The Golden Boys: Fabian, Frankie Avalon & Bobby Rydell

These guys are all just a touch older than me so I could really relate to Bobby's hip replacement (although I haven't had that yet) and the hair pieces, etc. These were the guys who made the music scene when TV was just tiny B&W and records had big holes! Well, no reminescing ... you young whipper-snappers wouldn't understand anyway. Shot only in RAW and processed in LightRoom with gallery by Project Seven:

#1 The Collage:

They were very popular when I was about 5! But they still look very good. And your shots, of course, are amazing. How you get them to look great, Dwight? Hair pieces aside, they still look very sexy for old guys.

SuzyView wrote in post #3200110
They were very popular when I was about 5! But they still look very good. And your shots, of course, are amazing. How you get them to look great, Dwight? Hair pieces aside, they still look very sexy for old guys.

Suzy, Suzy, Suzy, you should know by now that I use magic to make my images look good! Beyond that the EXIF is all intact as well as IPTC data.

They look sexy? Whoa, then I look amazing! They seem so "ordinary" and approachable compared with most of today's more modern rock stars who oft times seem quite full of themselves.

Like the collage. Pity you didn't have a wider shot of Frankie Avalon: Now it looks like his arm is "behind" Fabian, where it really should be the other way around (from size).
I like the 'thirties' (?) lettering though.
The 'twist' stage shot: Not good on a technical level. The other one (panorama ratio) in your gallery is *way* better. I don't see the one you used as a BG for the collage, but that also looks better.

Close-ups are the usual "McCann quality". Nice.
I very much like the shots where they walk through the audience.

The fisheye images don't work for me.

On the gallery: Like it. Just smooth enough transitions from one image to another (might be the bandwith). But when going from landscape to portrait, the changing of the frame takes too long. (and I'm not on thàt slow a connection). Maybe use a square 'box', so all images fit?

Dwight, they must have had good lighting and make-up for the tan look. But really, aren't they around 70 now? Tony Bennett is going to be in DC next week and he's 80. They still sound great.

The fisheye is okay for me. And I could be any one of those ladies on stage. Actually, I don't go to concerts much these days. My ears can't take the loud noise anymore. And I am glad you mentioned them being approachable. I often wonder why these old guys go on the road after all those years. But I guess they really enjoy the crowd and performing.

René Damkot wrote in post #3202362
Like the collage. Pity you didn't have a wider shot of Frankie Avalon: Now it looks like his arm is "behind" Fabian, where it really should be the other way around (from size).
I like the 'thirties' (?) lettering though.
The 'twist' stage shot: Not good on a technical level. The other one (panorama ratio) in your gallery is *way* better. I don't see the one you used as a BG for the collage, but that also looks better.

Close-ups are the usual "McCann quality". Nice.
I very much like the shots where they walk through the audience.

The fisheye images don't work for me.

On the gallery: Like it. Just smooth enough transitions from one image to another (might be the bandwith). But when going from landscape to portrait, the changing of the frame takes too long. (and I'm not on thàt slow a connection). Maybe use a square 'box', so all images fit?

Doing collages where there are three headliners is a horror show ... ZZ Top was the same thing ... I simply have no artistic sense. As it was I worked for about an hour to get these three images and try to get them sized about the same ... I gave up trying to get the lighting closer even with the RAW images (maybe not enough experience yet!) The only alternative I can come up with is to put a bunch smaller square images with borders over some sort of full stage background shot ... but I am constrained to show the full stage somehow as these are as much about the production as the headliners.

The gallery is a compromise since nothing I have found does exactly what I would like and I have spent way too much time trying to find and configure such a beast already. I have recently taken on an assistant who has a Masters in Art and perhaps she and I will come up with something better over time. The other main galleries I have tried are from PhotoMechanic and LightRoom. Price is no object but time is of the essence.

The twister shot! I have about a dozen. They all look the same to me. The "panorama" one I just decided to crop one or two in LightRoom. Again, I think this is where my artistic failing shows me up. I will always welcome explanations and comparisons and contrasts ... I'll go back and look at these again.

Frankie was the only one who ventured into the audience and he gave it everything he had. He stayed out there about five or six minutes, made sure to go all the way back to the "cheap seats" at the risers (which are quite excellent actually), worked the middle, introduced Tab Hunter (an actor and friend of his) and generally made the ladies swoon over and over. In fact, he went farther than expected toward the back and surprised the spotlight techs when he went up the risers as they couldn't follow him that close. He was clearly the star of this trio!

I really like the fisheye shots ... it's the closest I come to "art" and knowing the venue they are very meaningful to me. And almost no one else gets this type of image so it may become another 'signature' style like the close ups.

SuzyView wrote in post #3202672
Dwight, they must have had good lighting and make-up for the tan look. But really, aren't they around 70 now? Tony Bennett is going to be in DC next week and he's 80. They still sound great.

The fisheye is okay for me. And I could be any one of those ladies on stage. Actually, I don't go to concerts much these days. My ears can't take the loud noise anymore. And I am glad you mentioned them being approachable. I often wonder why these old guys go on the road after all those years. But I guess they really enjoy the crowd and performing.

