MuteMath (San Francisco, CA)

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

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

Darren King of MuteMath performs at the Fillmore in San Francisco

Happy Body, Slow Brain

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

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)

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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.

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

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:

1. Mute Math (one of my favorite bands) was scheduled to play on the Festival Stage, and
2. 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!

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 Groom at the Berkeley City Club

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

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

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