Lancaster Photography

Video Editing Now an Option!

2012-01-25T21:50:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks.

In the last year, I've had to turn down a lot of video inquiries. Doing video for weddings or musicians is much more time consuming and costly than still-photography, from an overhead standpoint. Not to mention that many people asked about it as well as doing still photography for their wedding... kinda hard to do one when I'm already doing the other.

Since Lancaster Photography is a small operation (meaning: myself, and a few part-time affiliates), it's just not doable or profitable at this point.

The thing is, I've been doing video editing for years and am current with the latest software/methods/formats. It's been a strong hobby of mine this entire time, along with audio post-work (see the video page for examples).

So, what to do?

I had this thought. Even if you don't hire a professional camera man with the insanely expensive video rig, you probably have (or will have) a bunch of funny, sweet, silly, stupid, or downright offensive video footage from your wedding/event that you'd like to save, but don't know exactly what to do with. I'm talking video from iPhones, Flip cams, camcorders, etc. that you or your guests filmed throughout the night.

Now, for an hourly editing fee, you can give me all of that priceless footage (I don't judge, trust me) to splice together with music, titles, transitions, captions, video enhancements, and audio enhancements... and voila! ...you have a movie! Once it's finished, I can give you the final product in any format you like, including DVD.

Contact me for rates and ideas, and let's finally do something with all those random video clips that are currently eating up space on your computer's hard drive.

clay@lancasterphoto.net

SOPA, PIPA and the end of Digital Freedom

2012-01-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

US Capitol. Don't worry, I took this photo. It's not copyright infringement.

This has nothing to do with photography. Well, maybe it does. After all, I am in an industry that is certainly subject to copyright infringement.

That said, I'm growing increasingly concerned over the state of our country, the power of our government, and the things it believes it's capable of controlling.

Most are familiar with SOPA and PIPA by now, thanks to large sites like Google protesting the proposed legislation, and sites like Wikipedia voluntarily going offline for 24 hours to make their point. But today the Federal government has stepped in and shut down Megaupload, one of the world's leading file sharing sites.

This is a big deal because it starts to pave way for our government to not only get you into trouble if you share copyrighted material, but for even having copyrighted material... even if you're unaware that it's sitting on your servers.

It also potentially paves way for government to monitor and view all your private data in order to make sure you don't have any copyrighted material.

I might be naive, but I'd like to think that my grandfather didn't fight in WWII to protect a country that would just turn around and screw its citizens.

This is getting out of hand fast, and rather than go into too much detail here, please read the article I just wrote for theFIVE10.com.

theFIVE10.com : MEGAUPLOAD FILE SHARING SITE SHUT DOWN BY FEDS

what do you think of the whole thing?

-Clay

Walnut Creek Engagement Shoot & 2012 Happenings

2012-01-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

2012 is shaping up to be a busy year, and it starts now I guess!

Hopefully it's a sign of a slight economic recovery, but by January 1st much of my 2012 calendar was already booked. I've had to turn away three weddings this week alone because the dates were taken, so get a hold of me soon if you think you're gonna need me. Great for business, but I hate having to turn people down.

Since the week of New Year's, I've been to Reno, NV - Carson City, NV - San Francisco, CA - Los Angeles, CA... and everywhere in between. That's a lot of driving, especially when the starter on my car is acting like it's 90 years old.

Last week I cruised down to Hollywood to work on a video with the other half of Lancaster Media (my brother Keith Lancaster), then came back to the Bay Area to finish edits on a wedding, had a couple of meetings, and then an engagement shoot here in Walnut Creek on Saturday morning. Here are a few of my favorite photos from that session:

Wedding at Mills College - Oakland, CA. End of 2011!

2012-01-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great New Year's celebration! I was lucky enough to spend it at one of my favorite venues in San Francisco with many of my favorite people, watching my pals in Happy Body Slow Brain debut a new song and bring down the house. Can't think of many better ways to ring in the new year.

My last wedding of 2011 was for a lovely academic couple, held at Mills College in Oakland, CA. I really enjoy the intimacy of a small wedding, and I think this was the first time I've been served breakfast at one! Not to mention it was the first time I had done a wedding at a college (which apparently have chapels... didn't know that).

The room was super unique... round, with the alter in the center, and a large pipe organ on the back side. Very dimly lit, which was not conducive to photography but sure had a great atmosphere, and I managed to get some cool photos regardless.

This couple is really sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed that they appreciated my stupid jokes throughout the day.

Merry Christmas for 2011!

2011-12-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

This has certainly been an interesting holiday season.

I'm headed to my parents' house in a bit for some Xmas eve cocktails and dinner, but I figured I'd wish my pals, clients, acquaintances (and anyone else who happens to stumble across this) a Merry Christmas!

Next week will be a fun one, as we head to Reno, NV to film the third installment of our "Gone Golfing" series... which is basically a movie about our adventures on a crappy golf course as we desperately try to make par. The last movie was 2003, so it's been almost nine years! Very much looking forward to it.

Speaking of Reno, here's a little photo of us sledding on Xmas weekend a couple of years ago. This canyon is our back yard... literally. Of course, the house isn't there anymore (see what happened to it) but that won't stop us from sledding there again! As soon as there's snow, anyway.

Sledding in our back yard in Reno, NV. Before the house burned down.

Be safe, eat food, drink some drinks, open some presents...

-Clay

Holidays, Weddings, Parties, and General Merriment

2011-12-06T16:24:00.001-08:00

Hi folks!

OK... what a crazy month. I had a clear calendar for basically all of November, which ended up being the perfect decision.

At the beginning of the month was Angela's birthday, then we headed to Gettysburg, PA for a week of relaxing and historical education with my mom and step-dad, topped off with a few days in Washington DC, then our family's house burned down in the 2,000-acre Caughlin fire up in Reno, then came Thanksgiving, then my birthday, then time to break out the decorations and get a Christmas tree!

With all the activity, it was nice to not have any "work" to do. I say "work" because I love being a photographer, so it never really feels like work to me.

Some fun things coming down the pipeline soon, so I promise more of these posts will be actually related to photography.

Until then, get yourself into the holiday spirit with this lovely photo (taken by Keith Lancaster) of me, face-planted into the snow a couple of Christmases ago:

Up In Smoke - Caughlin Fire in Reno, NV.

2011-11-22T11:59:00.001-08:00

My parents raised me with three main phrases to live by: "Life isn't fair", "Shit Happens", and "No one owes you anything". Those words of wisdom have helped me be a very self-sustaining person, and I'd like to think they also helped be deal well with bad news.

Friday, November 18th I woke up and loaded Facebook to see a friend's post about his family being evacuated in Reno because of wildfires. I thought it was weird because a) I hadn't heard anything about fires going on, and b) it's mid-November... way past fire season.

About 10 minutes later I checked my email as usual, to find a message from my mom saying that our house was gone. Excuse the language, but my only thought was "...what the fuck?"

Immediately I went to news websites in the Reno area, and it only took a few minutes before I found this image:

2410 Pioneer Dr. up in flames on November 18th, 2011.

Our house before the fire.

That's our house, where I spent much of my childhood growing up (and is still my parents' primary residence). At first I was skeptical and thought to myself, "Nah, that can't be our house. Ours has an upstairs deck on the right side". But it didn't take long to notice the unique ski lift pole that we have holding up that upstairs balcony, and I realized that the balcony was already gone.

Needless to say, it's an ordeal. My step-brother and step-sister live in Reno still, I'm in the San Francisco bay area, my younger brother lives in Los Angeles, and my parents were at their 2nd home in Gettysburg, PA at the time, getting ready to come back to Reno for the holiday season and tax season (they're CPAs).

There's nothing we can do, but I still felt restless sitting at my cafe (office) here at home and watching our house in 40-ft flames on the news. So I closed my laptop, walked home, packed a bag, and hit the road to drive the 3.5 hours to Reno just so I can be there for emotional support. As I rolled into town, it occurred to me that no one even knew I was coming, and my parents were on a plane from PA so I couldn't tell them.

Getting off highway 80, I immediately went up the hill to our neighborhood. Police cars blocked every corner and I was asked a series of questions (and had to show my ID) just to be allowed onto our street. I parked the car and got out to see our front walkway, which now leads to open air and a burned canyon behind it (click photos to enlarge):

Our front walkway. Still visible: the wall of my brother's room & our fireplace.

This house was unique. Built in 1972 (approx), the first owners were avid skiers. The design of the house reflected that, with a Tahoe-cabin look and even an authentic ski lift pole that supported our upstairs balcony. Everyone's favorite feature, however, was a bridge inside (yes, inside) the front door. As you walked over it, you could look downstairs to our den before descending into the bedroom wing of the house.

My parents divorced when I was 12, and about 18 years ago my step-dad and his kids moved out of their house in Sparks, NV to this one... where it was our first (and only) house as a combined family.

My mom, Ellen Mann, peering into what remains of our garage and her car.

Everyone has their memories of this house. My parents still lived there half the year (and half in PA) as their business is in Reno, my step-sister lived there throughout middle school & high school (and a while after), my step-brother lived there until he was 18 (but still returned often... he was there doing laundry & playing our grand piano the night before it burned), my younger brother moved there when I went to college & lived there until 2004 when he then moved to Nashville, and I lived there during summers, holidays, school breaks, many weekends, and went up periodically to visit when I could get the time off work. We made numerous silly home movies, and I wrote & recorded over 100 goofy songs with my step-brother throughout the years in this house.

my brother and me in 2009 vs. the same fireplace today

The family is doing fine. Some take it harder than others of course, but everyone is safe (which is all that really matters). Numerous police officers, firefighters, gawking neighbors, news cameras, and family members were around all weekend. My parents were interviewed and on the evening news both Sunday and Monday, and they aired an interview with me on Monday night as well.

The property is blocked off as unsafe (the garage could still collapse more) but firefighters are still people too, so on Saturday they looked the other way and let us roam through the debris for an hour or so and just asked us to be really careful. That was a nice gesture, although some yellow caution tape wasn't going to stop me from checking everything out.

Everyone has been super nice and helpful, and my parents have had about 20 invitations to Thanksgiving dinner. The kind boys of Happy Body Slow Brain even offered donations. Bless their hearts, considering they need that money to tour and live off of.

