First I would like to talk about the progress on my Kickstarter project, KC Glamour
KC Glamour: Burlesque in the City of Fountains
Comes to KC Fringe Festival. Thanks to generous donations, I am now at $615 out of $650! This is fantastic and I thank each and every one of my donators. With the goal looming so close, I want to up the ante and keep the momentum rolling!
The money being raised with this Kickstarter is to mat and frame the five photographs I have selected for the 2011 KC Fringe Festival’s Visual Arts segment. However, that is not the end of the KC Glamour show. I have an additional twenty photographs that I want to frame for the big KC Glamour show which means there are another twenty photos that could be used for promotional means on Kickstarter. So, here is the new and improved plan:
For every $50 I raise above the initial goal of $650, I will add one of the other twenty photographs to the pool which people can choose as their reward for sponsorship.
Think about it… instead of a pool of five photos to choose from, you could conceivably have a pool of twenty-five pictures of some of Kansas City’s most glamorous burlesque performers to pick your reward from. And if you donate at least $20 before June 22, I will include a bonus card from the revealed photographs on top of your reward.
So, for all of you folks who have donated $20 already, this means that if we raise $700, you get your choice of one of the five photos on display at Fringe Fest AND one of the additional photographs as a 4″x6″ print. This is my way of saying thanks to everyone who helped donate early and to those who are continuing to push me forward in my efforts!
Now, onto the fun stuff! In May and early June, I had the opportunity to photograph a
From The Living Room's production of "Love Song"
couple of shows which I am particularly fond. The first was the one year anniversary of The Living Room, a live performance venue here in Kansas City. The Living Room is one of my favorite places to attend plays or music performances because it is an intimate, comfortable atmosphere. Also, they use armchairs and couches of various forms and levels of cushioning instead of row upon row of theater seating. This means that you can actually lounge and be comfortable during their productions as opposed to being forced to sit in up-right, uptight posture. Definitely a bonus for someone whose ass has fallen asleep more times than I can count in stiff backed seating!
Reviewing the plays from the last year, The Living Room troupe performed several
Preview for The Living Room's production of "Carousel"
vignettes. Also there were selections from their production of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” performed by the same band which provided the musical half of that event. For those who are interested in the details, I was shooting with my ever-trusty Nikon D90 and the workhorse 35-200 f/3.5 lens that I use for… well, everything. Given that there was maybe one spot light and some florescent lamps for the actors, I wound up pushing the ISO up to around 1600 and slowing the shutter speed down to about 1/50th of a second. For the stage vignettes, this resulted in some obvious noise which was taken care of thanks to both Lightroom’s integral noise reduction tech and also Picture Code’s Noise Ninja plugin for Photoshop CS5.
When we got to the Pink Floyd selections, the lights became
Performance from The Living Room's production of Pink Floyd's "The Wall".
much more of what I consider “concert lighting” – bright primary colors, most of which backlit the musicians as opposed to being placed so as to illuminate them directly. However, by maintaining the ISO and shutter speed and swapping the relatively slow zoom lens for my 50mm f/1.5 prime, I got some really good light effects. Also the shallow depth of field allowed me to concentrate attention to one performer over the rest of the band, thus yielding me photos like the one to the right.
The second show that I caught was the Fringe Festival Fundraiser for KC Cabaret and
Troupe Duende at "Carnival! A KC Fringe Fundraiser".
Troupe Duende, which was entitled Carnival! Featuring performers from KC Cabaret, most notably the troupe founder Mary Magdalene, and almost all of Troupe Duende, this proved to be probably the most challenging shoot I’ve had in a while. There were two small spots, both gelled with white filters. The rest of the venue (The Next Space in the Crossroads Arts District, for those who are keeping score) was painted flat black. Also, there were UV lamps in the ceiling although whether this was by design of the dancers or not is something I am not clear on. Anyway, it was VERY VERY dark in this location and since one of my standard policies is no flash photography at live events, I was in something of a pickle since I didn’t have a fast glass zoom and the 50mm just wasn’t cutting it.
What wound up happening is that I simply increased the ISO to 2000 (and for the record, I hate shooting above 1250), dropped the shutter speed to 1/30th of a second and braced myself as well as I could against the wall. Thankfully, bellydance is very rhythmic if you
Blacklit bellydancers at "Carnival!"
know what to look for so shooting Troupe Duende became an exercise in waiting for the beats, releasing the shutter when they paused for that moment between movements and then hoping for the best. That was with the spotlights turned on. For at least two of the performances, the spots were shut off and the only lighting came from the overhead UV lamps. See the photo on the right for an example of what came out of that. I can say that I am intrigued by the idea of white fabric outfits under a UV lamp but the next time, I think I want to do stationary shots with a tripod.
For those who are interested, the photos for the Living Room’s One Year Anniversary can be found here on Flickr. The Carnival! fundraiser can be found on Flickr at this location. Both sets are also available for viewing on my Facebook page.
