Day 17

17/365, originally uploaded by Aaron LaRue.

Last night I went to Allison Ander's Don't Knock The Rock Film and Music Festival. Last night featured an Emitt Rhodes tribute show along with the film, and this picture is of Craig Stark singing one of Emitt's songs.  

It was a great time, and I got to meet a lot of cool new people (including most of the band members from Emitt's first band, The Merry-Go-Round), and I got to catch up with some friends from SB (including the one and only Tony Ung). I was volunteering for the festival, and Allison asked me if I could take some pictures, and of course I said yes. I got to shoot the soundcheck for all the bands that were playing, which was cool because I didn't have to worry about blocking anyone's view or anything. 

I've never done concert photography before, so it was a cool opportunity to try something new. I was surprised at how difficult it actually was, the stage was pretty dark and the lighting was really ugly at the venue, so I had problems pulling focus and had to play with the photos in photoshop to get anything I liked. It was definitely a learning experience, but at the end of the day I had a hard time choosing between 4 different photos. I like this one a lot, the only thing that bugs me is that it reminds me of an iPod commercial. Craig Stark and his lead guitar player JB were amazing, they had a huge stage presence which made for a great performance. It was a great night, and I'm stoked to head back to see some more movies every thursday for the rest of summer!