As my mom said, "It's just stuff. We can replace stuff." Of course, some of that "stuff" are things like all of our baby photos, some home movies, family heirlooms (like our grand piano), and even WWII and Civil War relics that my step-dad has collected over the years. Those can't be replaced.

what's left of the grand piano. Passed to my step-dad from his father.

However I offered my take on it, which my family found comforting as well, that at least no one else will get to live in that house. It'll always be our house. When my parents are ready to retire back East, we won't have to watch some new family living in our old rooms. That made me feel a lot better about the whole thing, as selfish as it sounds.

Anyway, we're making the best of it. My favorite moment this weekend was as we stepped through the wreckage, with news vans and cameras around, my step-brother opens the partially-burned mailbox and courteously shouts "...No mail yet!".

Thanks to everyone who has shown their concern. Enjoy (lol) the rest of the photos below, and everyone have a happy Thanksgiving and Holiday Season!

...oh, and take all your photos and home movies, put them on DVDs, and mail them to your relatives. You'll thank me if you're ever in a similar situation.

-Clay

(more photos by Clay Lancaster):

Caughlin fire in Reno, NV on Pioneer Dr.

Ray and Ellen Mann talk to Channel 4 News in front of their home

Caughlin fire in Reno, NV on Pioneer Dr.

my step-dad with our friends in the front entry, vs. the front entry now

Radiohead's "OK Computer" survived the Caughlin fire on November 18, 2011.

Gettysburg & Washington DC

2011-11-12T22:07:00.001-08:00

I spent the last week and a half on the East coast, mainly to visit my mom and step-dad at their new home in Gettysburg, PA. Both of them are civil war enthusiasts, and we got quite the tour from them around the battlefields. My step-dad is the kind of guy who will drag us through the forest to show us where someone was really killed, proving that the monument 200 yards away was placed in the wrong spot.

The weather was crisp, and there was still a lot of color in the trees. You really miss out on Fall when you live in California (here you get green leaves, brown, or nothing at all).

HDR photo of the battlefield in Gettysburg, PA.

Canons lined up along the Confederate line.

my mom.

Not only Civil War buffs, my mom and step-dad are also big into genealogy. Because of their research, I now know that my great, great, great (etc.) grandfather fought in the Civil War at Gettysburg in a regiment from North Carolina. Here is the monument honoring those N. Carolinians:

monument to the North Carolinians that fought at Gettysburg

We took a little side trip to Maryland to browse around, as well as visit "Spook Hill" (a road where if you put your car in neutral it will roll itself uphill). Among our findings was this old stone church:

The awesome thing about this church is that I had a Legend of Zelda moment when I went around the back of it. There's a stone opening in the ground with a steep staircase that leads to an old stone room underneath the church:

It reminded me of some sort of secret passageway in "A Link to the Past" (the Zelda game on Super Nintendo). Like this one:

My parents' house is nestled in the woods, about a 2 minute drive from the battlefields of Gettysburg. In fact, the Confederate troops would have marched straight through their property on their way into town. Waking up to a foggy morning in those trees was worth a photo:

foggy morning in the Gettysburg woods

After spending a cozy 5 days with them, we left my parents and ventured in to Washington DC. My grandparents lived right near the Pentagon when I was growing up, so I've been there many times. Unfortunately, the last two trips I made to DC (2003, and last September) were both for their funerals. I thought it would be nice to hang out in DC for a happier occasion finally.

Nevertheless, our first stop was Arlington Cemetery:

Arlington Cemetery near Washington DC. Photo by Clay Lancaster

It's a short stop off the metro, and thanks to my brother I was able to use the GPS location he sent me to find Grandpa and Grandma so I could say hello to them:

Grandpa & Grandma (Capt. & Mrs. Norman Lancaster USN)

Grandpa was only buried there 2 months ago, so there's still is temporary marker for him while Grandma's name is on the stone. If you didn't see my earlier post, Grandpa retired from the Navy at the rank of Captain, and served in WWII (a Pearl Harbor survivor).

It was an extremely relaxing trip (despite all the walking), and was a bit disappointing to come home to California and be thrown back into the hustle and bustle of regular life. Thanks to my mom and Chip for having us stay with them!

Oh, and I stopped by to say hi to Obama on my way out of town:

The White House. 2011. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

As always, all photos by Clay Lancaster. Except the Zelda one.

Airborne Toxic Event - The Fillmore, San Francisco.

2011-10-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

After many scheduling conflicts, the Airborne Toxic Event finally took some time to chat with us at theFIVE10.com last night at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Nice people, great show. And you guessed it... photos!

JC talks with Airborne Toxic Event on theFIVE10.com

Airborne Toxic Event performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco

All photos by Clay Lancaster (www.claylancaster.com)

Foo Fighters - Oracle Area. Oakland, CA.

2011-10-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Foo Fighters rockin' the Oracle Arena in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster

Click here to view my photos of the Foo Fighters show at Oracle arena on theFIVE10.com!

Marina Plaza Harbor Wedding - Sausalito

2011-10-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

Braving traffic last Saturday, I headed to the waterside town of Sausalito, CA to photograph Sean & Laura's wedding the the Marina Plaza Harbor.

This was one of the more quaint weddings I've done (as well as my first time shooting a wedding at a marina) and was a lot of fun. I'd have to say the highlight for me was the groom with his Les Paul, shredding away at the "Wedding March" as his bride walked down the aisle. In true rock n' roll fashion, no solo would be complete without some feedback at the end, followed by the throwing of the guitar pick into the audience.

I was later told that the guitar solo was meant to be even more elaborate, but the bridal party walked too quickly down the aisle so it had to be cut short.

Congratulations to Sean & Laura!

Photos...

Bride and Groom in Sausalito, CA. Photo by Clay Lancaster

Abbey Road Wedding Party. Sausalito, CA. Photo by Clay Lancaster

Bride and Groom in Sausalito, CA. Photo by Clay Lancaster

Smashing Pumpkins - The Fox Theater - Oakland

2011-10-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Last night was a fun shoot for me for a few reasons.

a) I hadn't shot a show in a while
b) I love the Fox Theater. Probably the nicest venue in the San Francisco Bay area
c) the shoot was Smashing Pumpkins
d) I finally had a chance to meet Billy Corgan

Smashing Pumpkins were my first concert ever. My parents weren't keen on me going to shows at a young age, so by the time I finally made it to one, it was January 4th 1997 in Reno, NV. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was on hiatus at the time, so the drummer from Filter was filling in. I remember it was super energetic, and LOUD. I was trying to talk to my friends after the show and I couldn't hear my own voice.

In my old band, we used to jam on Pumpkins tunes to warm up, and I practically wore out my copy of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness from so many repeated plays. I also remember getting upset when Disc 2 got a scratch that prevented one of my favorite tracks from playing properly.

Sure, the band isn't quite the same these days. Billy Corgan is the only original member left, and it's really noticeable not having James Iha or Jimmy Chamberlain on stage. The last show I shot was A Perfect Circle a couple of months ago, and Iha is a part of that group now... so at least I saw him this year!

Smashing Pumpkins producer Kerry Brown was a guest of ours on theFIVE10 Radio a while back, and was nice enough to hook us up last night with tickets, photo pass, and after-show passes. Thanks to him, I finally got to knock this band off my list and finally got a chance to meet Billy briefly, who has created some of the best music in rock throughout his career.

Oh, and a drunk Indian woman asked if I had a cigarette for her. When I said no, she started babbling about how no one would give her a cigarette and then called me a racist. Fun times.

Here are some photos!

Smashing Pumpkins perform at the Fox Theater in Oakland. Photo: Clay Lancaster

Billy Corgan and Clay Lancaster backstage.

Boundary Oak Wedding - Walnut Creek

2011-10-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I packed my gear and headed with my assistant Isaac to Boundary Oak Golf Course in Walnut Creek, CA. This was the wedding of Chris and Brooke, for whom I had done engagement photos earlier in the year.

The club house wedding was a blast... beautiful weather, awesome sunset, and lots of dancing and wine. What a job I have...

Until I am finished editing, here are a few of my favorite photos from Sunday.

the ceremony site at Boundary Oak. Walnut Creek, CA.

newlyweds at Boundary Oak. Walnut Creek, CA.

We had some down time during dinner, so i stepped outside onto the balcony to see the sunset. I was explaining the process of HDR to my assistant, when I decided to go ahead and try one then and there. Not too bad, eh?

HDR photo of Boundary Oak Golf Course. Walnut Creek. Photo by Clay Lancaster

Goodbye Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

2011-10-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

Just a quick entry to address the passing of Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Your ingenuity, drive, and innovation has enhanced our world, and the results of your efforts currently allow me to run my business as efficiently as I do.

Thank you for all you've done. I and virtually everyone I know will miss you.

Goodbye Grandpa (1914-2011)

2011-09-15T02:47:00.001-07:00

Been in Washington DC for the last couple of days, and currently at the airport awaiting my flight back to San Francisco.

Yesterday we said our official goodbyes to my grandpa: Capt. Norman Lancaster USN. He was born in 1914, grew up on a tobacco farm in North Carolina, used to help his dad bootleg alcohol, got a law degree, joined the Navy, fought in WWII (Pearl Harbor), was one of the original JAG corps, retired from the Navy at the rank of Captain, was married to my grandmother for close to 60 years, and died on April 25th, 2011. at the age of 96. He now rests at Arlington Cemetery, buried with full military honors.

Love you and miss you Grandpa!

Grandpa & me napping

playing in a tent with Grandpa and R2-D2

with Grandpa and Keith (my brother) at their apt. in DC

Grandpa & me at his birthday dinner. Fixing his coat.

Grandpa (center) in his Navy days

Grandpa & Grandma

Service at Arlington National Cemetery. September 14th, 2011.

From The Observer:

Norman Gray Lancaster
Castalia

Norman Gray Lancaster, age 96, retired Captain of the U.S. Navy, died April 25, 2011 at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, VA as the result of complications from pneumonia.

Captain Lancaster was born in Castalia, NC on October 1, 1914. He graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1938. After graduation and admission to the North Carolina Bar in 1938, he engaged in the general practice of law in Spring Hope, NC until December of 1940.

