Tower of Power [Large Images Warning]

[DwightMcCann]

Pekka was interested in Tower of Power who I shot a couple of nights ago at the Chumash Casino Resort. I am not really happy with the images as they don't seem to have the sizzle that I like, but they were opening for Tom Jones (images later) and they limited me to first three songs (their loss) and I just didn't manage to do them justice. With that said, here are some images:

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/TowerOfPower/TP9776-1000.jpg

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/TowerOfPower/TP9657-1000.jpg

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/TowerOfPower/TP9733-1000.jpg

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/TowerOfPower/TP9651-1000.jpg

As always, there are more images from this concert on my website at http://www.dwightmccann.com/ChumashCasinoResort/TowerOfPower06242005.htm

[DwightMcCann]

Bloo, There is $750K worth of stage lighting driven by a fairly complex "board" whose driver sits in the back of the hall. In addition to all the controls on the board, they often hook two or three laptops to the board that apparently have programs. Each of the lights is on a gimbal gizmo that can point anywhere from the back of the stage to the back of the hall and on both sides. The lights can be focused, change almost any color, strobe and project a variety of patterns ... those heads must really be expensive. In addition to that, there are a bunch of 'cans' that have remote functions but it may only color. Then there are one to four spotlights coming from near the ceiling in the back of the room.

The casino has a couple of light operators who can really make equipment dance. Same is true for the sound guys. Many of the high end acts bring their own guys for both light and sound and do a terrible job. Some of the acts can take a hint and let the local guys run the equipment. And, of course, there have been acts where their owns guys are really excellent as was the case with Chaka Khans lighting director ... he squeezed the last bit if sizzle out of the system!

No, I don't talk with anyone about what is going to happen. Usually, the high priced talent managers act as though they are too important to talk with anyone ... even the Director of Entertainment and/or the talent buyer who got them the gig to start with. Many are stupendously arrogant, which I suspect is trickle down from the talent. Others couldn't be any nicer but don't really have time to chat. Tony's people were easy and reasonable. Chaka Khan's people and Tom Jones people were *******s (I must have mistyped that!)

The lighting is absolutely unrelated to what I am doing. The acts, with a few exceptions, have no interest in my photography. They are on the road. They have a lot do. There are a lot of pressures from people wanting things from them almost continuously. I get paid the same whether I shoot two songs or a two hour show ... the images just aren't as good. My exhibits are better when I have gotten to shoot more images over a broader range of lighting situations. To a very large extent I rely on the "show" providing me with the opportunities I need and sometimes I just don't get them, sigh.

Doc was moving good and sounded good. We had a group recently whose keyboardist was a Doc, a medical doctor ... in face, a coroner for L. A. Very strange.

[DwightMcCann]

No one sees my images outside the casino and those who find them on my website. So far none of the talent pictures of mine have gone further than the walls of the managers. The hire me mostly for historical record and to provide images to tribal members (who own the place ... of the fifteen or twenty I have interacted with ALL have been very nice, considerate, friendly and helpful.) I think the casino might be able to market them to the talent somehow and we could work a deal, but at the moment I'm not pushing anything. This is an incredible opportunity to build a portfolio of top flight talent ... in three years I'll have 100-150 shoots of big names under generally excellent lighting conditions that may help me market my skills. As time goes on I hope to learn more and more about the business end of things.

As for your final question, I don't normally deal directly with their management ... the talent buyer or the Director of Entertainment does that. At the moment I don't think they have a full appreciation of what they could require but I'll bide my time before making any suggestions. Have you got any suggestions? :-)

[Curtis N]

I gotta figure that if they're concerned about their "image" they would wear something better than a stocking cap. Some of those guys look like they stumbled out onto the stage wearing whatever they woke up in that morning. Apparently they're not concerned with how their attire interacts with the lighting.

Thanks for posting these, Dwight. Those are great shots considering the brutal lighting. Did you use tungsten white balance or did you tweak it some other way?

[DwightMcCann]

Curtis, I wonder about that all the time ... seems totally group dependent, although I think it is just the "white boys, and mostly the Americans at that" who dress poorly. If you look at my B.B. King or Moody Blues images or any of the Latin or Black bands, they dress to kill! Often with matching outfits. They look cohesive. I like that ... and I'm a bleeding heart liberal.

