Noahm

I Ain't Just Another Photograph

Dear Fellow Readers, 

Long time no writing. Well, let me first say that I have an excuse, and it’s even a good one: the CMJ Festival has been in town since tuesday. As you might be wondering what the hell is the CMJ Festival, what I’m going to describe you next should help you pinpoint a definition.

• One: it’s friday and I’m exhausted.
• Two, I have been visiting every venues of the City.
• Three, I have been running a lot (from subways to subways but still.. that counts)
• Four, I suffer from slight hearing loss.

Your guess ? I’m getting old ? Maybe. But it doesn’t take away the fact that the CMJ Festival is one of the largest Music Marathon - running over 5 days - featuring what might be the next biggest bands in the years to come. And as you might have already guessed, I have been shooting all these bands. For Pitchfork Media.

When the band is acting wild on stage and you’re stuck on a shutter speed of 20 at 3200 ISO and your picture still comes out dark and blurry

Sweet, right ?

Well yes and no. The Yes part doesn’t require much explanation - That’s what I love to do… well I mean I get drinks for free too - But let me focus on the No for a bit. Well fellows, No because you might end up shooting in one of these venues/cave which lighting resemble more to what you get in a coffin, six feet under, compared to what you would expect from a Music Room. That’s where it can get annoying, you know ? When the band is acting wild on stage and you’re stuck on a shutter speed of 20 at 3200 ISO and your picture still comes out dark and blurry - yes dark can still be blurry. Let me tell you, it drives a lot of frustration out of a Music Photographer not being able to properly capture the energy displayed on stage - the feeling gotta be comparable to what the Patriots felt after losing Superbowl XXII against the NY Giants. Anyways.

A surprise. Maybe. Well a big surprise actually, A Ukulele Session with... 

Fortunately, black and white allows you to take advantages of the shadows provided by “poor” lighting conditions, and I’m not gonna lie, post treatment helps a lot too in that matter. But hey, everything is not negative though. I’ve also been able to shoot at f/3.2, a shutter speed of 400 and at 1600 ISO. See ? Me Happy. I even ended up using one of these shots for the new cover of my Portfolio - http://noahm.com - featuring the drummer of Deerhoof @ Irving Plaza.

To sum up, since nothing speaks better that a photo itself:

1. The Proper Lighting

2. The Less Proper Lighting

Notice the difference ? Um. No need to mention that the cover of the post belongs to proper lighting. Anyways, that’s what I’ve been doing these last day. That and contacting magazines and publicist, we have content coming up for you guys. NY latest phenomena - Glint - interview and shots of their show @ Apple store should be up by sunday, sunday we’ll also be interviewing and shooting the “emoiest” band ever - Underoath. The Decemberists also coming up, Conor O’berst and of course a more complete coverage of CMJ, with more pictures.

Oh, I almost forgot about that. A surprise. Maybe. Well a big surprise actually, A Ukulele Session with… Shhhh. His name starts with a B and ends with an R.

‘Til next time. Mull it over.

Sincerely, 

Noahm