In August of 1940, Captain Lancaster joined the Navy "V-7" program and attended the Reserve Midshipman School at Northwestern University from December 1940 to March 1941 when he was commissioned an Ensign. Immediately upon being commissioned, he reported aboard the light cruiser USS Phoenix (CL-46) for duty. He remained aboard the Phoenix (which was moored in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked) until June 1943. Captain Lancaster was then assigned duty aboard the light cruiser USS Miami (CL-89) from December 1943 until April 1946. On both ships he served as an unrestricted line officer and was awarded several campaign medals, including the Asiatic-Pacific medal with seven battle stars.

In 1946 Captain Lancaster was transferred from unrestricted line duty and designated a legal specialist by the Secretary of the Navy, limiting his duties to the legal field. In 1967 Congress enacted a law establishing the Judge Advocate General Corps of the Navy, at which time Captain Lancaster became a member of the Corps. He retired from the Navy on June 30, 1975. Among his many and varied duties during 29 years of service in the legal field, Captain Lancaster served as a Senior Legal Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief US Forces Pacific (for which he received the Joint Services Commendation Medal), Fleet and Staff Legal Officer to Commander-in-Chief US Forces Europe (for which he received the Meritorious Service Medal), and chairman of the US Naval Military Court of Review.

Captain Lancaster was also a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner.

His survivors include his son, Norman G. Lancaster, Jr. of Danville, CA, grandsons Clayton Lancaster of Walnut Creek, CA and Keith Lancaster of Reseda, CA, and a step-grandson Christian Pollock of Layton, UT.

Funeral services with Full Military Honors will be held on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 9:00 AM at the Fort Myer Old Post Chapel on the Fort Myer Army Base in Arlington, Virginia, followed by interment at Arlington National Cemetery. Those attending should allow 20 minutes to clear base security. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Shiners' Hospitals for Children.

Published in The News & Observer from June 15 to June 19, 2011

Jeff Campbell - "Stop and Go" CD Release - Red Devil Lounge

2011-09-10T23:08:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love me some Jeff Campbell music. If you aren't familiar, Jeff is a San Francisco songwriter... and a damn good one.

I've done a number of photo shoots for this guy, usually for his band Pine & Battery (iTunes link). A few months ago I was commissioned to do some promo work for his upcoming solo effort "Stop and Go", and the other night I was asked to document his celebratory CD release show at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco.

What a fiasco! Not only were all the artists on the bill amazingly talented, but Jeff had like 9 people on stage with him throughout his setlist to help him deliver to a packed audience.

I should also mention that he has probably the biggest group of San Francisco talent make appearances on this record: Max Delaney, Charlie Wilson, Megan Slankard, Ryan Manley, Joel Ackerson, Brad Brooks, Kyle Caprista, Larissa Waters, Austin Willacy, Ezra Lipp, James Deprato, Jeff Symonds, and who knows who else.

Oh, and Jeff was a big proponent of me NOT moving to Seattle this year, which is part of the reason I still have a California address. So you can thank him for that.

Unless you wish I had left; then you can send him hate mail.

But regardless, here are a few photos from the event, and go listen to clips of his upcoming release at www.jeffcampbellmusic.com. There's a fantastic clip of his rendition of "Drive" by The Cars.

Jeff Campbell performs in San Francisco for the release of his solo record "Stop & Go"

All photos, of course, by Clay Lancaster. www.claylancaster.com

Meghan, Matt and the Ainsley House Wedding

2011-09-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

This particular wedding was a special one for me, as I had the honor of shooting the wedding of my beautiful friends Matt Fazzi and Meghan Criswell in San Jose and Campbell, CA.

It wasn't too long ago that I was introduced to Matt at Shoreline Amphitheatre after his set with his then-band Taking Back Sunday (on the Blink 182 & Weezer tour). He was on crutches from his recent leg injury, yet he still hobbled up to our seats with my buddy Isaac to meet us and say hi.

After pumping my work on the TBS Myspace page, he and Isaac commissioned me to do promo work for their side project (at the time), Happy Body Slow Brain.

Fast-forward a couple of years and we had all invested hours of our time and energy getting HBSB off the ground. I've since done multiple rounds of promo photos for them, as well as a "making the record" documentary for Happy Body Slow Brain's debut "Dreams of Water", and a series of live in-studio performance videos. I am very proud to be a part of the the HBSB family.

However, I was even more proud to be a part of Matt & Meghan's family when they asked me to photograph their wedding. Not only do I love them to death, but many of our wonderful and talented friends were also in attendance.

The ceremony had a sort of vintage circus theme to it, with a reception at the historic Ainsley House in Campbell, CA. This was the first time I ever saw the groom be his own wedding band, as Matt performed with "The Zack Attack" (a cover band he formed with a bunch of old friends). The next day, the party continued at the Blank Club in San Jose as Happy Body Slow Brain performed with Lex Land and Gavin Castleton for a crowd of friends, family, and fans. The whole weekend was a blast.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day. Congrats to the newlyweds! You both looked outstanding, and I can't think of a more pleasant couple to be involved with.

photo by Clay Lancaster

Jason Holthouser, Ian Fazzi, Matt Fazzi and Isaac Bolivar perform as "The Zack Attack"

Coming Around Again: The Current Trend of Re-Forming Bands

2011-08-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

This post has nothing to do with photography really. I just felt compelled to post something about the subject.

I spent last night and this morning listening to a track called "Home" by Ben Folds Five. No, not Ben Folds... Ben Folds Five.

Some of you may be confused.

You see, many kids nowadays know and love Ben Folds. That's what they know: "Ben Folds"... as a solo artist. It seems a big portion of his newer fans haven't looked into his history to discover that he hit the music scene with Ben Folds Five (a trio) back in the early 90's. I was a die hard fan of BFF, as was my brother.

Reunited Ben Folds Five in 2008 for a live Myspace concert.

Needless to say, it was heartbreaking to hear of their decision to disband in 2000... and for the last 11 years all I've had to go on was the three official Ben Folds Five albums, a live/rare album, and any demo or bootleg I could find.

Until yesterday, that is, when I was hit with "Home"... the first brand new Ben Folds Five song in over a decade. I was thrilled, and only become more thrilled to find out that a) there are THREE new Ben Folds Five songs on Ben Folds' upcoming retrospective album in October, an b) they plan to hit the studio in December to work on a new record! This would be their first new record as Ben Folds Five since 1999.

To my satisfaction Ben, Darren and Robert aren't the only ones reuniting lately. There's been a whole resurgence of bands that I grew up listening to that are now giving it another go: Smashing Pumpkins (sort of), Candlebox, Live, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Sunny Day Real Estate (sort of), Faith No More, etc.

There must be a 10-year rule or something that gives fans enough time to move on, until they realize that much of the music nowadays is throwaway and they start longing for the bands that mattered. Actually, I shouldn't just say fans... the bands themselves needed a break to explore other career options, and are now finding their roots again.

Some of these groups (like Ben Folds Five) seemed to have split amicably and remained friends. Some (like Smashing Pumpkins) still have inter-personal issues and re-formed under the same name but with new members. And some (like Sunny Day Real Estate) have made a go at reuniting, but just can't seem to make it happen for the long term.

Either way, I'm stoked. In a time when new bands are cookie cutter clones and few offer more than a summer hit-single, it's nice to hear many of my former musical heroes coming back into the game. Maybe they'll inspire another generation like they did back then.

theFIVE10 Radio Live! - Otis Lounge, San Francisco.

2011-08-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Although a modest affair, Otis Lounge in San Francisco was kind enough to give us a bar tab and host our first-ever theFIVE10 Radio Live! event. Popchips also sponsored, handing out free munchies all night (which came in handy after a couple of drinks).

Our own host JC took the first DJ spot and spun some old school hip-hop, along with a rad Hall & Oates remix. Stepping up to the plate next was Danny Lannon (also known as the vocalist for the San Francisco band The Frail).

Music and drinks all night long... set on Maiden Lane; a little European-esque street crammed into Union Square and right in the heart of high-end fashion stores that I can't afford to even stand in front of. Enjoy some of my favorite photos from the evening!

Film maker Michael Franchetti and The Frail's Danny Lannon

theFIVE10 Host, JC

Calibree Photographer Jen Cash

theFIVE10 web ninja, Long Vo

Lucky ticket winners!

Host JC, Todd Buller and Isaac Bolivar (Happy Body Slow Brain)

Calibree Photographer Mike Cash, and theFIVE10 photographer Clay Lancaster

theFIVE10's JC and Clay Lancaster

theFIVE10's Long Vo handing out tickets to some lucky winners

A Perfect Circle - The Greek Theater. Berkeley, CA.

2011-07-31T01:11:00.000-07:00

If Maynard James Keenan ever spends time on the internet, I hope he finds this blog and reads through it as I laugh in his face.

Why?

Because A Perfect Circle likes to make it almost impossibly difficult to take decent photos of them.

I'm serious. It was ridiculous. The stage was taller than I am, so I brought a stool. We only got 2 songs to shoot (instead of 3), one of which was like a two-minute intro. The lighting was all dim blue and purple. And last, but certainly most complaint-worthy: Maynard (the singer) is still in his phase of sticking to the back of the stage on a platform... with NO DIRECT LIGHTS hitting him.

So... Maynard James Keenan, Billy Howerdel, James Iha, Matt McJunkins, and Josh Freese... if you're reading this, I got some pretty decent shots despite your best efforts. You rocked for sure, but I was more impressed with myself tonight.

A Perfect Circle at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Soundgarden - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (San Francisco)

2011-07-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

You may have been aware that Soundgarden has reunited and started to tour after about a 15-year absence. You may have also been aware that they held a contest through Talenthouse a month or two ago to select photographers for each of their upcoming shows.

The contest, as I feared, was sort of a popularity contest... meaning: some people who were chosen as winners had very "meh" work, but 400 of their friends voted for them.

Anyway, I didn't win. I made my peace with it and moved on with life.

But last week I spent an afternoon at the pool with Mike, Danny, and Angela... and as I hopped out to dry off, I received a voicemail from Soundgarden management asking me to shoot their show on the 21st. The winner for that date had to back out, and I came "highly recommended" from Talenthouse. Go figure.

The show rocked, and was everything I hoped it would be. I never got to see them perform before they broke up in 1997, so the shoot was a big deal for me on that level as well. Not to mention the opener was the Mars Volta.

Because I shot for the band directly, my images are technically their property. I will post some killer photos here very soon, but I made an agreement that I would wait until they have a chance to post my photos on their websites first.

