Wow. Hard to believe the last time I submitted to a contest here was nearly 5 years ago! Life sure has changed a LOT since then.
I'm originally from Southern California. Born in LA, lived in San Diego from age 3 to 28, when I moved to Atlanta - that's where I was when I was an active DPC member. After 3 years in the ATL, I moved to Australia and put in 3.5 years there. In May 2009 I made the difficult decision to leave my adopted country and my best friend, to whom I'd been married for 11 years, and come home to San Diego.
In recent years I've discovered a love for photographing live music. I also happen to be the biggest Brian Setzer fan on earth. In 2008 was lucky enough to shoot two dates of the Stray Cats European farewell tour.
Then last year, a photo of mine (of a dark alley in Paris) won a contest run by Setzer and his record company, and now appears on the back cover of the Brian Setzer Orchestra's newest release, "Songs From Lonely Avenue." (A song from the record is nominated for a Grammy, we'll find out January 31 if it wins!) My name is in the CD credits, and I received a personally signed Brian Setzer signature Hot Rod Gretsch guitar - regal blue - as my prize. While I am in love with the guitar and I am (slowly) learning to play, having my work and my name associated with the work of my biggest lifelong musical hero is a far bigger honor and better prize.
At the start of this year I made the resolution to make my living off of my photography. Lucky my living expenses are low! I upgraded from a pair of trusty, 5 year old Nikon D70's to a D90. I'm going out several times a week seeing bands, shooting the musicians and the dancers, handing out business cards, showing people my portfolio... hopefully all the effort will turn into print orders and session bookings.
I'm also selling a little here and there on the microstock sites and plan to put a lot more effort into that.
So... nice to be back! Looks like the site has made some great improvements in the past 5 years. I'm looking forward to jumping back into competition, hopefully faring better than I did 5 years ago :) and learning lots from what I remember being a fantastic community.
Thank you all! It's such a pleasure to be back, to see so many familiar names in the forums - and to see so much incredible work in the challenges.
Skip, that Glassblowers photo remains today as one of my favorite photos I've ever taken, and is in the portfolio I show to potential clients. It gets a lot of smiles as people check out all the little details. I like it when photos make people pause for a few seconds instead of just flipping past as soon as they know what it is.
If you enter any challenges, be sure to check the threads about how to save the originals. There have recently been a couple of ribbon disasters over this problem.
You may also want to make sure that the clocks in your cameras are set correctly for challenge shooting.
Thanks for that MelonMusketeer - I remember the time and date thing from when I was here years ago, but I didn't realize saving originals was a problem too?? I'm keeping the Delicate challenge in mind for the next couple of days, hoping something will speak to me to be photographed!
Thank you very much fldave! I love shooting concerts, I imagine it's a lot like sports photography (and I'm not a sports fan!) - lots of action, trying to grab that perfect moment, but with the added challenge of poor or constantly changing light! Now if I can only figure out how to get paid for doing live music photography :)
Andi, welcome back and warm hugs, cause it's probably pretty cold here after Australia!
I saw the Brian Setzer Orchestra perform live at Bluesfest in Ottawa, Canada, this past summer. They were amazing. Thrilled for you that you won a contest tied in to Setzer, can't get much better than that!
