Peter Walker/Jack Rose (acoustic gtr masters)

[narlus]

shot a rare early show (doors @ 6!) of two real maestros of the acoustic guitar in its many guises...Jack Rose is a guitarist in avant/noise/rock band Pelt, but on his own he does steel-string acoustic (12 string, 6 string, lap steel, dobro...you name it) music of true beauty...a Fahey disciple for sure, but he's helped move the entire art form forward. a joy to listen to, and truly a nice guy too. i shot him earlier this summer, but this gig had much better lighting.

Peter Walker is a long-standing acoustic guitar player who ran w/ the big names in the '60s while he recorded for Vanguard...regaled us w/ tales of being in Ravi Shankar's school w/ some guy named George Harrison. lived in spain and fused his raga knowledge w/ flamenco. excellent.

first up, Jack Rose

#1
http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p451914517-4.jpg


#2
http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p95507656-4.jpg

#3
http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p86373270-4.jpg

#4 (with Glenn Jones)
http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p383205173-4.jpg

Peter Walker

#5 (psst, do you see me?)
http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p511019270-4.jpg

#6
http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p477521334-4.jpg

#7
http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p518782746-4.jpg

#8
http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p102478951-4.jpg

[taygull]

Narlus,

These are very good images that I think they would be proud of.

Other than #4 the only thing for me is that they don't say "performance" or live show. They could be the guitarist in studio. Of course it could be the venue you were shooting in as well. I'd like to see some shots that capture a little bit more of the area around the performer so you can get a "feel" for the "show". Does that make sense?

I like the close up when mixed in with shots that capture more of the mood, kinda like what the audience would see. Where these would work real nice would be on or in a CD cover.

[johnstoy]

Wow, Narlus, this is way, way great...
I'm dying to know what lens you got the close ups with...crisp, sharp, seriously professional stuff...

A while back, Dwight told me that a black background is difficult to work with...I find it isolates the performer individually...Lately, I started walking way to the back of the venue floor, to capture the entire stage again...It's not easy to do, with a packed house...As it also interrupts the action on the stage, when I get up from a front row seat...

[narlus]

Taygull, the club (middle east upstairs) is a small (capacity of under 200) no-frills place which usually hosts rock shows. this was an early show (doors @ 6) because there was a rock show starting @ 9. as for energy, it was a smallish, sedate crowd...probably about 50 people or so? and as Peter was playing, there were definitely some (uh, i don't want to get in trouble) elders there, who probably saw him play around harvard sq in the late 60s...indeed, one woman was sitting in a chair knitting, during jack's set (there aren't typically chairs in the room, but a few people dragged 'em out from somewhere).

what this meant is that i had free reign of the room, which was nice...usually i'm pinned into one spot w/ no zooms. here, i could really use the foot zoom and compose how i wanted, but i tried to minimize this so i wasn't a nuisance (unlike the other photog who was flashing both performers and audience?!). since the stage setup was so sparse, mainly an empty stage w/ a couple of chairs, and some light, i decided to focus on the performer and get tight crops. my one allowance to a wider shot using the 30mm was to get jack's beverage and footwear of choice in the frame :D

http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p300332605-2.jpg

john, the Walker shots were two from the 50 and two from the 85. jack's photos used the 85, 50, 50, 30, in order.

thanks again for the comments; i gave them to Jack's publicist/booking agent and she was rather chuffed, as the UK'ers put it. maybe they'll end up useful somewhere.

edit - john, one comment about the black backdrop...lately, i've been using curves to push the shadows a bit harder, esp where there's nothing interesting in the background...i find it makes the subject that more prominent.

[johnstoy]

Ah, the brewski for a rinse of the throat...makes not for best of props on stage...HaHa...way cool Narlus...

The feed back regarding Taygull's question puts a good perspective on the happenings at the show...

Thanks for the lens info...I'll open another widow of this page up and compare the set with the lenses used...It gives me the perspective of... almost like being there taking pictures...

I'll try that black background shadow enhancement for creating greater depth in the photos...sounds real good to me, thanks...

[livewire-photography.com]

oooohhhh me likes number 6 Narlus, Very nice.
James....

[johnstoy]

I'm writing to see where everyone else is Narlus...

This week was pretty slow with the postings here...These are some of the best photos in this forum...and the count on the viewers is a bit low...I wonder what's going on...

Hopefully, well get the posters who can write back...feedback is always cool to get...

Later,

John

[René Damkot]

I'll bite ;)
#3 is a bit too dark, #2 and 8 are best IMO.
Why are #7 and 8 framed so much to the right? Lot of dead space behind him, while I'd liked a bit more in front....

[narlus]

good question on #8, i guess i don't have a good answer.

for #7, i wanted to capture the reflected red and blue cans from the guitar body.

i was afraid that if i pushed the levels on #3, his face would get really noisy. since jack had his tilted for the entire performance, it was a pretty wide range from the brightness of light reflected off the guitar and what shadows were there on half his face.

[narlus]

sorry to bump an old thread; in regards to Jack's untimely and tragic death, the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/arts/music/09rose.html?scp=1&sq=%22Jack%20Rose%22&st=cse) and Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/12/10/jack_rose_38_founding_member_of_noise_band_pelt/) both used a photo of mine (#2 above, which also made it into the 1st POTN book) to accompany their obituaries. at least the Globe remembered to credit me.

[Sven-EOS]

Wow, these photos have 'feeling'. Beautiful!

[bacchanal]

maybe they'll end up useful somewhere.

Kind of crazy how stuff works sometimes. Glad you bumped this thread though, and it's nice that your photo got the exposure that it deserved.

I know you're probably not looking for comments at this point, but I have to say, 1 and 2 are fantastic. I also really like 5 and 8...the expression in 5 is great and I actually like the composition in 8. If it were me I would even consider cropping a little off of the bottom and right side...like he sort of has his back to the black void.

[BJWOK]

congrats on the published work tim, despite the circumstances they were used.

nice work on the shots, i probably wouldn't have posted 1 and 3 (only cos they are the weakest of the set i think).

on another note ravi shankar has been announced for womadelaide next year! add that to calexico and there's two definites i'm shooting that day!