So... check back here in less than 24 hours!

UPDATE: After 4 days, Soundgarden finally posted my images online. So, now it's my turn!

Photos:

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Matt Cameron of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Kim Thayil of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs at Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Happy Body Slow Brain - San Francisco Promo Photos

2011-07-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

You'll notice a number of posts lately. It's been a crazy few weeks, and my camera is probably close to melting from all the shutter snaps.

Ending their tour supporting RX Bandits, the ex-Taking Back Sunday boys of Happy Body Slow Brain came home to San Francisco and played to a packed house at Bottom of the Hill.

Straight in from San Diego, I let them have enough time to upload their gear at the venue before we headed out to do some new promo photos. This time around the group includes Matt Fazzi (guitars/keys/vocals), Isaac Bolivar (guitars/keys/vocals), Jason Holthauser (bass), and Javier Torres (drums).

A little piece of trivia: Javier's brother, Eduardo, is the drummer on Happy Body Slow Brain's debut record, Dreams of Water.

Here's a couple of photos from our session:

Happy Body Slow Brain. Photo by Clay Lancaster (2011)

Eddie Vedder and Glen Hansard - The Paramount - Oakland, CA.

2011-07-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

To end a crazy string of concert shooting over the last month, I found myself at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA to snap some photos of Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder as he tours for his new solo record Ukelele Songs. I won't lie, I'd rather be shooting Pearl Jam. However, Vedder sounded great and put on a really nice performance.

Perhaps the thing that excited me most was seeing and shooting opener/collaborator Glen Hansard. I hadn't even realized that Hansard would be there until the day before the show.

If you don't know his work, you might remember an award-winnning independent film called Once. Not only did Glen star in this movie, he wrote all the music as well... which included the Grammy-nominated and Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly".

His previous band, The Frames, are actually super super cool. I recommend looking into their 1996 album Fitzcarraldo. It reminds me of a more rockin', more intense version of older David Gray music. The drumming in particular has an awesome presence.

Technically, this shoot was a pain in the ass. The room was dim... and I mean dim. Not to mention I was told it was a soundboard shoot (brought equipment to prepare) when in fact we ended up on the front/side of the stage. Fighting digital noise was fun, and bracing the camera so I could shoot at a shutter speed of 1/30 without blurring the image was always welcome (sarcasm).

Here's a few!

Glen Hansard performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Eddie Vedder performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Rockstar Mayhem Festival - Mountain View (Shoreline)

2011-07-11T12:09:00.001-07:00

Relatively last-minute, I was granted press access to the Rockstar Mayhem Festival at Shoreline in Mountain View, CA. Similarly to Warped Tour, I only really cared about one particular act: Megadeth.

If you've known me for a while, you know that I have a soft spot for some good, heavy, melodic metal. I learned to play guitar when I was 12, and a big part of my education came from sitting down and playing along with Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction in my bedroom for hours on end. We even jammed some of those tracks in our band rehearsals.

So, although I've largely moved on to different musical preferences, Megadeth has and will always hold a special place in my heart... and I was thrilled to finally get to snap photos of them.

Not only was I in the pit, staring at Dave Mustaine and Chris Broderick shred away on the guitar from 7 feet away, but I also had access to the press area backstage. I found myself sitting at a table by Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick and his family, with bassist David Ellefson pacing back and forth next to me on the phone, Sully (from Godsmack) about 12 feet to my left doing an interview with radio station The Bone, the guys from Testament eating dinner, and David Draiman of the band Disturbed coming in and out of the area. It was interesting.

See the rest of my work at: www.claylancaster.com

Or "like" Lancaster Photography on Facebook!

To get my bearings and learn the press process (each venue is different in policy), I decided to shoot Machinehead as well. As always, here are some of my favorite shots:

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Chris Broderick of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

David Ellefson of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Machinehead performs at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Mountain View

Jeff Campbell (Pine & Battery) Promo Photos - Sonoma

2011-07-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

This was an interesting shoot. I've done work in the past for the San Francisco-based band Pine & Battery (a KFOG artist), and was commissioned this time around to do work for singer Jeff Campbell's upcoming solo release. When he said "hey, let's meet early" I was thinking like, 9am or 10am.

Nope, we settled on sunrise (5:30am) up close to Sonoma and wine country. Fortunately I had a good 2.5 hours of sleep under my belt, so i was good to go.

Sense the sarcasm...

We had a blast, and it was by far the earliest I've ever had to show up to "work". Here's a few shots from Wednesday, and keep an eye on jeffcampbellmusic.com for upcoming shows and his new release.

Jeff Campbell (of Pine and Battery). Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Vans Warped Tour 2011 - Shoreline (Mountain View)

2011-07-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

For the San Francisco area leg of Warped Tour this year, we at theFIVE10 Radio headed out to Shoreline in Mountain View to cover the event. I was joined by my SF Weekly lens-wielding pal Jen Cash as we jumped in and out of the pits all day long, leaving our host JC and web-ninja Long backstage to talk with the bands all day.

Was hot, but a lot of fun. I'd have to say my highlight was finally getting to hang with Fred Mascherino of the band Terrible Things (formerly of Taking Back Sunday), as we have similar friends and acquaintances.

Black Veil Brides sure put on an entertaining set, as did 3OH!3. JC managed to sit and interview a number of groups on our show, including: Simple Plan, hellogoodbye, Sharks, Passafire, MC Lars, and Less Than Jake.

Here are some photos from the day!

Unwritten Law performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Skating at Warped Tour 2011. Mountain View, CA.

3OH!3 performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Shut Up and Deal performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Crazy dry ice drinks. Warped Tour 2011 at Shoreline.

JC interviews Simple Plan at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA at Shoreline.

Less Than Jake performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Warped Tour 2011. Mountain View, CA at Shoreline.

Fred Mascherino of Terrible Things performs at Warped Tour. Mountain View, CA.

Clay Lancaster getting a doctor checkup at Warped Tour. Photo by Jen Cash.

Clay Lancaster at Warped Tour for theFIVE10 Radio. Photo by Jen Cash.

theFIVE10 - Long Vo, JC, and Clay Lancaster. Photo by Jen Cash.

Clay Lancaster and Fred Mascherino (Terrible Things, Taking Back Sunday). Warped Tour 2011.

Getting Ready: Vans Warped Tour 2011

2011-07-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, three guesses as to where I will be tomorrow with my crew at theFIVE10 Radio...

If you're gonna be there, come say hi! Get a sticker.

If you're playing, come chat with us on the show!

theFIVE10 Radio at Warped Tour 2011. Shoreline.

Kristie California - Modeling Shoot - Sacramento, CA

2011-06-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

A number of months ago, I was contacted by a model through Model Mayhem about doing a shoot. I obviously have a profile on that site, but I don't really do any work with actual models. I did one shoot a while back for a bridal gown and accessories designer at a studio in San Jose, and one outdoor shoot for another girl.

Kristie and I then became acquainted through Facebook messages, but weddings and a trip to Europe got in the way of us planning anything until this week (I know, poor me).

We finally settled on a date and this past Monday I drove an hour and a half to Roseville, just north of Sacramento.

I have a strobist setup, but it's so new to me that I literally hadn't used it for anything yet. I only had 3 occasions where I used a studio and lighting, and none it belonged to me. So this time, I had planned to bring my good friend and fellow photographer Jen (from Calibree Photography) to help me with the strobes... but she ended up getting sick, and I was on my own.

After a few test shots I thought I had it nailed down, so I started shooting away. To my delight (and my model's), we got some really good stuff. Thank you to Kristie for being patient and willing to give a newbie a try, and double thanks to her for actually making her own outfit just for this shoot!

Model Kristie California. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Model Kristie California. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

www.claylancaster.com

The Maine, Augustana, and Jonah Matranga - The Fillmore, San Francisco

2011-06-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

Last week we at theFIVE10 Radio hit San Francisco (shocking) to sit with the guys from The Maine, Augustana, and even Jonah Matranga of the band Far. Was a packed evening.

A couple of "firsts" this time around:

three interviews in one evening, in three different locations (The Maine's tour bus, Fillmore Green Room, and a cafe on the other side of town)
had dinner with Jonah
Isaac Bolivar (from Happy Body Slow Brain) joined us for the experience, and even shot in the pit with me at the Fillmore
screaming girls greeted me with signs and posters as I attempted to exit The Maine's bus
screaming girls almost deafened me as they screamed bloody murder when The Maine took the stage
I wore earplugs because of #5

Fun night though, and here are some photos:

JC of theFIVE10 Radio talks with Pat and Kennedy of The Maine

JC of theFIVE10 Radio talks with Dan of Augustana

JC of theFIVE10 Radio talks with Jonah Mantranga of Far

Augustana performs at The Fillmore in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

The Maine performs at The Fillmore in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

All photos by Clay lancaster. www.claylancaster.com

Debbie & Doug - Walnut Creek Wedding (Diablo Ranch)

2011-06-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I was honored to be a part of Debbie & Doug's wedding day. They're musicians, so I think they felt comfortable with my style and personality. To add to the fun, my buddy Isaac (from the band Happy Body Slow Brain) was eager to broaden his horizons and joined me as my assistant for the day.

Set in the rural foothills of Walnut Creek, CA (at Diablo Ranch), this very western-style wedding was loads of fun, with great people and great live music. Here are a few sample shots from their day:

Debbie & Doug's Wedding. Walnut Creek. Photos by Clay Lancaster.

Also, as unflattering as it might be, here's a shot of ME (taken by my assistant Isaac) mingling with a wedding guest. I just found it funny, and interesting because no one ever takes photos of the photographer.

Clay Lancaster "working" and mingling with a wedding guest.

Peter Gabriel - The Greek Theater - Berkeley, CA

2011-06-11T00:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight was an experience. I have been a big Peter Gabriel fan for quite a while, but had never seen him perform live before. He doesn't tour much, and doesn't do long stints in the US.

So when I heard he was coming to the Greek Theater in Berkeley, I immediately looked up tickets.

$100 minimum, for the lawn... and up from there.

I couldn't afford that right now, so I had the idea to try to get a photo pass instead. Watching Gabriel perform 3 songs would be better than none, right? Three different sources (four, if you count myself) all pulling their contacts like crazy, just to get four "no"'s earlier this week.

