For those of you who don't know, LIVE music is kinda my thang. I love seeing the artists make the music right in front of you. Ok, so the most anticipated show of my year was last night: iMogen Heap. And her quirky, melodic arrangements definitely lived up to my hype. One of the coolest shows ever...she was amazing! She opened the show by singing and walking down the aisle from the back...her voice is incredible. What's even cooler is that she accompanied many of her songs with a full band-the drums sounded incredible!

Kidd Kraddick (who's also a big iMogen fan) was sitting right behind me so I chatted with him for a bit before the show. I grew up listening to his show in the mornings. He's a really nice guy. Now the pics are not that great considering the big guard at the door wouldn't let me bring my zoom lens in and he barely let me bring my "professional" camera in. So I was stuck with my fisheye. So maybe this was just another friendly reminder that I need to pick up a point n' shoot digital for occasions such as this.

All of us have seen black & white photographs before. And I think all photographers would agree there is a hundred different ways to go from color to black & white in Photoshop. Furthermore, I think we would all agree that all black & whites are not created equal.

Tip #9: Bring a small amount of color back into your black & whites to give them more depth.

Many great black & whites usually have a splash of color in them. When I use Kevin Kubota's B&W actions I bring the opacity of the B&W layer down 5%. Backing off the B&W a tinge allows the little color peeking through to give your image a little more depth. Check out the difference on one of my favorite photos of Lyndzey...

Before: A little on the cold side...a little shallow.
After: Ah, tast-teeeee! See the depth???

Fort Worth, Texas

I wanted to do a conceptual shoot designed around an ironic theme I'm titling "Butterflies." Luggage, motel room...bride on the run-it goes against traditional bridal portrait sessions but yet a reality many face...that's why I like it.

In fact, this is indeed this bride's story. Although not exactly attaining "runaway bride" status, she was engaged to be married earlier this year. She seemed to be the perfect fit for the story I wanted to tell.

So I've been listening to these all month while up to my neck in post production work. Thought I'd share them with you guys. No doubt you've heard of some of them but maybe others not. No specific genres-really just all across the board. Swing by their MySpace pages, I'll leave a little of the discovering to you ;)

From left to right: John Mayer, Hellogoodbye, The Killers, Mute Math, Jonezetta and Sufjan Stevens.

I just reserved my spot amongst 700 DWF members in Las Vegas for 30 awesome seminars featuring some of the greatest wedding photographers in the world, parties, networking, mentoring sessions, contests and a pink cadillac.

What is DWF (Digital Wedding Forum) you ask? It's the premier online community of wedding photographers. The best in the world, and those who aspire to great digital wedding photography, are inside the private forums finding inspiration and information, with more than 12,500 posts logged every week. It's been a great resource...in fact, most of my friends to the left are DWF members.

Tip #8: Networking isn't everything...but it ranks right up there with oxygen.

The networking alone is invaluable! Becker, Liana Lehman, Jessica Claire, the Boutwells & John Michael Cooper are just a fraction of the outstanding photographers learning, sharing, critiquing & inspiring in the DWF.

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January 9th-14th I'll also be heading down to San Antonio for DWF University, an incredibly intensive seminar experience. Highly successful and well-known DWF experts (Huy Nguyen, Doug & Chenin Boutwell, Kevin Kubota and Rosalind) will each lead a full-day class in shooting, workflow, business planning and marketing. I'm looking forward to learning new shooting techniques hands-on with live models, refining my business plan to maximize my profits, fleshing out an efficient workflow and learning how to market my business most effectively.

There are a couple of new toys-er...tools worthy of mention that I scoped out at the PhotoExpo in New York City last week.

Brand new bag from Crumpler, hot off the ship from the land down under. This bag will pretty much swallow anything you throw at it...so clutch for an on-location photographer like myself. Also holds the 17" MacBook Pro-bonus!

Tip #6: Get a good bag for all your gear. You'll thank me later when you're not dropping your lenses on the ground.

I love companies with well thought out products and Crumpler's photography bags are just that.

Check out the rain guard for this thing-remember what I said about being well thought out?

And this my friends is the first quality standard prime 50mm lens Canon has made. L series glass (Canon's elite professional line), maximum f/1.2 aperture, minimum focusing distance of 45cm, circular aperture diaphragm for beautifully even background bokeh and ‘removal’ of distracting backgrounds. Utterly tasty @ $1599.

Tip #7: When it comes to equipment, put your money into good lenses first... everything else is second.

I always have one of my 5D bodies sporting the 50mm, I use it that much. I'm off to pick one up as soon as Canon ships them mid-December...anyone in the market for a Canon 50mm f/1.4?

15,000 hits for Behind the Camera??? Over 800 visitors to fredegan.com since the new "white site" launched two weeks ago??? You guys rock.





OK...you guys rock and roll.