Sufficient resolution

For roughly ten years, the lame embargo with Cuba has prevented cross-cultural exchanges. The single largest loss has been the music of Cuba. It all changed Tuesday night at Cafe Cocomo.

First, the music is pure Cuban timba and the musicians are of the highest caliber. Second, the front line is unfiltered Cuban machismo. Ultra high energy, very choreographed, and designed to connect to the surging audience -  very little is left t the imagination. This is the style, and from my perspective, the music transcends the gyrations and humping taking place at certain points of the show. It’s Cuban style, get over it if you aren’t simply going to smile and go with the flow.

Cafe Cocomo is an interesting place, good size and multiple levels. The had huge Mylar balloons hung all over the ceiling, and THEY WERE TOO LOW. From the balcony, they blocked a considerable amount of the stage – very unfair to the packed house. The house audio is fantastic, and they have cat check and at least three bars scattered around. I liked the place, despite the near fights breaking out in front of the stage between women positioning themselves. It was intense, and borderline bad, but it never got completely out of control.

I speculate the floodgate is now open for Cuban bands. It remains to be seen if they find an audience aside from Miami and San Francisco. My personal opinion is the music should be the focus, as that is a lasting and innovative component of this pending cultural invasion. But, not being Cuban or Latin, I cannot speak for others.

All I can do is enjoy this wave of totally honest and very powerful entertainment.

just photos of the show and the crowd

Two very special friends requested I, the humble part time photographer, shoot their wedding. I remain flattered to have even been considered.  She is a dancer, artist and one of those people of immediacy you meet in life, if you are lucky. He is a  musician, businessman and all around great guy.

The wedding was massive, well over 300 guests – many of which were fellow musicians, artists and performers. As a result it was colorful, lively and overall a pleasure to experience.

The problem was, getting out of the limo with the bride, recognizing the presence of at least five other photographers. Mind you, one expects friends and relatives to take part. What I am talking about is serious hardware, full frame DSLRs and conspicuous presence in terms of location and lines of sight. In other words, paparazzi-like. In some cases, they were mellow, in others they were not.

What I am asserting is what is happening to photography. It is a saturated field. Five years ago there would be one serious digital camera at such an event. Now there are half a dozen. Ad as it is a free country we are left to fend for ourselves in a civil manner, minus the boundaries of professional respect. I do think having more angles covered is a good idea, but I would also, personally, have sought out the photographer of record and at least established a working dialog out of respect.

I am whining a bit, true. But the experience was jolting as these two people, friends, had specifically requested my time and effort.  The resulting shoot was compromised and there is little avenue to remedy it. It’s the way things are, today.

I had not planned to blog about our recent trip to Spain, but as a week passed I found myself frustrated at the need to express how much we enjoyed the visit.

The economy has few people traveling, or at least people we know. So the opportunity to share stories and trade experiences has diminished to a trickle. I was “downsized” after almost 8 years as a Senior Director at a genetic start up, and needed the time to clear my head and find a new direction. Spain did the trick.

We flew into Madrid and immediately hopped onto an AVE to Barcelona. The “AHH-vey” is Spain’s version of the high speed trains starting to proliferate the globe – of course not in the US because  of layout and massive opposition by the various oil and car lobbies. Oh well. The AVE runs at around 300kmph and we were in Barcelona (500 km or 310 miles) in 2.5 hours. The ride is completely silent, smooth and relaxing and then you are deposited in City Center. Not a chance I’d fly the route with this option and it is cheaper and easier to fly into and out of Madrid from the US so this makes travel to Barcelona a very stimulating adventure.

Food. Spain is all about cuisine, late cuisine, wine, tapas and enjoying them all every day.  With the recommendation of a friend who lives in Madrid, or did, but that’s another story – we feasted on the best tapas in the country and possibly anyplace.

