The Archives is an old-school, serious Reggae band with an album that will be released soon by ESL Music.
Good band portraits are as varied as other types of photography – there are no hard and fast rules (as Jay Dickman often says, “It depends!”). I think this one works reasonably well because the band looks interesting and serious, and the background has character but isn’t distracting or modern. The color version was good, but black and white is more old-school.
The Godfather of Go Go, a Washington, D.C., legend. The beat will go on. He was a joy to shoot. These are three recent favorites – celebrations of his last birthday (8 months ago):
at the Capitol (obviously!):
and at D.C.’s 9:30 Club:
(for some more photos of Chuck, see this gallery)
Recently, I shot for the first time at The Hamilton, a new restaurant and separate live music venue in downtown, Washington, DC.(near the White House). Food is also served in the music venue, which features table service, a balcony with a bar, a small dance floor, great sound, great lighting, and great sight lines. It’s elegant space, right down to the walls, all covered with amazing, large black and white music photographs; it could be a gallery exhibit.
Speaking of Hirshhorn surprises, after sunset the exterior becomes a video screen, with eleven high def projectors displaying the “the first-ever work of 360-degree convex-screen cinema”. It’s Doug Aitken’s SONG 1, which you can see and hear until 13 May (after which it enters the museum’s permanent collection, whatever that means). The soundtrack is a seamless, haunting mashup of the 1934 standard “I Only Have Eyes for You”, which Aitken produced from dozens of versions he commissioned from stylistically diverse musicians. It’s a treat, and fun to shoot.