I made my peace with it, and just as my disappointment level dropped back down to normal, I get an email from JC (of theFIVE10 Radio) confirming a photo pass and a ticket for the duration of the show!

Needless to say, I freaked out a bit.

The show was incredible, and I'm sorry but I nailed those photos. Here are a few of my favorites from tonight:

Peter Gabriel performs at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, CA

Melanie Gabriel performs at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, CA

Peter Gabriel performs at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, CA

Planning an Affordable Wedding (and How to Waste Money Doing It)

2011-06-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Clay Lancaster - Wedding Photographer

Very few people go into their wedding planning thinking, "Man, let's see how much money we can blow!"... if you're one of the very lucky few that can think like that, then bravo, I guess.

For the rest of us, our budget is limited. Especially lately, as our economy slowly recovers and the unemployment rate seemingly improves at the same speed of which we've been able to stop the war overseas.

From experience, I've seen weddings done beautifully with budgets ranging from $5,000 to $100,000. A lot of these budgets are determined based on the bride and groom's level of expectations, and level of creativity.

What are the common elements that seem to eat up most of these pocketbooks?

the venue
the food and alcohol
the flowers
the photographer
the DJ or band
the dress
the cake

Most of these are a given, in a sense. You need a venue, you want your guests to eat and drink, you want them to dance, you want the decor to look nice, you want to look nice, and you want the day captured so you can share and re-live the memories.

Of ALL of these items, the one I most often hear complaints about is the photography. Why? because once the wedding is over and done with, your photos are the only thing you have left over to remember this important day.

But why do these couples complain? Because they skimped on the photography portion of the budget.

For some reason in this country, most people refuse to spend money on artistic things. We (United States citizens) are so materialistic in our desires. We want immediate gratification from something we can touch, hold, use, etc. So when it comes to paying a photographer to take photos, many people think "oh, well I can take nice photos with my digital camera, and so can half of my guests... it can't be that difficult, so why should I blow so much money on it?'

And then they complain... either to other photographers like myself, or on something like Craigslist as they search for someone to re-take some photos in order to have something they can frame and display to their friends and family.

The reality is this: the $10,000 that you spent on dinner and alcohol for your 200 guests will be forgotten by bed time. The measly $1,000 that you budgeted on a photographer will give you mediocre results, which will be your only source of memories for the rest of your marriage.

Putting it like this makes it seem pretty obvious. Why spend so much of your budget on something temporary, and barely budget for your life-long keepsakes? It makes no sense.

Unfortunately, seeing that (hopefully) you'll only get married once, there really isn't an opportunity for someone to say "I told you so" and learn from the mistake.

As I recently read on the Denon & Doyle DJ website, "...your guests won't be saying 'that was the BEST chicken dinner I've ever had!' " Yet, so many couples spend most of their budget on exactly that. In reality, your guests would be happy with the simple beer & wine options, and enough decent food to keep them from going hungry all night. If you fear that your guests will be disappointed with a buffet and no mixed drinks to sip on, then maybe you need new guests. After all, they're supposed to be there to support you! Not to get a free meal at your expense.

With that said, you ultimately want a fun and memorable day, yes? And with all the planning and expenses that go into such an event, how are you going to document it? With a "budget" photographer? I don't know about you, but I have to wonder: what's the point in putting in all this effort and not even have proper photos of the fiasco?

Bottom line: Your photos are your main source of re-living and remembering the details of your wedding day. Food and drinks will be forgotten by you and all of your guests as soon as it's digested. Spend your precious budget on a venue that you love, a good DJ that will keep people dancing and having fun, and a photographer that can capture the event properly and get all those smiling faces and amazing poses.

Our revised budget list:

the venue
the photographer
the music source
everything else

Because honestly folks, some of the most fun and memorable weddings I've been to relied on simply beer, wine, and appetizers. The real magic was in the energy and atmosphere (thanks to the DJ), and the amazing photos that the couples were able to share were due to a good photographer.

Hope this puts things in perspective, and Happy Wedding Planning!

Being a San Francisco Bay Area Wedding Photographer

2011-05-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

We all gotta eat. California is an expensive state. Wedding sites like The Knot cost money to advertise, rent costs money... hell, even just driving over that Bay Bridge into San Francisco costs $6 if you go at the wrong times (I'm based in Walnut Creek, so I use that stupid bridge a lot).

That being said, it's all easier to deal with when you love what you do. Being a wedding photographer is not all fun and games, but I try to make it very close to that. The brides and grooms that I work with tend to pick me because of things we share in common (personality, sense of humor, music tastes, etc).

There's like, 1.2 billion wedding photographers in the Bay Area... give or take a few... so I am grateful that many couples find me and see the difference in how I work and what I do to make their day more enjoyable.

Thank you to all the wonderful couples I've been able to work with, and to those of you still shopping around: Hi! I'm Clay. I run Lancaster Photography. Have a look :)

Walnut Creek Engagement Photos!

2011-05-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

Just arrived back in the Bay Area from a few days in Seattle. Wanted a few days in a different city to just kick around. Have you ever seen that show "Ghost Adventures" on the Travel Channel? They did an episode at the haunted Kell's Irish Pub... and you can bet we had a few drinks there.

But now I'm back at the daily "grind"... which means editing through engagement photos of Brooke and Chris that I snapped just before skipping town. I say "grind" because I of course love what I do, and it's always fun for me.

Here are a couple of my favorites!

Brooke and Chris engagement photos in Walnut Creek, CA

Chris Cornell - San Francisco, CA

2011-05-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to some swift-moving folks, I ended up with a couple of tickets and media passes to shoot a sold-out Chris Cornell show at the Fillmore in San Francisco on Tuesday night (May 3rd).

With Soundgarden announcing their first tour in 13 years yesterday, it was no wonder the Fillmore was packed to the brim to see Mr. Cornell strum through his vast library of music-altering songs. I was surprised... a fair amount of the selections were from his solo records, but he threw in quite a handful of Soundgarden tunes, topped off with a couple from Audioslave and even the Beatles and Michael Jackson.

All in all, my teenage self was completely satisfied. But I'm dying for the full band to make it through.

The night was also a lot of fun for me socially, as I got to shoot alongside my good friends Jen & Mike Cash of Calibree Photography, with my buddy JC from theFIVE10.com on my left gathering material for a show review, and my pals Jeff Campbell and Andy Weller (of the San Francisco band Pine and Battery) performing an acoustic set upstairs in the Poster Room in between acts.

Enjoy a couple of shots from Tuesday night!

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco. May 3rd, 2011.

Travis Barker & Mix Master Mike - San Francisco

2011-04-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

Our adventure last night took us into San Francisco (shocking, I know) to the Independent, where we were to interview Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys) and Travis Barker (Blink 182).

Travis had been touring and performing as a duo with DJ AM under the name TRV$DJAM, until Adam Goldstein's death in 2009. Now back out on the road, Barker has been playing shows with Mix Master Mike to promote his solo effort, Give the Drummer Some.

The tour manager for Barker was something else... not in a good way. Details aside, we ended up waiting around until the end of the show to do the interviews (normally done after sound check). At this point, Mix Master Mike was very gracious and even went over-time with his interview. Afterwords, we waited back stage for Travis, only to have the tour manager finally come in and say "ok, so Travis isn't going to do the interview..."

At least Mike was accommodating, otherwise we spent all night in San Francisco for nothing. Glad I didn't have to pay the $30-$50 ticket!

Clay Lancaster with Travis Barker (Blink 182) and Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys)

Mix master Mike spins at The Independent in San Francisco

Drummer Travis Barker performs at the Independent in San Francisco, during his support tour for Lil Wayne.

Mix master Mike spins at The Independent in San Francisco

Drummer Travis Barker performs at the Independent in San Francisco, during his support tour for Lil Wayne.

Mix Master Mike interviews with JC of theFIVE10.com

Cut Copy at the Regency Ballroom. San Francisco, CA.

2011-04-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

Seeming to be our new Sunday routine, I caught a ride with JC of theFIVE10.com into San Francisco to interview and shoot photos for the Australian band Cut Copy. They were fresh off of playing Coachella last Friday, and had a two-night residency at The Regency Ballroom.

I didn't know much about these guys, other than they are super electro/dance fun stuff. But they rocked, and had a killer light show. I haven't been able to shoot in lighting like that since MuteMath in 2009 at the Fillmore.

Guitarist Tim Hoey was very gracious to spend some time with us after soundcheck, and you can hear what he has to say about their new record on theFIVE10.com in a couple of weeks.

JC interviewing Tim Hoey of Cut Copy in San Francisco

Cut Copy at the Regency Ballroom. San Francisco, CA.

Tim Hoey of
Cut Copy at the Regency Ballroom. San Francisco, CA.

Dan Whitford of Cut Copy at the Regency Ballroom. San Francisco, CA.

Tim Hoey of Cut Copy at the Regency Ballroom. San Francisco, CA.

The Belle Brigade at the Fillmore. 04/10/2011. San Francisco.

2011-04-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I hopped into a red Corvette with JC from theFIVE10.com and headed into San Francisco to shoot and interview The Belle Brigade at The Fillmore. They are currently touring with G. Love & Special Sauce, and will be hitting the road later this year with K.D. Lang.

Extremely fun and friendly brother/sister duo. Not to mention super talented.

Oh, and John Williams is their grandfather. Yes, the composer.

I guess the music gene runs in the family.

Ethan and Barbara Gruska. The Belle Brigade. The Fillmore, San Francisco.

Barbara Gruska. The Belle Brigade. The Fillmore, San Francisco.

Ethan Gruska. The Belle Brigade. The Fillmore, San Francisco.

JC of theFIVE10.com and Ethan & Barbara Gruska of The Belle Brigade.

Technical Geeky Photography

2011-03-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm talking about HDR (high dynamic range) photography. I went nuts when I first learned how to do this, and then sort of fell out of the process. While I was in London and Paris over the last couple of weeks, I tried my hand at it again. Here's what happened!

HDR photo of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in London.

HDR photo of Notre Dame in Paris, France.

Foo Fighters Secret Show @ Spaceland.

2011-03-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

The title explains most of it, and I'm finally getting around to posting a blog about our February 8th, 2011 experience.

On a whim, 3 of us self-employed chums (Pat, Isaac and myself) decided "hey, we have Tuesday off... let's drive to Los Angeles and see if we can get into the *rumored* Foo Fighters secret show.