Quimet & Quimet has been operating for five  generations and they offer up the most creative, tasty and reasonable tapas we’ve yet found. In a space the size of a small living room, it’s a stand-up only place with an astounding wine selection and one of the most varied cheese offerings in the town.  I cannot recommend this more highly if visiting Barcelona, but keep in mind, they are closed in August. This is sensible given the heat and humidity of August, and many in Spain leave completely in August due to this so plan around it and try to visit in early Spring or even Fall.

Quemet y Quemet

Poeta Cabanyes 25, Poble Sec & Montjuïc, Barcelona  93-442-31-42

images here.

The task was a CD cover shoot for Albino!, the San Francisco-based Afro-beat band. The setting, to take advantage of having them all together, was the vicinity of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, on Mission downtown.

The event was the opening evening of the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Between packing their gear into the facility starting at 2:00, which given the location and lack of parking was not trivial, and coordinating a sound check, we had very little time to pick locations, and scuttle around downtown in daylight. Plus, these are very creative people who often will stop and check things out without much warning. In honesty they were very easy to shoot.

I used the 1Ds M III, the 24mm f/1.4 prime, and a LumiQuest flash diffusor on the ultra lightweight SLIK tripod with a Markins Q-Ball M10 ballhead. The  combo is super light and assuming a reasonably stable location works beautifully in mobile shoots.

This was a very interesting experience. I found myself, and the group, actually warming up to the process as time went by. It taught me to consider throw-away shots initially,  allowing the group and the photographer to settle into a groove. We all felt rushed at the onset and that worked against us. But we settled down, and managed a handful of very usable shots.

It will be interesting to see what they choose…..

image gallery

It was a brutal shoot. The tally was just under 40GB of RAW shots of dancers, performers and VIP personalities from around the world for this first annual (for SF) event. There was no stopping, and there was little time to chill out.  I was unfamiliar with most of them at the start. Thankfully, they were gracious and cooperative.

Most of my gear sat in the room, as prior to the event I had no specific knowledge of the location, the lighting or the possibilities to tie them together. Ultimately, I fell back upon my trusty coffee can, the 85mm f/1.2 II, and a LumiQuest SoftBox on the 580 EX II flash unit. The lens is slow to focus, granted, but it clearly does focus and once you dial it in there is little to match it.

In particular, why was the shoot brutal?  The setting was The Whitcomb, downtown San Francisco. Old school hotel design with a huge parquet ballroom. The dancers and instruction took place in this ballroom and two mostly adjacent rooms. Three concurrent classes from 9 AM until 6 PM On Saturday and Sunday.  Then, on each of those nights, an hour long performance by various groups in the ballroom. Each night ended around 2:00 AM after live Cuban Timba (Rumbaché and Jesus Diaz y Su QBA) or DJ Walt Diggs.

Battery issues bit me at certain key times. That is, flash battery issues. I had my two sets of trusty rechargeable batteries, and a new set of traditional ones. Plenty to spare. Unfortunately, I failed to recharge my brain. So after shooting one full day of dance instruction I spaced and did not arbitrarily replace them prior to the night’s performances. Thus I found my flash not firing consistently, and being too tired to think, did not realize why? Damn.

The rooms were packed to capacity. In some instances it was impossible to get near the instructors. It was staggeringly hot in the rooms, unless they had been adjusted, in which case they were like meat lockers. I never felt a nominal temp.

The intrepid photographer had been requested by the event organizers to focus upon the teachers and performers, with a slight nod toward the former as they were responsible for generating most of the event revenue. A tripod and remote release would have been great, but there was too much moving around to allow it.

100% of the weekend was in Programmable AE Mode, and the flash fired for each shot. There was no option with the high shutter speeds required to freeze dance, combined with the hideous, feeble lighting. Prior to this weekend, I have shot maybe 50 times with a flash.

