 Day 2

The hardest part about shooting the Underground Music Showcase, besides the blistering heat outdoors and the 20 or so degrees warmer it was inside every venue, was how dimly lit most of the venues are. I don’t know what I was expecting going in but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t hell trying to stop action in most venues without using a strobe. I really don’t like using flash if I can avoid it. I should have busted the damn thing out but most of the ceilings and walls were black making bounce a challenge. These Nikons are so heavy that your hand fatigues really quickly trying to hand hold a strobe and a D3 with a 24-70 or 70-200 attached. If I shoot this next year, I may go in a day or two early and scope out a spot to put a few brackets up and have off camera flash.

I started day 2 in a funk but there is something about Big Freedia and the Divas that will make anyone smile and then shake one’s Azz. 😉

Less talk. More photos.

Thanks for looking.

Seth

More photos from Friday at The Denver Post’s Underground Music Showcase 2012.

Photos: Underground Music Showcase 2012 Day One

One of the things that I was looking forward to the most this summer was covering the Underground Music Showcase. 300 bands. Four days. A dozen venues that vary widely in scope and size… where do I sign up? It’s no secret that I love music and I’ve never been shy talking about the incredibly huge impact that it has had on my life. I have a deep-rooted love of tiny, sweaty, beer soaked clubs packed shoulder to shoulder with people who are there because they love music and live performance. Most of these bands will never be huge but they are trying. They are putting in the hard work and I appreciate that. (I will go deeper into this in a later blog post. I’ve been going to shows for 15 years this year. I’m crafting a big blog for later this year when I officially eclipse 15 years)

In addition to covering music for four days I was really looking forward to being apart of a five person team covering the UMS this year for the Post over four days. Unfortunately after night one, it became a one man show as the other four photographers/videographers got pulled off to cover the Theater Shooting in Aurora. In addition to covering all four days of the UMS, I back filled on dailies so everyone could concentrate on the shooting and still covered my already established assignments for the weekend. It was a long, hot weekend that sapped every ounce of energy that I could muster leaving me wanting to quit at points but I soldiered on. I’m pretty proud of the weekend I put together. It was a lot of work but it was worth it.
It was worth stepping up when I needed too and stepping into the role that I play. It’s frustrating at times to not be on the main stage and be the guy who is back filling and doing the less glamorous work but it’s my job. It’s my role. It’s hard work that can often feel that it is overlooked but hard work eventually pays off. Much like music, you may not play to the biggest audience in the world every night but you give it your all, day in and day out, regardless. Someday, stadiums. Right now, 100 capacity VFW halls. 😉 (not to say that I feel my job is anything less than it is, I feel blessed and humbled everyday that I get the opportunity to make photos for a living and get to work surrounded by such amazing and talented photographers and editors.)

Enough chatter. Images from day one. More images from the first day of the Denver Post’s Underground Music Showcase. (Also, this is The Post’s music showcase… how awesome is that?!? I think I was destined to work here.)