dudes and chicks | Ironsdale Arts Center | 7/31/13 | NYC

I love when I get to say YES to a last minute call to head out with my camera and capture an event for someone.  I especially love it when that event turns out to be INCREDIBLE.  That is what happened to me this past Wednesday evening.  I wasn’t sure what to expect other than a theatre show and my google searches of the location (google images is awesome!) which showed what could not possibly be the location?  Could it?  Searching for Irondale Arts Center brought up beautiful images of a very old theatre/church looking space.   I was pretty excited and decided to take my 24-70 & 70-200 for best coverage.

The building looked like an old church or school from the outside.  Large and brick and taking up a huge portion of the block in a very cute neighborhood in Brooklyn.  I walked in and up massive stairs to the third floor.  Wow.  It was gorgeous.  Beautiful photographs of shows from the years lined the stairwell and everything had that ‘old theatre’ vibe that makes a theatre person feel instantly at home.  I walked out and found myself gazing at a gorgeous space lined with stained glass windows who’s exterior had been partially covered with ivy making for even more beautiful patterns.  The space was just perfect.  Except for the lil boo boo in the ceiling which caused for one of those last minute staging/seating rearranges that everyone almost expects to happen when putting on a show & Fresh Ground Pepper and their peeps came to put on a show.  Yes sir & ma’am, they certainly did.  dudes & chicks was a collaborative work between about 18 different theatre groups/companies adapting Guys & Dolls.  They created an epic musical that went an hour over and I only noticed that because one of the directors brought me a water and apologized for going past the time I was hired for.  I hadn’t even noticed.  I was so engrossed in what was happening that I didn’t even realize that much time had passed nor did I care.  I would have stayed till the end no matter how long, each group was captivating.  The best night of Singing, Dancing, Theatre, Comedy, Show Choir, Spectacle & wonder I could imagine.   There was blood, whip cream and tears on that stage, it was amazing.   Look for the whip cream explosion kiss.   Each group had the stage for about 10 minutes, each doing their own adaptation to whatever part of the story they had been assigned.

The Fresh Ground Pepper Players

Directed by Karina Martins, Andrew Neisler, Jaclyn Backhaus, Andrew Scoville and Jenny Beth Snyder

Hosted by John Early & $1 dice with Matt Gliva

With:

Miriam Miller, Joel Esher, Joe Hendel, Jordan Hirsch, Eben Hoffer, Jaime Wright, David Bernstein, Tessa Skara, Lynn Andrews, Kim Blanch, Nicole Weiss, Charlene U Next Tuesday, Ellen Maddow, Mark T Evans,  John Kurzynowski, Brandon Anderson, Rob Heller, Michael Ruocco, Taylor Daniels, Michelle Cameron, Alex Rivera,  Anne Wechsler, Annie Tippe, Blake Lowell, Jason Monaco, Jackson Hunt, Eric Diehl, Davi Schoen, Nathan Stanton, Trevor Bachman, Nicole Spiezio, Ashleigh Nicolle Smith, Shana Rachel Leibowitz, Jessi Sweeney,  Kaela Garvin, Sean Daniels, Eric Mercado, Adin Lenahan, Sydney  Matthews, Kaela Garvin, McKenna Dabbs, Jesse Hunter, Cat Crowley,  T. Adamson, Elyssa Mactas, Natalie Peyser, Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld, Nicole Weiss, Kyle Fox,  Trevor Bachman, Alex Goley, Stevi Incredmona, Ebonee Noel, Paul Pontrelli,  Tessa Skara,  Juliet Stron, Lauren McColloch, Carroll Simmons

To see all the photos from the show CLICK HERE

To purchase Fine Art Prints & Products (ipad cover) CLICK HERE

Jax Sanders | a Portrait Story | Covington Imagery

I love a day when I find myself creating images unexpectedly.  I recently had a day with the awesome Jax Sanders, a recent transplant from Austin to Brooklyn,  She was starting her new job and needed a photo for her work ID STAT and it had to be a cool image.  She didn’t want the cookie cutter bleh image that usually stare blankly out from the generic ID badges.  Why overlook the opportunity for a great photo??   Damn Right!  Why would you ever?

Bandwriting Collective | Shelter Island Sound and The Slipper Room| Music Photography

When Stuart Klinger told me about his summer songwriting collectives, it sounded like it would be awesome!  The best kind of summer camp, in my opinion.  Kids get together and spend the first week writing songs and the 2nd week recording them with a grand finale at a NYC venue!  How cool would that have been to your 12 year old rockstar self?   So cool!  So very, very, very cool.
I met up with the first session about 3/4’s of the way through recording.  While certain kids laid down their tracks or overdubs, others were creating artwork for the album…which was going to be released the NEXT DAY!  Who has a turn around like that?  The Bandwriting Collective does.   Check out their site HERE!   6 completed songs,  from start to finish in two weeks.  I am very impressed with the program that Stuart heads with Jesse Krakow, Bill Gerstel, Mathew Baram, and Matt Gill.

.  The kids came to work and I left with several tunes stuck happily in my head and I was only hearing bits and pieces of the songs.  I’ve still got “She Told Me Not to Do It” running through my head.

To check out all the pics from the 1st session of Bandwriting Collective CLICK HERE