Sounds stupid, right?

Hardly.

I met Pat in 2003 at the filming of the Foo Fighters' music video for "Times Like These". We were extras, and we've kept in contact ever since. Pat eventually started his own company, AddToAny, and moved to San Francisco. Isaac is the former touring guitarist for Taking Back Sunday, and currently plays for Happy Body Slow Brain.

Pat called me up on February 7th, and suggested the adventure for the following day. I said OK. Isaac was hanging out with me that night, drinking wine, and heard of our endeavor... so we added one more to the trip.

6 hour drive to Los Angeles, and we weren't sure where we were going. After some research, my hunch was that the show would be held at Spaceland. We violently checked Twitter for clues (as Dave Grohl had been posting for recent shows), until he finally posted some pictures of space/galaxies. Boom... we were 4 minutes from the venue.

After racing over and talking to a security guard (seeing the Foo Fighters' equipment, and guitarist Chris Shiflett walking around), we were told "tickets aren't being sold here".

Panicking, I called Angela to check the Foo Fighters website. Sure enough, tickets were being sold at Echoplex across town.

We raced over to where my iPhone said the Echoplex was, and ditched the car. No Echoplex in sight. The address said "1104", and we were at 1800.

Dammit.

We RAN 1.1 miles in a single sprint (not kidding... I calculated it on my phone later) down Sunset Blvd. to end up lost and couldn't find the venue anywhere. Pat randomly showed up in the back of a Jeep, driven by a high school buddy who just happened to be in the area. We went back to our original stopping point to find people with blue wristbands on, waiting to cross the street.

"Show is sold out", they said.

Our hearts sank. We came too far to give up, so we headed back to the venue.

After schmoozing contacts and talking to crew, it still seemed hopeless.

A couple of other guys waiting in desperation told us that at previous shows, people waited in line persistently and were let in eventually. So... in-line we went.

The crowd was let in, and we were shoved aside, being told multiple times by security "if you don't have a wristband, go home. It's not gonna happen."

Hours went by. It had now been about 9 hours since we left San Francisco.

The opener played, we saw Grohl, Pat Smear, Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale, Ron Jeremy, and Dom Howard (from Muse) all go inside.

Now, Isaac used to be the touring guitarist for Taking Back Sunday, who performed at a festival with Sunny Day Real Estate (Nate Mendel's original band before Foo Fighters). He saw Nate on the sidewalk, sharing a cigarette with someone, and decided to do his "hey, remember me?" speech, and Nate said, "you need tix? I'll see what I can do."

But, nothing.

Then Foo Fighters started their set.

Pat "knew" Dave Grohl's guitar tech, who motioned to Pat and walked him in the door. "This is it!", Isaac and I said to each other.

But then I got a text message from Pat, saying "show is at capacity. I'm sorry! I'll see what I can do."

We were speechless. We decided to call it a night, and go drink beers in Pat's car while he enjoyed the show. But wait... Pat had the keys. It was freezing outside. Isaac & I were not happy.

About the time we were ready to go drink in some parking lot, the bouncer came outside and told the woman watching the door "we'll take 15 more." We ere about #'s 7 and 8 in line.

They checked our IDs, gave us wristbands, and we were in! I had to say "sorry, excuse me" to Gwen Stefani as I squeezed by her to get to the bar.

The rest is history: Foo Fighters live, for a 250 capacity crowd.

...until Isaac & I went upstairs to the other bar, where I was offered a drink by Brian from Silversun Pickups, and chatted with Kathy Griffin (who demanded that Ron Jeremy come over and take a picture of all of us). What a weird night.

The show was epic. And when it was over, the bouncers starting kicking people out. They got to us, looked at our wristbands, and said "oh, ok, you guys are good."

What?!

Sure enough, our wristbands said "VIP".

So here we were until 3am... in a closed venue with maybe 50 people, talking to Dave Grohl and Nate Mendel at the bar, and a guy named "Freak" (not kidding, it's on his drivers' license) who introduced me to Daryl Hannah. The evening just surpassed any expectations I had.

All in all, it was probably the most crazy, random journey I've ever taken (next to the 12-hour notice trip to LA for the Foo Fighters' music video shoot). Here are a few pictures from that night:

Foo Fighters performing their new record "Wasting Light" at Spaceland.

Clay Lancaster with Ron Jeremy and Kathy Griffin

Clay and Pat with Dave Grohl

Isaac and Dave Grohl, with our new friend "Freak"

As I learned a long time ago: it pays to have a "why not" attitude. You never know what will work out, but it's a definite "no" if you never try.

All Around the World

2011-03-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

I am currently on a 2-week adventure in Europe. Why? Just cuz. Started in London, then to Lisbon (where my new iPhone 4 was stolen by gypsies), currently in Madrid, then on to Paris, London again for a day, then home.

With all the photos I take during a wedding, you can imagine how I'm blazing through memory cards over here.

I'll post photos eventually, but I gotta say some highlights have been:

-seeing a musical in London's West End
-drinking in a bar made of ice (glasses too)
-hard cider from the tap at a pub
-a 12th century castle overlooking Lisbon & the ocean
-a smokey, crowded bar listening to traditional Fado singing
-a smokey, crowded club listening to live jazz until 2am

... And there's still more to come

Eric Clapton - San Jose, CA

2011-03-03T14:30:00.000-08:00

Braving all the "rain" that my iPhone claimed was supposed to occur last night, I hopped in the car and trekked to the San Jose Arena (also known as HP Pavilion, also known as The Shark Tank) to shoot the legendary Eric Clapton.

This was an interesting shoot for a few reasons.

It's Eric Clapton.
It was one of the biggest venues I had taken photos at.
I had to shoot behind the soundboard.
The soundboard was the farthest away I've ever attempted to shoot from.
I left my killer 5D mkII camera at home, in favor of a little Rebel XTi so I could use the crop sensor to my advantage (with a 70-200L lens).
I had to wait in a conference room with the other photographers shooting that night in between Los Lobos and Clapton.
It's Eric Clapton.

Despite the hassles and not having the option to borrow a barrel of a lens, I got some killer shots.

Eric Clapton and his band. March 2nd, 2011. 03-02-2011.

Mark & Michelle - Auburn, CA Wedding

2011-02-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

No, not the candy. Although that might be interesting.

I'm referring to the lovely Northern California couple Mark & Michelle, who recently wed in the quaint town of Auburn, CA. It was a somewhat traditional ceremony in an ornate church that was constructed in 1858, followed by a not-so-traditional reception in a small restaurant which goes by the name Monkey Cat (not kidding). The owner closed the restaurant down for the afternoon so the bride and groom could sip on drinks and mingle with their guests in a room that seemed almost entirely made of dark wood.

This was the first time I had photographed a wedding without meeting the couple in person before the big day. With about a 2 hour drive between us, it seemed easier for both parties to rely on email and phone calls... but I'd never have guessed it, as within minutes it felt like we had already met numerous times.

Bayonet Blackhorse Golf Course Wedding - Seaside,CA

2011-01-05T19:31:00.000-08:00

"It happened in Monterey..."

Ok, I know Sinatra was singing about a different Monterey, but for the sake of this post we'll pretend it was Monterey, CA.

January 2nd I shook off my New Years' party and headed two hours down the coast to take part in Jordan & Serena's wedding at the Bayonet Blackhorse Golf Course in Seaside, CA.

Most brides stress and fuss about the planning of a wedding... well how about the wedding, plus a week in Hawaii, then moving across the country 2 days later? Jordan serves our country in the US Air Force, and has been transferred far from Serena's home in Monterey. That's quite a schedule, and it amazed me how calm and upbeat they were the whole time. Not to mention the bride had to do all of the planning while the groom was away with the military.

A break in the rainy weather proved useful that day, and here's what we ended up with!

Bayonet Blackhorse Golf Course in Seaside, CA

My personal amusement was attributed to:

a) being one of THREE Claytons in attendance, and

b) the guest list:

"Booyakasha!"

The Gracious Few - San Francisco, CA

2010-12-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

Remember the 90's alternative bands Live or Candlebox? I certainly do. In fact, the band Live was my absolute favorite for almost a decade. And yes, they were very much still around until officially dis-banding in late 2009 (their last record was 2006). Candlebox, on the other hand, reformed after a few years off and had their most recent record in 2008.

Why am I telling you all this? Because three of the four members of Live formed a new band, and enlisted Kevin Martin (the singer of Candlebox) to front the new group. He also brought with him Sean Hennesy, who has been with Candlebox since 2006. The new collaboration was later dubbed The Gracious Few.

Their debut record hit in Fall of 2010, and was produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads (who had also produced for Live in the past).

Tuesday night the band made it to San Francisco on its last leg of the tour, and performed at The Independent with Jerry Harrison as a special guest on a few songs. Not only was I asked to shoot that night, but we also landed a pre-show interview for theFIVE10.com. Needless to say, this was one of the most important projects I've worked on (for me personally) and they certainly did not disappoint.

Here's a couple of shots from the interview backstage:

Kevin Martin and Pat Dahlheimer

Sean Hennesy

Chad Gracey and Kevin Martin

Catch the interview soon on theFIVE10.com. It's quite entertaining, and oddly informative.

The show was just straight energetic rock and roll. The band was exceptional (to be expected I suppose... they're all seasoned players) and Kevin's vocals were spot-on, despite his being "under the weather".

One of the highlights of the evening was a guest appearance by legendary musician and producer Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads and Modern Lovers fame). Jerry jumped on stage with The Gracious Few to jam along for two Modern Lovers tracks.

Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads performs with The Gracious Few.

The Gracious Few is comprised of: Kevin Martin, Chad Taylor, Chad Gracey, Sean Hennesy, and Patrick Dahlheimer.

Margaret Cho - San Francisco

2010-12-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

Margaret Cho recently graced us with an interview on theFIVE10.com, and gave us tickets, meet & greet passes, and a photos pass for her show at the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. So I hopped in the car with our host JC and headed into SF. Needless to say, the show was hilarious. I think we were two of the only straight guys in the audience.

Clay & Margaret Cho

Weezer - Memories Tour (San Francisco, CA)

2010-12-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

My birthday was Sunday (yay), the 28th. So as a present to myself, I bought tickets to see Weezer on the 29th and 30th at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco. I already had photo passes for both nights, but I wanted to stay and enjoy the whole thing (rather than the 3 songs that press is allowed).

