Here’s a not-very-well-kept secret: I love to photograph dance.
I must’ve walked back and forth across the Railroad Stage field at least forty or fifty times over the span of the weekend. While Junk Yard Band was doing one of their sets, I saw the young girl above totally rocking out. Looked like fun.
Complimenting Hector del Curto’s Eternal Dance Quartet were Sara Grdan and Ivan Terrazas of Feraltango. On top of being wonderful dancers, they seemed like fun people in general.
When they weren’t in “costume,” I had a chance to watch them as part of the Perfect Partners panel. This collection of musicians and dancers explained how music and dance were intertwined in different genres. After Sara & Ivan did a little basic tango instruction, Haitian dancer and choreographer Sheila Anozier provided a short Haitian dance demonstration to the music of Bonga Jean Baptiste.
The photo of Sheila above is one of my very favorites from the Festival. I’ve always loved seeing musicians that appreciate other genres. This weekend, I saw a member of the Quebecois group Genticorum watching del Curto’s tango quartet perform. I saw members of the CASYM Steel Orchestra move to the sounds of Johnny Hiland’s country guitar. And I saw Sara intently watching and smiling at Sheila’s Haitian dancing. The Festival isn’t just an appreciation of music; it’s an appreciation of culture from around the world.
Believe it or not, I was not the only person with a camera at the Folk Festival. In fact, I caught two of my favorite photojournalists (Kevin Bennett and Bridget Brown of the Bangor Daily News) in the act:
They, of course, managed to take some wonderful shots. I wouldn’t expect anything less from them.
I have a strange fascination with photographing photographers. It’s amazing to watch different techniques, especially when it involves watching the differences between a person with a $100 point-n-shoot camera compared to someone who does this for a living.
I’ve poked a fair amount of fun at Kevin for the access he gets around the festival in years past. I actually had a second to do the whole “hey, nice work,” thing to him this year, so now I don’t feel quite so bad about joking around… not that I really ever felt that bad about it in the first place.
My friend Jeff managed to get a very nice shot of the two superstars along with Bangor radio and business Jill-of-all-trades Deb Neuman. Jeff goes right up to people and asks to take pictures of them. I opt for a bit more of a candid approach. I’m just stealthy like that.
As many of you already know (especially if you follow my Flickr account… sorry about that), the American Folk Festival took place last weekend in Bangor. Being the music lover and photographer I am, I took well over a thousand pictures. The next few posts are a short recap of the weekend.
The first rule of the Folk Festival: if you don’t like crowds, go on Sunday. If you do, well…
It’s August in Bangor, Maine. You should know what that means by now…
That’s right! It’s almost time for the American Folk Festival. A week from tonight, I’ll join a five-digit number’s worth of other people cramming along the Bangor waterfront to see a ton of great music in three-day festival form. And preparations are already underway!
New this year: a moved Kenduskeag Dance Pavilion, a (finally) repaired wood fence along the railroad line, and a mysterious fenced area near the Heritage Stage. Want to see more? Check out some other pictures I took. If you’re going to the festival, don’t forget to add your photos to the AFF group on Flickr!
It’s August in Bangor, Maine. You should know what that means by now…
That’s right! It’s almost time for the American Folk Festival. A week from tonight, I’ll join a five-digit number’s worth of other people cramming along the Bangor waterfront to see a ton of great music in three-day festival form. And preparations are already underway!
New this year: a moved Kenduskeag Dance Pavilion, a (finally) repaired wood fence along the railroad line, and a mysterious fenced area near the Heritage Stage. Want to see more? Check out some other pictures I took. If you’re going to the festival, don’t forget to add your photos to the AFF group on Flickr!
Wedding photography really isn’t my thing; I’ll usually help out friends, family, and other people who are close to me if I’m asked, but I don’t really like the pressure of it all. Fortunately, though, I think I’ve started to get a bit better at it. Last weekend (August 2) I once again put on the good clothes and headed to Sam and Scott’s wedding in Litchfield.
The best parts of wedding photography: without fail, there are a couple of very cute kids, people in really beautiful outfits, and an opportunity to have lots of fun with posed pictures of the bride and groom. If it wasn’t for that pesky ceremony part…
Today was Flickr’s latest semi-every-once-in-a-while “24 hours of Flickr” experiment, creatively titled Flickr 888. The basic idea: photographers around the world post one photo taken today – August 8 – to a group to create a fairly comprehensive record of the day that was August 8, 2008.
Here’s my entry:
I know what you’re saying. Flowers? Aren’t flowers, y’know, overdone in just about every single possible way?
Well, yes. See, it was a pretty crappy day here in Bangor. It rained for a good portion of the day, and frankly I wasn’t prepared for it. I was hoping to catch a couple shots of the Penobscot Theatre‘s outdoor production of “Guys & Dolls” this evening, but alas, it was moved inside. While I feel completely comfortable lugging my dSLR into, say, Hauck Auditorium at the University of Maine, I’ve always felt a bit uneasy about bringing it into the Bangor Opera House. (There would have been some great shots during and after the production that I at least should’ve captured with my point and shoot, but…)
So yes, flowers. I’m new to these photo project things. It’s something.
We here in Maine pride ourselves on our weird weather. Oft is spoken the famous phrase, “If you don’t like the weather in Maine, wait a few minutes.”
The weather lately has been unusual here… even by Maine standards. Strong thunderstorms, sudden heavy downpours, and skies that just can’t decide what they want. I, of course, had to take a couple pictures:
The skies tonight gave me a wonderful opportunity to try out my new Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS that I received after helping out Sara and Greg with their wedding. Thanks, guys! I’m loving the lens so far.
The moose at the Litchfield Sportsman’s Club in Litchfield, Maine, says… well, nothing, really.
If it were still roaming the forests of Maine, it would most likely be letting out that famous cry of the moose; you know, the, um, “mooooooooose” sound, I guess.
