Cindy Blackman Quartet

[Dipstix Pix]

Ended up shooting some images at the Basement last Friday night of American jazz drumming sensation, Cindy Blackwell. She is a tiny person and her legs were as thin as my arms but what she lacks in power she certainly makes up for in technique.I had never been to that venue before and as with any venue where they play live music there are a lot of compromises. First off the crowd are sitting at tables that go right up to the stage so there is no photo pit as such.
This made it almost impossible to take photos of pianist Carlton Holmes' hands and to get a clear shot of George Mitchell on double bass as he was set back from the rest. My solution was to set up a remote control camera at the back of the quartet. There was very little room as they were filming it for a DVD and there were cameramen and cables going everywhere. So I left it on top of an amp stack at the back of the stage. Soon as the band came out one of the players puts the camera on the floor - do'h.

I have below a photo of the band from the front and some close ups of Cindy (don't know if I like the B&W conversion) - no doubt someone will comment

[Marvin]

I prefer the colour one and I like the last one best.

[surenj]

Love the wide shot and the last shot. How did you trigger the remote camera?

[Grev]

For gig shots I prefer colour. And these are good shots, closeups are always good then a few with the group.

[Dipstix Pix]

Surenj - I used the standard Canon wireless remote (I'm away from my kit but I think it is a RC-3 from memory). Thanks for the other feed back gents.

[Viz]

Nice work, and a hard gig well handled.

Unrelated story - I assumed she was a singer when I saw the promo stuff. It goes to show that I can surprise myself with how conventional my thinking can be sometimes.

[Alex]

Fantastic gig photos. In fact, one of the best I've seen. I love all colour images, in particular the last one.

Well done!

Alex

[Dipstix Pix]

Thanks for the unexpected applause. I actually did these pix for the promoter of the event who also runs Drumscene magazine. I did the cover image on their current issue of Cog drummer, Lucius Borich. Also did the pix for that headline story and the poster inside as well. I guess he'll use these pix in the next issue and they were filming a DVD on the night so no doubt they'll also appear on the slick. I don't know why I doubted myself but wanted to make sure they were good enough in other peoples eyes to run - I know the client is very happy with them so thanks again.