So what did I learn? Hmmmm…that logic was not a component of my weekend and that though I took many very successful shots, I also dropped the ball on a handful. I had the batteries, I just failed to replace them at the correct time. <sigh>

image gallery

Cuban-inspired timba returned to Santa Cruz with Jesus Diaz and his incredibly talented band. The challenge, as always, was which lens would bet work in the very low light and yet afford a degree of reach. The answer, like many previous time, was the 85mm f/1.2 or otherwise known as the coffee can.

Jesus Diaz

What struck my most about the show was the musicians. Once a familiarity evolves, and people start to act like themselves, different behaviors emerge. In this instance, what struck me was the simple reality of this being a job for the band. Not an infrequent special occasion, not a whimsical decision, but a way to pay the bills. So the stress, the slog of it can be seen if you know where to look. There is nothing terribly revealing about this other than to result in my respecting them ever more than previously.

They work their asses off on stage, they give energy and they rarely receive it back in the same proportions as they serve. So what makes it special is that they do it night after night, in different locations, with familial responsibilities, other jobs, and all the baggage of being a wage earner. There is nothing elite or coddled in being a highly trainer musician. They are not pursued by paparazzi or People magazine. But they perform to their highest ability regardless, and it is remarkable to observe and sense. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeanne and I took a few days off to drive to Mendocino and celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.  Choosing mid week as opposed to weekend in Mendocino is a wise move. There were people, but mostly locals and a smattering of visitors. No crowds, no fog and it was spectacular weather overall.

We opted to stay at MacCallum House, in the Water Tower. This presented me with some interesting photographic opportunities. In particular I wanted to exercise the new 50mm f/1.2. That is, in between sampling wine and walking around this great little coastal town I managed to take a few shots.

I’ve read a fair amount of criticism of this lens and I now am very confused why? I found it to be awesome, just a different focal length but very similar to my favorite 85mmm f/1.2. No back focus issues of any kind. It is fast to auto focus, suffers from no CA or vignetting, and does a great job in very low light.

My suspicion is some folks have trouble with the physics of the lens when using other than f/1.2. Namely, the focus changes from true center when stopped down. I find I need to use any other focus point other than center when using anything smaller than f/1.2.

With this in mind, the lens comes alive. The fact it is weather sealed ices the cake. Highly recommended if you need a very fast prime.

Albino! was very challenging shoot at a club with the best sound system in Santa Cruz – so despite the issues associated with submarine/kaleidoscopic lighting, it was a blast and the music was incredible.

Kim Agnew - shoulder dancer

Kim Agnew, San Francisco-area performance artist and band member, was my entry point and the band allowed me to cruise the limited stage as they jammed. I again opted for the 85mm f/1.2 and cranked up the ISO. I am not overjoyed with the results technically, but I may simply need to take more time to work over the RAW files. Plus, I was using two monitors, and they are not calibrated equally. I need to have my head examined for that oversight.

Kim is performing while recovering from knee reconstruction, and it’s hard to know unless you have seen her dance previously. Read the rest of this entry »

the horn section of Jesus Diaz y su QBA

Jesus Diaz (y su QBA) and Patricio Angulo (Rumbaché) permitted me to be on stage to shoot their respective bands at the Salsa stage on Saturday, August 9, 2008. The musicians are an interesting group to observe and photograph. Due to their ability to tune out distraction and stay in tight focus, some great candids are possible. Since I do not blind them with klieg-light flashes, I become invisible. Having observed them over the years, I can assure you they hate flash units in other than a studio setting where color-temperature controlled lighting is required, etc. On stage, they get headaches and tense up when they know another flash is coming. I really wish photographers would think about what they are doing – rent faster lenses, crank up the ISO, and get a clue. Read the rest of this entry »

Surely anyone with a similar tale will smile; that is, dealing with Comcast when things go wrong.

The simple process of moving our daughter from one Comcast service area to an adjacent one has resulted in a specious bill for the unreturned converter boxes. Of course, the converter boxes were taken by the installer when he determined they would not work in the new service area.

<poof> Gone. Read the rest of this entry »