Wow, I neglected this blog for a bit! Have you been waiting here long?
How is everyone's 2014 so far?
This year has been a funky one as far as schedules. I'm more booked than I ever have been, but all my bookings are crammed into a 6-month period this time. Usually it's bit more evenly distributed throughout the year.
So for me, wedding season is about 3 weeks into full swing... and it's gonna be a fun one. George is with me once again this year, and if you see these two photographer clowns at your event, you made a smart hiring decision:
George Woods and Clay Lancaster. Photo courtesy of the groom.
Obviously I do things other than weddings as well. Earlier this year I did some photos for my friends in a band called Black Map (made up of members of Dredg, The Trophy Fire, Far, and Crosses †††). Here's one from Bottom of the Hill:
Black Map (dredg, The Trophy Fire, Far)
Next up was Crosses at the Independent. The Deftones' Chino Moreno fronts this "new" group with members of dredg and Far, and they put on such a fun show. No photo pit at this venue, so I got knocked around quite a bit by the sold out crowd:
Chino Moreno of Crosses (and Deftones). Photo by Clay Lancaster.
Crosses at the Independent in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.
Much of early spring was spent on personal projects, taxes, and a trip to Las Vegas before all the weddings were scheduled to kick in. Now it's all started, and George and I are super excited to see all the wonderful faces that have us scheduled for 2014!
-Clay
I'll leave you with some of my favorite shots so far:
San Francisco Zoo Wedding
Indoor ceremony at Murietta's Well. Livermore, CA.
Very thankful for the year we've had here at Lancaster Photography. We met a lot of fantastic people, were welcomed into a lot of family circles, spent time in many photo pits, and traveled around the US and the world... all because of the lens and being decent at using it.
Personal thanks to all my clients from this year for choosing my work (which even included Sony Music Entertainment and Ben Folds), huge thanks to my 2nd shooters and assistants, and to the staff at theFIVE10 Radio.
I was organizing and preparing for the end of the year, when I realized how awesome 2013 was for my photographic adventures. I make my living as a wedding photographer here in the San Francisco Bay Area, but there's a lot more that I've done (and will continue to do) besides weddings.
Don't get me wrong... I love my couples, and I love my job. But if you're a chef and your job is to make pizzas at a restaurant, you don't just stick to making pizzas at home!
To start, this year has been very travel-heavy. Normally I do a bunch of concerts throughout the year, but this time I swapped much of the concert shooting for traveling (and the projects that come with that). Tallying up, my journeys took me to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe (twice), Colorado, Florida, Istanbul, and Paris (twice)... plus all the local outings to wedding venues here in Northern California.
Some of the main highlights:
Paris, France: Worked on an independent film with my brother and a wonderful cast & crew. Crazy experience, and required two trips out there to get it filmed (once in April and once in October). See all my previous posts documenting the trip, if you want more details.
Me (looking thrilled), Barbara Probst, and Kevin Clark as seen through my brother's RED camera
Istanbul, Turkey: After our first round of filming in Paris, I headed to Istanbul by myself. I had never been to that part of the world before, and it was my first trip to another country alone... where I ended up shooting a hip-hop video for a Tunisian rapper/DJ in a dingy basement, with real blood donated by our video's "director" (we couldn't find fake blood)...
Las Vegas, Nevada: Brodie (of the Brodie Stewart Band) few me out with him to meet up with Faith Hill's guitar player, who plays on Brodie's upcoming record. We shot some great interview footage, then had a couple of nights hangin' out with those guys (and some of the stage crew for the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill show at the Venetian). All of it topped off with free tickets to the Tim & Faith show, and my own entire row of seats on the plane coming home for me to stretch out on.
