Sunday morning I got an email from a friend: “Family and I are heading down to the waterfront to see the tall ships – want to come?”
“Sure!”
We met up at Sugar Beach, wandered down to the 1812 setup (maybe another post), then, because there were some small kids involved and it was freaking hot and humid, headed back Sugar Beach way, towards the splash pond. Wow, does it ever feel good to get one’s feet wet when trying to lower one’s core body temperature. Eventually it was time to say goodbye to the friends, as the kids wisely decided fun was fun, but everything has a time limit and I was left to my own devices. My intention was to head back to the 1812 area — they had an amazing setup, complete with costumed people and re-enactments (don’t know how they lasted in those costumes with the heat and humidity!).
But…as I passed by Sugar Breach proper, I was lured onto the sand by some great music. “I’ll just sit here a while,” I thought. It was the Emerge Artist Showcase and there was some really amazing talent. “A while” lasted until sometime around 6, when the concert closed abruptly due to the dark clouds and visible rain that was heading straight towards us.
How fun was it to be able to shoot a series of artists! Great music and photography – an ideal combination. There were not only talented singers and musicians on that stage, but all photogenic as well. I’m typically more of a documentary style shooter and don’t often feel the need for much more than Curves, Levels and selective sharpening, I but took advantage of the subject matter here to have some fun in Photoshop with some of the images. The faces are just amazing and I could stare and play all day, but have to stop and leave things as they are to prep for imminent travel.
Dylan Lock — saw him briefly as we were passing by. Had to stop and listen for a few minutes!
Tyanna Nikkita – she was on stage as I was thinking about heading back to the 1812 area after my friends left. I sat in the sand to listen for a few minutes and there I stayed.
Stating the obvious: cool guitar player in background.
Here, cool drummer.
I love the silhouettes here. Better would have been the guitars in profile, which is why I didn’t go all the way with the black.
One more of Tyanna for now. She had come off the stage, talked to a few people, then walked in front of me. When she saw my camera pointed her way, she broke into a smile and posed for a moment. We never know what someone is truly like based on a stage performance, but she stuck around all afternoon, took photos of other artists and seemed to encourage everyone, so gives an impression of being a kind person. She certainly has a smile that immediately lights up her face.
Juvon Taylor. To my friends liking photo tips, pay attention to backgrounds. I picked this out of a few similar shots because the drummer’s head is separated from Juvon’s arm – I was looking for cleaner silhouettes. Some things can’t be avoided, such as the mic stands, but again, I chose the image that also had the least amount of intersecting with the primary subject. For a few of the closer shots, where there was no context for the stands, as there is here, I removed the stands.
Soulful look. I swear, they only let 10s on the stage.
The drummer has a great smile.
Tecla Burey – her voice is as beautiful as is she…rich, honey, full of soul.
The tall ships started their parade of sail and attention was drawn to the water. Perfect for me, as I was able to move around for different angles.
What to do with harsh lighting and too much colour that distracted from the amazing face? Take away the colour. I think some more work with throwing on a texture, especially against the background, will further help, but I really love the look of the subject.
Not only a great smile, but a sense of style…maybe?
Sara London? (So sorry if I’ve screwed up any names, it was so hard to remember all the new names.) The tall ships were right behind her at this point and my attention was severely pulled in two directions. I do have other images of her — yes, she was another amazing artist, but I wasn’t editing linearly and I hit my time wall, so only one is here.
Ammoye. The little guy to the right was a hoot – just chillin’ and groovin’ and you couldn’t help but smile.
This, work in progress.
Brett Kingswell.
The sun had moved around and the warmer tones of late afternoon sun were beginning to add some interesting lighting, but I had to move: straight on, there was a lighting line straight down the middle of his face, echoing the line of the mic. Half dark, half bright, all just not working.
Amoy Levy — I sure hope I’ve gotten her name right. This is W-O-M-A-N. What a personality! And talent. She hosted the show the whole time I was there and joined the stage at the end. (Apparently she performed earlier that day, before I arrived.)
This is how cool the band was: Brett encouraged Amoy to sing a song of her choosing and she picked a weather appropriate song (a rain storm was moving in) that no one knew. She said to play G major blues. The musicians instantly started as if they knew the song. That is professionals at work.