The lighting is both brutal and spectacular, depending on whose running them and which split second you capture. I normally leave it on auto WB when shooting the casino and then to a little touch up "color cast" in PhotoImpact ... if it looks better I go with the adjustment and if it doesn't then I leave it as is. While I'm confessing, I also frequently clone out non-musical objects such as water bottles which have started to litter the playing area anymore.

I have some Starship images that I shot last night with my Fuji that I will be uploading this coming week.

[MattL]

Bloo, There is $750K worth of stage lighting driven by a fairly complex "board" whose driver sits in the back of the hall. In addition to all the controls on the board, they often hook two or three laptops to the board that apparently have programs. Each of the lights is on a gimbal gizmo that can point anywhere from the back of the stage to the back of the hall and on both sides.

Thats what I do :-)

[Belmondo]

Dwight:
You're being a little hard on yourself. Tower of Power is not a visually interesting group to begin with, and you shots are just fine.

I was actually thinking of you last night. We went to a Charlie Daniels concert last night at one of our local casinos, and I was thinking about how difficult it would be to be taking photos (I wasn't). The constantly changing lighting are an incredible challenge, and you seem to handle it quite well.

[DwightMcCann]

Matt, that's fantastic! The board in your picture is about 1/4 the size of theirs, maybe even smaller by comparison. Where do you learn this skill? I am going to have to ask Rich for a quick overview of it next time there is slack time. What do they use the PC's for?

Belmondo, EVERY SHOW is an incredible challenge. :-) Thank you. And it was a real eye opener to go back and shoot with my Fuji and discover how much harder it is!

Bloo, I put the camera/lens on top of the speaker where I always set my stuff, which is on the floor to the side of the stage. It is about four feet hight which makes it a perfect table. It usually barely vibrates and there is room enough on it for my Pelican case, bottle of water (no alcohol at the events) and a lens or two and the camera to sit. I put the camera down on it and went to the head. I think that Tower of Power used that speaker like no other group has ever used it, making it bounce, and my camera simply "walked off" the edge. TofP was still playing when I got back and I leaned on the speaker and was nearly knocked over. Everyone watches out for me at the casino and I am 99.99% sure it was my own carelessness. It is a minor blessing in disguise as it gave me an opportunity to have to rely on the Fuji/Nikon equipment and really appreciate the step up with my Canon gear. I will be staking out a new place for my equipment when I shoot Lyle Lovett Friday night!

[DwightMcCann]

Tower of Power is coming back to casino soon and I was just looking at these images and thinking that I will do better this time around. I have tried to contact them but haven't heard back. I will take some prints from this concert to see if I can evoke any interest.

[adam*]

I'm guessing that is NZ TOTP matt?

[earplugsrequired]

No, I don't talk with anyone about what is going to happen. Usually, the high priced talent managers act as though they are too important to talk with anyone ... even the Director of Entertainment and/or the talent buyer who got them the gig to start with. Many are stupendously arrogant, which I suspect is trickle down from the talent. Others couldn't be any nicer but don't really have time to chat. Tony's people were easy and reasonable. Chaka Khan's people and Tom Jones people were *******s (I must have mistyped that!)

The lighting is absolutely unrelated to what I am doing. The acts, with a few exceptions, have no interest in my photography. They are on the road. They have a lot do. There are a lot of pressures from people wanting things from them almost continuously. I get paid the same whether I shoot two songs or a two hour show ... the images just aren't as good. My exhibits are better when I have gotten to shoot more images over a broader range of lighting situations. To a very large extent I rely on the "show" providing me with the opportunities I need and sometimes I just don't get them, sigh.

Doc was moving good and sounded good. We had a group recently whose keyboardist was a Doc, a medical doctor ... in face, a coroner for L. A. Very strange.

I'm quite the opposite here. I know many of the lighting guys now from shooting shows. The lighting guy can be your best friend when photographing. I talk to them before hand and find out what the lighting is going to be. My one friend who does lights has told me numerous times to just come over and let him know I'm shooting and he will make sure to add lighting to the first three songs for me. I recently shot a club show and the lighting guy was going over the lighting for each song in the set. We were just sitting in the dressing room and I thanked him and told him that I only have the first three songs. The singer for the band was sitting in front of me and was like "oh you can do the entire set". I do like doing that as well as shooting a band a few times with the same lighting set up.