Getting ready to shoot Adam's interviews at the Venetian
Ben Folds Five: The most rewarding moment of 2013 for me was getting my photo on the front cover of Ben Folds Five: Live, which is the first-ever live album for the band. I've been a huge fan of Ben Folds Five since high school, and once I heard their 12-year hiatus was over I pushed to get photo access for their show at the Warfield in San Francisco on their reunion tour. I was just thrilled to even go to the show, let alone shoot photos. But a couple of months later, I get a call from their people and BOOM!... there's my photo on the record cover (released by Sony) and can be found in stores all over the world. Pretty cool to see "Clay Lancaster" on the CD insert, and on the back of the vinyls.
My photo on the cover of Ben Folds Five: Live
The rest of the year was filled with wonderful weddings, trips to visit family and friends, some great shoots and celebrity guests for theFIVE10.com, AND I bought a condo... so I am now a first-time homeowner.
On January 1st of this year I didn't see any of those previous events on the horizon, so I can't wait to see what 2014 will bring. It's gonna be pretty hard to top what happened this year... but, of course, I said the same thing last year.
I know, it's February now... but I've been a tad busy. Not including hunting to buy a condo and dealing with my car being fussy, let's start from the most recent events:
After waiting 15 years, I FINALLY got to see Ben Folds Five play live at the Warfield in San Francisco. My brother had literally waited half of his life to see them as well, so he drove up from Los Angeles to join me.
(and if you weren't aware, Ben Folds Five just reunited last summer after splitting up in 1999)
Not only did I see the show, BF5's kind publicity people granted me media access as well. So I was a happy camper Thursday night. Here are a few photos:
Ben Folds Five at the Warfield in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster
Ben Folds Five at the Warfield in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster
Ben Folds Five at the Warfield in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster
Before this, I was enlightened to the fact that rock guitarists are still being created when we interviewed/shot Tyler Bryant for theFIVE10.com. This kid (who is seriously the next Stevie Ray Vaughn) already opened for Aerosmith and Slash, and is featured in the rock-photographer documentary Rock Prophecies. It's been a long time since I've seen someone play guitar like this:
Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.
Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.
Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown in San Francisco. Photo by Clay Lancaster.
...and before that, I had ventured to Los Angeles to see my brother, check out Abandoned Pools at the Viper Room in Hollywood and shoot a wedding for a producer friend of the family. Congratulations to Sean and Laura!
Sean & Laura wedding in Pasadena, CA
Photo assistant for the day, my brother. Keith Lancaster.
So there are the 2013 highlights so far! Things start kicking into gear a bit more in February. Hope everyone else is doing well.
Ok... so I did, in fact, neglect November. In my defense, I was busy with Thanksgiving (family in town), my birthday, a wedding to shoot & edit, and a few other activities.
Here's some fun stuff from the last month:
Sarah & Thomas had a beautiful wedding in Pleasant Hill, CA
Congrats to Sarah & Thomas
My brother and step brother came to visit for Thanksgiving. This is the "portrait" we took for our parents.
Keith had to shoot car stills for a project, so we took this Jaguar out to Treasure Island (across from San Francisco).
Our view of San Francisco when we were done with the shoot.
Ventured in to San Fran to the Aquarium. That's just a bunch of fish over my head.
...then my birthday happened. (FYI that's artwork I created for The Family Crest. Incredible group.)
Later on my birthday, at a city professionals meeting (hence the name tag). I don't know who's idea the cake was, but thank you! I also don't know why my eyes are ridiculously blue.
And it's only December 6th! We got a whole month ahead of stuff to do (if you know me, you know how much I love Xmas time).
It's gonna get packed, so if you want to book something, you need to do it now! I have some trips to SoCal coming up, a wedding to shoot in San Francisco, a trip to Reno, a promo shoot to do, potentially a video project, various events to make appearances at, people to see, and that doesn't even include the shoots I'll be assisting Jen Cash with.
So speak up if you need me! Happy Holidays everyone.
Well, I did it. I successfully neglected my blog for the entire month of August. *high five* For some reason, most of the weddings I've photographed this summer ended up being on the hottest days of the week. I like cooler weather. So, needless to say, it's a challenge for me to throw on a suit and stand out there with a camera when it's 104 degrees outside.