Monday night was show #1, The Blue Album. This was my first attempt at shooting from the back of a room (normally I'm up front in the pit), so it's also my first attempt with a 200mm lens. The benefit from being in the back, however, was the nice little high-five that Rivers slapped me as he ran toward us and up to the balcony.

Here's a few photos from night #1 (The Blue Album):

Night #2 was the Pinkerton night. The energy was crazy again, and although Rivers didn't run around quite as much, he sure gave us something to shoot. Rather than a high-five this time, he ran straight up to my lens and sang into it for a bit. Unfortunately I couldn't use a flash.

Photos from night #2 (Pinkerton):

Kat Von D

2010-11-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

Tonight I took a little ride into San Francisco with JC from theFIVE10 Radio to catch Ms. Kat Von D at Booksmith (in the Haight). She's been on a small tour promoting her newest book "Tattoo Chronicles", and graciously scheduled time to meet and talk with us. Tune in to theFIVE10.com soon to hear the interview, and meanwhile enjoy my photos below.

Kat Von D

Jean Quan - Oakland's Grassroots New Mayor

2010-11-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

East Bay Express (a weekly newspaper out of Oakland) sent me to a small restaurant to cover the victory party of mayor-elect Jean Quan.

In case you hadn't heard, Quan was the underdog, but had overwhelming volunteer support and beat out former California state senate powerhouse Don Perata by 2%. This makes Quan Oakland's first female mayor, and the first Asian-American female mayor for a major U.S. city.

Below is a shot of her and her husband addressing the audience.

Stars (with Geographer) - The Fillmore (11/10/2010)

2010-11-11T16:17:00.000-08:00

Last night I met up with JC of theFIVE10 Radio at the Fillmore in San Francisco, to interview drummer Patrick McGee of the Canadian band Stars, and shoot their set afterwords. I was really impressed (well, I suppose I should be, considering they opened for Coldplay on the Viva la Vida tour). It was also my first time shooting with my pal Jen of Calibree Photography, which made it even cooler. The only downside? No pit! We had to fight and squeeze our way up front.

JC interviewing Patrick of Stars

Amy Millan of Stars

Torquil Campbell of Stars

Thomas Pridgen - Beyond Mars Volta

2010-11-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

Big day for music and photos yesterday.

I managed to hang out with members of New Montgomery, Tracing Figures, Pine & Battery, Jealousy Curve, The Memorials, and Mars Volta all in one day. My friend and former drummer had his CD release show with Tracing Figures last night in San Francisco (photos to come), but I gotta say the biggest opportunity was taking a quick trip to an Oakland studio to do some promo work for ex-Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen and his current band, The Memorials.

Their upcoming record is a mix of hard rock with grungy riffs and female soul-style vocals, and is being independently produced with distribution from Universal Records.

The Memorials

The Memorials music can be found here, and the other bands I've mentioned can be heard at the links below.

Snuggies.

2010-10-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Today I headed into Oakland to shoot a profile on Jesse Meeker and Eliot Curtis of Rec Center Studios for the East Bay Express newspaper. The production duo won the paper's Snuggie Music Video Contest, and were being interviewed for an article.

Happy Body Slow Brain - San Francisco (10-24-2010)

2010-10-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

After a month or so stint on the east coast supporting Gavin Castleton, former Taking Back Sunday members Matt Fazzi and Isaac Bolivar brought their new project, Happy Body Slow Brain, home to the San Francisco Bay Area to play their CD Release show at The Rickshaw Stop.

Supported by Bird By Bird (fronted by John Devoto of The Matches), as well as Please Do Not Fight and The Girlfriend Season, HBSB pumped out a monstrous set from their debut record "Dreams of Water".

Of course, I was in attendance, and shot a few photos:

Interpol - Oakland, CA (10/18/2010)

2010-10-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

I journeyed into Oakland to the Fox Theater last night to meet my buddy JC from TheFIVE10 Radio. He was to interview the Brooklyn band, White Rabbits, for his show. My job was to shoot for them, as well as their headliners, NYC-based Interpol.

White Rabbits had a solid, catchy set. I felt they could have used more variety, however. But seeing that they've only released one record, that may be asking a bit much.

Interpol was astounding. A big wall of sound and lights that had you staring at the stage, fully immersed.

The Forest Through the Trees

2010-10-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

The other day I took another trip (yet again) through the tunnel to shoot a short, but beautiful, wedding ceremony in the forests of the University of California - Berkeley. The setting was a small wooden theater among the redwoods... something that you might have seen in Return of the Jedi. It was a quaint gathering, and a lot of fun.

Wedding at the Rotunda Building! Oakland, CA.

2010-09-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

On the 18th, I had the distinct pleasure of traveling (with my "Lion" assistant) to the Rotunda Building in downtown Oakland, CA to shoot for Sarah & Derrick's wedding.

The room was beautiful, spacious, classy, and packed with good people and good music. The bride insisted that I finish a 6th glass of wine as sort of a wedding "gift" to her, so needless to say we were exhausted by the end of the night. But it was loads of fun!

Beautiful bride in the Rotunda building, Oakland.

the Rotunda wedding ceremony, Oakland.

Newlyweds! Rotunda building, Oakland.

Happy Body Slow Brain - Dreams of Water

2010-09-21T12:05:00.001-07:00

Today is September 21st, and marks the release of Happy Body Slow Brain's debut record, "Dreams of Water". These ex- Taking Back Sunday fellows have created an incredible disc, and I am certainly proud to have contributed (promo photos, video teasers, and a "making the record" documentary).

Head on over to www.happybodyslowbrain.com to purchase a copy, complete with all sorts of extras.

Congrats guys!

Mandy & Alan - The Brazilian Room & Claremont Hotel

2010-09-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I ventured back up to the Berkeley Hills to shoot for Mandy & Alan as they got married at the Brazilian Room. This wedding featured my buddy George (lovingly nicknamed "The Lion" by the wedding party) as my assistant. You'll see why if you scroll down...

Sooo much fun! The couple is lovely, their families were warm and inviting, and everyone (including us) just danced and laughed all night.

In case you were wondering, my style of shooting weddings involves suits & ties, some wine, and a lot of dancing and making people laugh. I am not the type of photographer to wear all black and stay creepily in the background... and my couples prefer the way I do things. I sometimes wonder if it's not terribly "professional", but I honestly believe it adds a level of comfort and fun for the couples' special day.

Not to mention I've had wedding guests seek me out to tell me how comfortable they were in front of the lens. I've also had guests take pictures of me for their own entertainment, and I often stay friends with the couples I shoot.

Anyway! Enjoy a few samples!

Bride & Groom at the Brazilian Room

("The Lion")

Brazilian Room & Claremont Hotel Wedding - Berkeley

2010-07-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

This past 4th, I trekked up into the hills of Berkeley, CA to Tilden Park and shot Zaina & Lucian's wedding at the much-coveted Brazilian Room, with getting-ready photos at the Claremont Hotel.

It was a new experience, as most of the guests were from an Indian background. The wedding itself was not "traditional" per se, but there were a number of cultural staples (types of dress and dancing, namely).

Although I was a bit bummed to miss the fireworks show for the first time since I can remember, I still had loads of fun helping Zaina & Lucian celebrate their day. Here are a few samples:

Bride-to-be getting ready at the Claremont Hotel, Berkeley.

Bride-to-be at the Claremont Hotel, Berkeley.

Indian henna designs for bridesmaids.

Bride and Groom at the Brazilian Room, Berkeley.

Happy Body Slow Brain: Post-Taking Back Sunday

2010-05-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Now that Matt Fazzi (as well as Matt Rubano and Isaac Bolivar) have left Taking Back Sunday, Fazzi & Isaac have assembled with Gavin Castleton drummer Eduardo Torres to push Happy Body Slow Brain into full motion.

They begin recording their debut record in a few days in Michigan with producer Marc Hudson (Taking Back Sunday, Saves the Day), but not before taking time with me to shoot some more promo stuff (both stills and video).

Check out www.happybodyslowbrain.com to see the work I've done for them.

Weddings! Weddings! Weddings!

2010-01-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

My my we're booking up quickly this year! Please contact me soon if you're even thinking about a date... I'd hate to have to turn down an event.

Hope 2010 is going well for everyone :)

MuteMath (San Francisco, CA)

2009-10-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

MuteMath performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco

Friday night (October 9th) I was fortunate enough to shoot one of my favorite bands, MuteMath, at the Fillmore in San Francisco. I knew vaguely what I was up against (they're known for having some of the most intense lighting shows and stage antics), but there were a few things that I did not expect:

1) 4 drum pads up against the back of the stage, on which Darren played "No Response" while standing with his back to the crowd.

2) Darren floating his kick drum up on the crowd, then proceeding to climb up on top and stand on it while the crowd held him

3) Darren jumping from said kick drum all the way back to the stage

4) Almost getting decapitated by a stray cymbal that was not fastened to the stand.

The show was amazing and needless to say, I got a lot of killer shots. Enjoy!

MuteMath performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco

Paul Meany of MuteMath performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco

Darren King of MuteMath performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco

Happy Body, Slow Brain

2009-10-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

As I edit through thousands of wedding photos from the last month or so, I've taken a few gigs lately for promotional use (as you may have noticed). I enjoy these because It lets me be super creative.

If you travel in the rock music circles, you may have heard of the band Taking Back Sunday. In fact, if you view my posts from last month, you'll see that I shot for them twice during their tour with Weezer and Blink 182.

Before they headed to Hawaii, we had organized a shoot to happen upon their return. Not for TBS, but for a side project called Happy Body, Slow Brain which consists of TBS members Matt Fazzi and Isaac Bolivar.

I picked Isaac up yesterday and we headed to Fazzi's house about an hour away. On the freeway, a red gas can was sliding across the lanes, having just been dropped from a vehicle. I wasn't able to swerve safely, and the car in front of me went over the tank without any problems. So I decided to do the same.

Without speaking, Isaac and I watched the can slide under my car, followed by a loud 'thud', and then prolonged scraping on the asphalt. All I could do was laugh and say "Dammit", to which Isaac says "I hope it was empty." Right on cue, we start smelling gasoline.

Obviously we made it out alive. But it was an interesting start to the day.

