Steve Moakler
01.22.2010
Singer-songwriters are lame. They know things about their feelings and they like candles. Right? Maybe. Not Steve Moakler. I know for a fact that he hates candles. Ok, I don’t know that for a fact. I made it up. But I do know he loves chicken sandwiches from McDougal’s here in town. Yesterday, our food got delivered to the table at lunch. I got up to get a drink and when I came back 12 seconds later, Moakler’s sandwich was gone. Ok, that’s a lie, too. But on the real, Steve is talented. Like really talented! There may be times when I shoot bands and I don’t like their stuff. I won’t say they stink, but I won’t praise them either. Moakler is a baller! Given your (alleged) hatred of them, forgive me, Steve, for this first picture shot off a mirror through candles.
I also shot a live video of Steve’s song, Boy That You Drew. Steve and my friend and fellow photographer, Jamie Clayton, told me Steve doesn’t play this live very often. The audio clips (gets distorted because it’s too loud) in a number of places, but I decided to post the video anyway.
- I didn’t take any full shots of the room from the back to show all the people there (there were a lot as Steve is crazy talented). I thought about doing it, but this weird feeling (vaguely reminiscent of laziness) kept me from doing it. I’m never giving in to that feeling again!
- For part of the show, I stood stage left and took photos standing up since I wasn’t blocking anyone’s view there. The venue (The Listening Room) has these incredibly cool Bose L1 speakers that are about 4 feet tall, put out INCREDIBLE sound, and look like this
In an incredible display of how NOT to win friends and influence people, I was standing directly in front of one of those speakers and I didn’t realize it until two songs from the end. So my goal of people not knowing I’m there was completely ruined. I talked to some people after the show to see if they had noticed a sound issue and they said no. But I’m sure someone at the show hates me now. Live and learn moment! - Even with static lighting (meaning lights don’t change positions, colors, or intensities) – like the light at The Listening Room – it’s really important to review photos after each time you frame shots differently. Even switching from a horizontal to vertical shot of the same subject can change what light is available to the camera and destroy a photo by under- or over-exposing it beyond what is fixable in post-production. After 6 weeks of shooting, I finally had that conscious realization when editing this show’s photos.
- Which brings me to my last note. I was talking with my friend, Alex, today about how many photographers hate editing photos. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it, either. Mostly like, sometimes dislike. But I think 70% of what I learn about photography comes in the hours of processing and editing photos. The time that can feel like an empty void of sorting, rating, and editing is actually more life-like than I realized before.
- Steve’s MySpace. All of it is good. If you have limited time, I recommend Stay Sound or Slow Mo.
Throughout 2009, I shot a crazy number of photos but never posted them. For 40 consecutive days, I'm going to post these shoots. Something new every day!
At 3:55 in the video when Jake drops his stick, it makes for an awesome little drum fill. Listen with your eyes closed.