Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Alanis in Concert



Lily and I went to see Alanis Morissette in concert last night. She was promoting her new album, Flavors of Entangelment, that's coming out today. The concert was through this series called The Artists Den that hosts small concerts around the country. Their concerts are for members who've paid fees to join but they also reserve some tickets to give away for each concert in a sort of raffle. Last year Richard and I were able to see Patty Griffin in concert because he won tickets through the raffle. It's pretty awesome because their concerts are usual small, 100 or 200 people, and the two that I've been to were both in old churches so the venues are really unique and cool.



This is where I'll insert the funny story of how when I was in either middle school or highschool and Alanis' first album came out I was a HUGE fan. I desperately wanted to see her in concert so when tickets went on sale my mom went and waited in line at ticketmaster forever to surprise me with tickets but even though she was basically first in line the tickets had already sold out online. Damn modern technology.

Anyway, the concert was awesome. Although yesterday was the hottest day of the heat wave that we've got here so standing outside in line for an hour in 100+ weather was pretty terrible and then to make matters worse the a/c in the venue was either non-existent or not strong enough to make a difference. So for most of the time between 6:30pm and 10pm Lily and I just stood around sweating.



Although there wasn't supposed to be any photography during the show, as soon as it started I saw cameras fly up everywhere. I sort of shyly joined in and took a few photos. Unfortunately, I was standing behind the jolly green giant and even lifting my camera over my head most of the shots were blocked by his bald spot. So to anyone over 5'8" at a concert may I put in my official request that you stand in the back.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

TTV in Prospect Park

Chris and I spent an hour or so yesterday wandering around Prospect Park. I made a black paper contraption to go around the duaflex camera I bought. This is a photo of a similar, although much more nicely made version. It's purpose is to prevent glare on the viewfinder of the duaflex camera that would mess up the photo.

It was a sunny, warm, summer kind of day so the park was pretty buzzing with people and it was a lot of fun taking ttv photos. I feel like I probably looked pretty strange carrying around one giant, black-shrouded camera with my digital camera around my neck as well. But a few minutes into the park Chris and I saw a family taking their pet rabbit out on a leash and I felt better because a rabbit on a leash seems so much weirder.





As Chris and I were heading back toward the park exit we saw this guy practicing with what I think is a parasail. He wasn't trying to get lift off or anything, although that would have made for some really awesome photos. I really like how these photos came out though. The TTV style creates a nice, soft blur around the edges of the photo that really draws your eye into the center of the image.