The lighting at the casino is (almost) always stunning! If you check the EXIF you will see that I have plenty to work with. The boys are all in their mid sixties ... just three or four years my senior. It was great seeing their B&W film clips projected on the two big screens in the front ... they looked quite doofus bordering on totally silly ... and then they'd cut to a shot of three or four girls all dolled up in dresses crying their hearts out (I've never figured out why they cry under these circumstances.) It was fun.

I think they miss the adulation ... it must be somewhat addicting to be just an ordinary schlep and suddenly have thousands of people telling you how amazing or talented or cute you are ... people are just people (except Brittany and Paris, of course) and their egos get used to being swollen. Some get haughty but some just want it to continue forever. It must be tough to stop performing and suddenly discover that nobody cares about you any more ... like having to face your own mortality ... so they go back on the road.

Great work! Refreshing seeing these guys are still performing. I feel your pain with the collages, I am starting to play around with them and experiment and do stupid things everytime like flipping an image so it looks better against the backdrop then the family and fans fall in love with it and want to make 20 shirts, and I have to tell them I have to redo it, because their hero's tattoo is on the wrong side and is spelled backwards, arghhhhhh! I thought processing shots took alot of time, but collages are an abyss of time sucking torture...but when you do pull one off, kinda makes you feel...wow...that's cool.
Linda

Photodawg1 wrote in post #3211048
Great work! Refreshing seeing these guys are still performing. I feel your pain with the collages, I am starting to play around with them and experiment and do stupid things everytime like flipping an image so it looks better against the backdrop then the family and fans fall in love with it and want to make 20 shirts, and I have to tell them I have to redo it, because their hero's tattoo is on the wrong side and is spelled backwards, arghhhhhh! I thought processing shots took alot of time, but collages are an abyss of time sucking torture...but when you do pull one off, kinda makes you feel...wow...that's cool.
Linda

Oh, yes, be careful about flipping ... I once flipped a guitarist (made him left handed) and the first person who saw it asked what the heck I had done! Hmmm, hadn't thought about making shirts!

The hair pieces are definitely a little much, but, obviously that isn't Dwight's fault...

When will men realize than natural baldness is far more attractive than any rug could ever be?

Nice shots as always.

The close ups are real special...and # 6 is pretty cool for an action shot...

This is the show I thought would have a Clarinet in the band... At this rate, we'll never see one in any of these shows...

The hair peace thing is a sophisticated and intriguing process.
Dwight, there is a Hair lab just of Hwy 101 at Tampa Avenue and Ventura Blvd. in Woodland Hills/ just west of Tarzana... They specialize in custom natural hair weaving...(I had an office next door to them.) Busy with orders many months in advance... I thought of getting some real long bangs for the front of my head... (Yeah, that's it...that's all I would need...just some real long bangs...)

johnstoy wrote in post #3216256
The close ups are real special...and # 6 is pretty cool for an action shot...

This is the show I thought would have a Clarinet in the band... At this rate, we'll never see one in any of these shows...

The hair peace thing is a sophisticated and intriguing process.
Dwight, there is a Hair lab just of Hwy 101 at Tampa Avenue and Ventura Blvd. in Woodland Hills/ just west of Tarzana... They specialize in custom natural hair weaving...(I had an office next door to them.) Busy with orders many months in advance... I thought of getting some real long bangs for the front of my head... (Yeah, that's it...that's all I would need...just some real long bangs...)

piece out...

Going way out on your limb Johnstoy...These artists are great in their talent and to discuss them in any way less than that, is well...lowering your bar.
Linda

Photodawg1 wrote in post #3218240
piece out...

Going way out on your limb Johnstoy...These artists are great in their talent and to discuss them in any way less than that, is well...lowering your bar.
Linda

Only my first sentence pertains to the performers Linda...

The stuff regarding the clarinet is just some old stuff Dwight and I wondered about... In the 60 shows I photographed this past year, I've yet to see one... And Dwight also hasn't seen one... (Except for Bobby Vinton...)

As for the artificial hair... that's just men with receding hair lines talking... No biggie...

I try to address each show critique independent of my work or anyone's other postings... Instead, I look at the effort that went into the specific event and how the results are presented...

Dwight always gives it 110% in his efforts to cover and present the events...

Re #5: Because I am old enough to be your big brother, what I see in this image are a line of cheerleaders from f the Class of 1960, whose physical attributes no longer match their memories of times past. This is said in sympathy...I am teaching in China, where my nickname is "BIG old foreigner."
btw: On your Tips thread you refer to your Q & A's, but I didn't find a link. Is it still available?
Enjoy!

caljimw wrote in post #3238038
Re #5: Because I am old enough to be your big brother, what I see in this image are a line of cheerleaders from f the Class of 1960, whose physical attributes no longer match their memories of times past. This is said in sympathy...I am teaching in China, where my nickname is "BIG old foreigner."
btw: On your Tips thread you refer to your Q & A's, but I didn't find a link. Is it still available?
Enjoy!

Good to hear from you again. I am ever busier but somehow no richer! The link to my Q&A page here at POTN is now in the FAQ at the top of the list of threads in this forum. And yes, those girls were the cheerleaders ... they still were able to do the Twist fairly well without damaging themselves.

the twist often wins the crowds cause it's so easy to do.

last month, a band photographer called me "pops"...i'll be turning 56 soon...