I'm not entirely sure why I'm telling you all of this. Just absorb the information and we'll move on...
Ms. Chelsea Tavis was kind enough to revamp lancasterphoto.net last week. The layout is similar, but much fancier and much more well-presented. Not to mention it's also more social-media-friendly. Check it out!
Now for some photos. August took me to Napa, Livermore, St. Helena, Moraga, and Marshall. Here is some of what you may have missed lately:
Sheila & Trevor at Hacienda de las Flores in Moraga, CA
Kathleen & Nate at V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena, CA
Nick & Barbie at the Corinthean Ballroom (and park) in San Jose, CA
Jessica and Kody at Garre Winery (Martinelli Center) in Livermore, CA
Tanya & Ryan at Walker Creek Ranch in Marshall, CA
And super-assistant George (with a newly healed and functional foot) scaling the rafters of a barn last night during the reception. The groomsmen hoisted him up onto the first tier, and George climbed his way to the ceiling for some photos.
Got lots of editing to catch up on now! Thankfully September is a low-key month this year.
'Tis wedding season, which means I've been busier than normal (i.e. now I work 3 days a month!).
Let's see... I guess I'll start with some wedding shoots and personal-ish news:
If I've done photos for your wedding, you've probably met George. He's been my "consistent assistant" for most of them. That is, until a pallet took a wrong turn coming off the loading dock at his day job and crushed his foot, breaking 4 toes.
He's almost back to normal now, and the trooper has hobbled his way through weddings this month like a champ. That even includes an almost 10-hour wedding shoot a few weeks ago. In 95 degree heat. Wearing a plastic boot from the doctor that prevents him from bending his foot.
Suffice to say, my assistant is more badass than your assistant.
Here's the big guy in the ER right after it happened. I spent 3 hours with him, and drove him around to get lunch, medications, etc.
There have been a bunch of fantastic weddings lately. I'm honestly very lucky in the sense that I get to work with some great couples. Couples that will even lovingly call me an asshole during the wedding, because they get my sense of humor. Not to mention that 2012 is apparently the year of TIPS (hint hint). Here are a few of my favorite shots:
Thank you indeed. That's me with the signs.
Brides, if you're stressed out... take notes from Sarah here.
Photo by Clay Lancaster. www.lancasterphoto.net
Probably the happiest groomsmen I've come across.
Then I shaved. I've had a beard for months and months, so it's a little weird looking so young now:
I also did a promo shoot for the very talented Lisa Marie Johnston. It was highly entertaining to have the metal band Testament walk through this particular shot as I was working.
Lisa Marie Johnston. Oakland, CA.
Since we're on the topic of musicians... last week I joined JC of theFIVE10.com for an interview with the band Carolina Liar, and shot their set (currently touring with Kelly Clarkson).
Carolina Liar. Concord Pavilion. Touring with Kelly Clarkson.
Also, I was (I think for the first time ever) a model. My very dear friend Chelsea wanted to have me sit for her for a project she's working on. She runs Glam Rock Magazine, which I highly suggest you go take a look at.
My brother Keith is currently in Paris studying fashion photography, and someone took a great photo of him. So we did this one to compete (brothers... we always compete).
Clay Lancaster (left) taken by Chelsea, and Keith Lancaster (right).
Oh, and I helped one of my besties Jen (of Calibree Photography) on her shoot with the band Smash Mouth in San Jose, CA. I didn't shoot, but I helped with lighting, and I drank on their tour bus. So I did my part...
Clay Lancaster with Smash Mouth shooting a music video in the background
And on a personal note: you may have seen my posts about our house burning down last November. This photo is courtesy of my step brother (who I'm very close to), which shows the empty lot after it's been bulldozed. Flowers are already starting to grow. It's kind of peaceful, actually.
Where our house used to be. Reno, NV. Pioneer Dr.
That should cover most of it for now. I hope everyone is well. If you've already booked me, get ready for some fun stuff! If you haven't yet... what's the matter with you? :)
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