After a morning/afternoon of playing with Mac software, eating breakfast food, and listening to the band Self on an iPod connected to a stereo, we decided "hey, maybe we should get pictures done" before Matt's red-eye flight back to NYC.

Here are some of those from yesterday:

New Montgomery Photo Shoot

2009-10-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

My good friends in the band New Montgomery have just wrapped up a new EP, so I took them to San Jose to do some promo shots in a studio there. You can hear their music here:

www.newmontgomery.net

Taking Back Sunday (w/Weezer and Blink 182)

2009-09-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

With all the wedding posts lately, you may have forgotten that I shoot for a lot of musical acts as well. Mostly around the Bay Area, with some occasional trips down to Hollywood.

A good friend of mine plays guitar for the band Taking Back Sunday. He got me in to shoot at Live105's BFD event earlier this year. Other members of TBS were impressed enough with my work, they I was given photo passes to shoot this past Saturday and Sunday in Sacramento and Mountain View, respectively.

It was a blast! ...a lot of fun to see Isaac rocking his heart out at Sleep Train Amplitheatre... after which I drove him home to the Bay Area, and then we all met up again at Shoreline Amplitheatre the following evening. Weezer put on an excellent show as well, and Blink 182 certainly was entertaining.

Sunday night's show was drenched in rain, which only added to the fun (except for making sure my equipment stayed dry). There was a lot of security that night too, so I had to jump through a lot of hoops to make it down to the stage with my gear. But all worked out just fine :)

Matt Rubano performs with Taking Back Sunday in Mountain View, CA

Adam Lazzara performs at Shoreline Amplitheater

Matt Fazzi and Isaac Bolivar perform with Taking Back Sunday

Isaac Bolivar performs at Shoreline Amplitheater with Taking Back Sunday

Isaac Bolivar and Adam Lazzara perform with Taking Back Sunday

This wedding is on FIRE!

2009-09-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

The title is only half-joking.

I'll explain: My brother is a videographer in Los Angeles. We did a wedding together on August 29th (first time working together on one) for John and Becky. It was beautifully set in the hills north of LA, and everything was ready to go.

Then, if you happened to see the news, a wildfire spread through the hills, covering 100,000 acres by the day of the wedding. Ash was raining on my brother's car, and we had to keep the air on "recycle" because the atmosphere got too smoky.

It's 1:30pm... out having lunch... need to be on site by 4:30. We get a call saying "wedding may be canceled, stand-by".

Long story short: the couple was able to evacuate the wedding site, find a new location, set up tables, sound, decorations, food, and get the word out to 110 guests... all in about 3 hours. Everyone showed up on time, and everything was ready to go at a gorgeous ranch tucked in the hills.

The bride and groom were calm, and all smiles and laughter throughout the whole day. I was extremely impressed. Congratulations John & Becky!

KKIQ Wedding

2009-08-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

Mikey & Jodi were my contest-winner couple from KKIQ's "My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding" contest. Probably the shortest ceremony I've ever seen (4 minutes, maybe), after which we went around town to get some shots in, and stopped at a Starbucks before heading back to the reception (they met at a Starbucks).

The rest of the night was filled with dinner, dancing, LEGOs, and more dancing. My job was done around 10pm or so, but I was dragged from the bar by the bride and groom to come dance until about midnight. I just decided to crash at the Marriott rather than drive home. Super fun evening!

Northern California Winery Wedding!

2009-08-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

So I shoot for a Bay Area band called Pine & Battery, who you may have heard on KFOG radio if you live around here, and I was hired to shoot AJ's wedding on August 9th. A 3 hour drive up to Ukiah, out in the middle of nowhere, with rolling hills and vineyards everywhere. It proved to be a hot hot day, but an extremely fun event nonetheless!

Wedding: Kensington Hotel, Elk's Lodge, and Old St. Mary's Cathedral

2009-07-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

On July 11th, I had the honor of shooting Matt & Maria's wedding at the Kensington Hotel in downtown San Francisco. The ceremony was held at the Old St. Mary's Cathedral, followed by a limousine ride around the city and then a reception at the Elk's Lodge inside the Kensington. They are a wonderful couple... very happy to be with each other, great family, and they treated me like a king (dinner, bar, dancing, conversation, and a room on the 6th floor so I didn't have to drive home).

The entire event was so much fun, and was definitely one fo those moments where I think "wow, this is my job."

Editing is not finished yet, but I wanted to share couple of my favorites so far.

Bride at the Kensington Hotel

Bride exits limousine at the Old St. Mary's Cathedral

Groom and best man at the Elk's Lodge, San Francisco

Groom nervously waiting to be married. Old St. Mary's Cathedral.

Fashion, Fashion!

2009-07-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all.

Happy 4th of July! ...a day late, I know. Been busy!

As we all know by now, I've always focused on weddings and live events with my photography. I do head-shots (and the like) on occasion, but have not really had a ton of experience in that area... especially not much with modeling.

Well on Friday, I headed to San Jose to shoot in a studio with a model. The purpose was to showcase some wedding gown accessories for my partner's clients.

After fiddling with the ridiculous amount of lighting options available, getting hair and makeup done (for her, not me) and tossing on some trance Depeche Mode remixes, I am proud to show off a couple images from that session!

RIP to Everyone, it seems.

2009-06-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson... even Billy Mays, the infomercial guy that we all love...

What is the deal with this week???

Say what you will about MJ's personal life, he wrote and performed some awesome awesome music. He will be sorely missed in the pop world.

Live105: BFD 2009

2009-06-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

Each year, Live 105.3 (the San Francisco Bay Area's biggest rock station) hosts a concert festival called BFD. This year's lineup was so-so, but still held two highlights for me:

Mute Math (one of my favorite bands) was scheduled to play on the Festival Stage, and
Taking Back Sunday was also scheduled to play the same stage.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of TBS, but this show was special because a friend of mine has recently been added to the band's roster. I know Isaac from his work in a Bay Area band called Weslester, whom I have photographed a number of times. In the last few months, he has gone from playing in bars/clubs around San Francisco, to touring the country (and soon, the globe) in a giant bus, playing for thousands of people a night.

I was fortunate to get a hold of him before they came to California, and he got me in backstage for the whole show, which also allowed me to shoot Taking Back Sunday from onstage:

It was a blast! And it was a lot of fun to see Isaac enjoying himself so much with his new gig, not to mention watch as singer Adam Lazzara climbed the scaffolding during the last song, hooked his legs into the metal, and dangled upside down while he sang the final chorus to "Makedamnsure".

The other opportunity that came my way was meeting all the guys in Mute Math.

Upon further contact with their record label the next day, it looks as though I will most likely be shooting for Mute Math when they come to San Francisco in September! Very, very excited about that.

Me (center) with Roy Mitchell-Cardenas and Paul Meany of Mute Math

Berkeley City Club Wedding!

2009-06-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

I recently had the privilege of shooting Meisha & Dan's wedding at the Berkeley City Club in Berkeley, CA.

Meisha is a model, and Dan is a musician, so naturally they wanted someone who could give them a "rock star" look on their wedding day... and I was honored that they picked me to do the job.

The day went without a hitch, and was a ton of fun. Good food, good people, good times. Now that I've delivered their images to them, I can post a few here:

Bride and Groom at the Berkeley City Club

Bride and bridesmaids at the Berkeley City Club

Bride and Groom at the Berkeley City Club

Promo Shoot: WhoGas

2009-06-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

On March 2nd, 2009 I was hired by the Funk/Rock/Reggae band WhoGas to do a promotional shoot with them for a press kit. It took place at Ex'pression College for the Digital Arts in Emeryville, CA (drummer Chris Paxton is a graduate of the school, and I contact I had from the Funk/Hip Hop/Rock group Nexus).

The school is not only a learning institute, but houses a high-end recording facility that has captured the sounds of artists such as: Dave Grohl (of the Foo Fighters), Sammy Hagar, 3 Doors Down, Jack Johnson, Jimmy Eat World, Bon Jovi, Tears for Fears, Dave Gahan (of Depeche Mode), Tori Amos, and Train to name a few.

Many of these artists performed in Ex'pression's Meyer Performance Hall, which is where this shoot took place. The room contains a 20ft. green screen that we used as a backdrop.

This was my first experience shooting on a green screen, which was a lot of fun. The guys brought a few changes of clothing and we shot for about an hour or so. Below are a few finished shots from the night, as well as a video montage of the entire shoot.

About: Lancaster Photography

2009-06-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

My gallery (www.LancasterPhoto.net) is strictly to showcase my work, and give straight information (i.e. contact info and pricing). I realized that I had no good way of posting anything personal, so welcome to the Lancaster Photography Blog!

Obviously, I am a photographer. I operate both on my own from LancasterPhoto.net, and sometimes in tandem with my brother under LancasterMedia.net. He (Keith) is a videographer in the Los Angeles area... usually specializing in music events, but we will do the occasional wedding together as a team.

A bit about me:

I graduated from the University of California-Santa Cruz with a BA in Business Management Economics, of all things.
I am a musician at heart, and therefore know a lot of bands/musicians. This would probably explain the extensive gallery of Live/Promotional photos on my site.
Video editing is a strong hobby of mine. On the right hand side (over there -->) you'll find a few YouTube clips of things I have produced, whether it be for someone else's project or for my own promotion.
I consider myself to be extremely friendly. I take my business very seriously, but that in no way means I have to be serious. More often than not, I am asked to be more a part of someone's wedding, rather than a contract employee. I like it that way.
I was not raised in a religious household. I respect and admire anyone who is honestly devoted and loyal to their spiritual belief system, and adapt as needed. So whether you have a traditional ceremony or something totally off the wall, I am always excited to be a part of it.
Shooting for models is a relatively new direction for me, but I am pursuing it. So please ask!
I am observant. Most of my couples prefer a more candid "photojournalistic" approach to their wedding, and I find that to be the most fun. Everyone wants a few good portraits, but honestly the photos of my wedding that I continue to look at are the candid ones.
Be open with me! I cannot think of the last time I was put off or offended by anything, and I'm always looking to shoot something new. Make suggestions if you have them!

Contact me about anything. The best way is clay@lancasterphoto.net. I am often out and about, but thanks to technology (i.e. my iPhone) I can get emails all day long. Use it!

I look forward to working with you.

-Clay