[Ballen Photo]

Dwight, I think you did as well as could be done for this large of a group shot. Shooting what appears to be a 9 piece band presents a whole different set of problems trying to get intimate looking shots of the whole group, as opposed to a 3, 4, or 5 piece group. IMHO, to properly view this shot as it should be on a PC monitor is almost impossible. It would have to be blown up to almost poster size to view it the way it should be. :rolleyes:
The best thought I can come up with is to try and shoot them in smaller groups of two or three, to be able to show the detail you want, and hopefully catch these smaller groups interacting with each other at the moment the shutter is released. I know you will also want shots showing the whole band of course. Good luck with the up and coming T of P shoot. I cant wait to see them. :D
-Bruce

[Steve Parr]

The Tower Of Power Horns are the finest horn section ever to grace a recording.

And, Dwight, let me know when you need an assistant. A few hours of drive time would be worth it, I think. Hell, it's less than 300 miles. Turn it into an overnighter, and I'm in!

Steve

[floydianslip6]

As usual amazing shots! Though the band may not be terribly visually interesting, your shots certainly make them look great! How fast was the lens you were using?

[DwightMcCann]

Earplugs, I know the all casino staff and often sit with the lighting guy when he runs the board and sometimes shoot from his little platform. Generally the lighting is very good all the time including first three songs ... I just have no clue what they are going to do ... perhaps I should make more effort to find out. I do know they are coordinated via headsets most of the time ... with a lighting director often giving cues on who to spot next, etc. Maybe I should find out about intercepting their conversations.

However, the big talent's staff rarely has time, let alone any inclination, to even speak with me. Perhaps a bigger reputation would help. I am also thinking of seeing if the talent buyer will pass along a CD of my work to each major performer ... maybe with those ugly copyright watermarks in significant places across the images. It is not as though I work for an entertainment publication, although perhaps I should investigate that, too ... any suggestions?

[DwightMcCann]

Bruce, they have very recently elevated the read 1/3 of the seating and there is a good spot for getting whole band images from back there. When I shot them last time when they opened for Tom Jones, I was very new to my new equipment. I also didn't have the 300mm f/2.8L that I now use a lot. We'll see how much I have improved!

[DwightMcCann]

Steve, sounds good but there is no way you could get a camera in and probably no way anyone but Marna could get in with me ... it would have been difficult before this calendar year, but now they are putting in place stricter security ... apparently there have been a few "incidents" (everything from bare breasts to drugs) and the tribe absolutely won't put up with it and they are the Law! I was stopped for the first time by a uniformed guard at Sawyer Brown (pictures are in the pipeline with ETA here at POTN this weekend) last week because I was on my way to get my All Access pass to go with the casino PhotoID I was wearing already and I needed to go through an All Access pass required area! I really like all this security ... I leave my equipment spread around the Samala Room some nights as I put things down and pick them up, and I never worry about anything being taken.

And, yes, I have heard that the horn section hires out as a unit to other performers! It is a strong instrumental group all around.

[DwightMcCann]

Flyod, EXIF is in all images ... my slowest lens used is f/2.8.

[earplugsrequired]

Earplugs, I know the all casino staff and often sit with the lighting guy when he runs the board and sometimes shoot from his little platform. Generally the lighting is very good all the time including first three songs ... I just have no clue what they are going to do ... perhaps I should make more effort to find out. I do know they are coordinated via headsets most of the time ... with a lighting director often giving cues on who to spot next, etc. Maybe I should find out about intercepting their conversations.

However, the big talent's staff rarely has time, let alone any inclination, to even speak with me. Perhaps a bigger reputation would help. I am also thinking of seeing if the talent buyer will pass along a CD of my work to each major performer ... maybe with those ugly copyright watermarks in significant places across the images. It is not as though I work for an entertainment publication, although perhaps I should investigate that, too ... any suggestions?

This last guy that went over his lighting with me was a bit more technical than I needed.. Usually I find out which songs have strobes since they are such a pain to deal with etc.. I know when I saw the Foo Fighters this last time, the lighting guy came to me afterwards and told me he knew I was happy when one of his strobes blew during the show!. He knows I hate strobes and he always uses them. Bands love them.

The other thing is lighting guys love to get photos for themselves to have in their portfolios.. I just put together a book for a friend that does lights.

Do you have a local entertainment guide in your area of what's upcoming and what has played through the area?

[DwightMcCann]

Ears, I got a list of shows done by Rich and I will be going through getting images from them so he can decide which ones he likes and would like prints of ... do you have any idea how many is a useful number? I don't want to do five and find he wanted ten, but I don't want to do 40 and find out he only can use five!