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This (above) is Scott Grier shooting Grace Potter (of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals) out in the VIP section of the festival. She was ’super’ friendly and willing to play along with any publicity (not to mention very attractive and apparently quite talented, I wrangled her brilliantly!). We had to set up under a tent and then decided to use the outside of Ben Harper’s trailer for a backdrop. the images came out great, and can be seen here. Scott made the best out of a bad situation and got some really nice work from the cloudy, rainy day.

And here begins ‘Ben Harper Day,’ where all I got were shots of him all day. This one I stole while Scott was shooting him for Getty. I actually like it a lot and am happy that I thought to shoot closer. Ben was also really nice and willing to join the publicity train. Cat Power was not very willing, and actually avoiding committing to a shoot by using the ‘age old’ excuse of “later.” The second time I asked, she tried to stick her French Bulldog on me, and then promised a post-show-shoot. Denied!

Check these shots out on the link above from Scott. He did an amazing job with such little stuff.

The bonus of being at these type of events is the opportunity to shoot a little yourself (plus - meet cool musicians, plus - meet cool photographers, plus - earn plenty of money, plus… well you get the message). I only shot two bands, but I shot a lot of images of them (many back focused and blurry). Scott lent me his Canon 1D Mark III and his 70-200 2.8 IS for this concert, and it rocked. This is shot at 800 ISO and looks cleaner than most cameras at 200 ISO. I truly love to shoot live shows, and wish it a) payed better and b) was more accessible more often ie. payed better!

Ben Harper was great. I need to reinvest in his music again. He rolled in to the VIP area with wife Laura Dern and his family. They were all backstage watching their daddy rock his little socks off. The rain had stopped and he played the first big show of the day, even though audience numbers were less than half of Saturday.

The biggest let down after two days of Radiohead live is one day of not Radiohead live. I decided during Jack Johnson’s set to delete all his music from my ipod. Not because he sucked, in fact he was actually great. I just realised how mediocre he is compared to Thom and the boys.

All in all it was an amazing few days, full of expensive junk food, cool slightly famous bands and some really cool people to work with. My advice for aspiring concert photographers is to not bother, or win the lottery and follow them all. I also met my first ‘professional-groupie,’ called Bridget. She wanted to know all the bands, and spent plenty of time following them around in a small bikini and miniskirt. She would have wrangled way more people than me had she been with Scott!

Justin turned 30 today, and in true Justin girlie style he has claimed the whole gosh darn weekend for celebrating (obviously I am having a hard time accepting the challenge of drinking all weekend). We’re havinig drinks at Rope tonight and last night we had a big meal at our house where we sat around in Justin disguises and talked about Justin things like cameras or Nebraska, and then said “du-doo-di-doo-di-doo” at the end of every sentence. (Stella is trying to zap him with her laser beams!)

My Grandmother used to ride a tricycle everywhere she went around Cheltenham until some young ‘hooligan thugs’ stole the thing. I’m sure it was a blessing in disguise for her, nonetheless I was disappointed to see the classic mode of transportation gone. Here is a British company called “Pashley Cycles” that is keeping the dream alive with some handmade classic bikes.

They even have a bike accessory that will safely store your favorite teddy bear or doll

And here is a classic bike with an even better name, “the Guv’nor.” ($1,795)

And here is a music video from the British band called “The Feeling” who used Pashley bikes in their music video for their new single “Join with us.” The music video was created in 24 hours from drawing board to completing all the post production. (Hopefully theit new album took longer than that?)

Luke and few other friends have updated their iPhone to the new 3G. It doesn’t seem too different, but certainly feels a little nicer to hold. It has inspired me to search through the new applications and add some new stuff to my now old phone. The new wordpress app allows me to blog from my bed in Cape Cod. Has that really made my life better? Or worse!

If you didn’t see the post about supporting street dogs in India, these were the canines I cried (like a little baby) over while there. They were far sadder in person as they were shaking and starving, they deserve all your help Here and here

I have never seen so cool a Jewish person in Brooklyn. (See the Palm trees on the yarmelke - Scott B Lyons - this is for you!)

I have been socialising with a few Koreans recently. Pratt has a very high count of its MFA students as Korean. They are all pretty nice, fairly quiet and perfectly well mannered normally. This article about Samsung countering the suicide rate of its employees by having funeral training doesn’t do them any favors as a race. Apparently they also believe that sleeping with a fan pointing at you while you sleep can lead to death (see this article on wikipedia). Imagine reading this in the Financial Times.

South Korean companies are sending employees on ‘fake funeral’ courses to help prevent suicide.Participants sit at candlelit desks and are told to write their last will and testament.Attendees are prompted by questions such as: “If you died today, what would you tell your family”? Many of those in the room become emotional as they read out their wills.

Before they are “buried”, participants are asked to pose for their funeral portrait. Participants (then) enter a “death experience room” where they choose a coffin and put on a “death robe.” Course members get into their coffins and a flower is laid on each person’s chest. Funeral attendants place a lid on the coffin and dirt is thrown on the casket. Participants are left in the closed casket for five minutes and some start to cry in the darkness. Once the lids are opened the resurrected trainees are asked how they felt.

Thanks Justin

Ben, Justin, Woojin and Ensouk at Rye Playland beach on July 20, 2008 in Rye, New York. (Photo by Unknown)

The view when leaving work for the Vitamin Water Party on July 14, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Hider)

Ben enjoying the sunrise at the Pratt Studios on July 14, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Hider)

…of work until the annual BBQ at my parents house outside of the city.

Louise and Stella watching Amanda eat veggie booty infront of Weeds season 2 on July 16, 2008 in New York City (photo by Ben Hider)

Thanks to Shane Lavalette for the “Goesophy” post, it reminded me of a word in Phillip Perkis‘ book “Neotony” I’m not sure the words are really related, except for sounding alike and talking about ideas that interest me. Philip’s entire Teaching Photography book can be read here.

Geosophy is a concept introduced to geography by J.K. Wright in 1947. The word is a compound of ‘ge’ (Greek for earth) and ‘sophia’ (Greek for knowledge). Wright defined it thus:

Geosophy … is the study of geographical knowledge from any or all points of view. It is to geography what historiography is to history; it deals with the nature and expression of geographical knowledge both past and present—with what Whittlesey has called ‘man’s sense of [terrestrial] space’. Thus it extends far beyond the core area of scientific geographical knowledge or of geographical knowledge as otherwise systematized by geographers. Taking into account the whole peripheral realm, it covers the geographical ideas, both true and false, of all manner of people—not only geographers, but farmers and fishermen, business executives and poets, novelists and painters, Bedouins and Hottentots—and for this reason it necessarily has to do in large degree with subjective conceptions.

I was just delivered a laptop at my desk I had left for someone to archive some images from. The strange part of this was how the guy knew exactly who I was even though I had never seen him before. Apparently the assignment person who sent him to find me said I had glasses like this guy. I guess I am glad that it was only the glasses that were similar!??

I spend an unhealthy amount of time watching television during the hot summer days while I work nights. Justin has introduced me to the Showtime show “Weeds.” I have no idea how I have missed this show as I work for a celebrity photo agency and have posted events and images related to it for years. I guess not having the channel it was on had some effect. I have watched Season 1 and 2 over the past 3 days. If you have never watched a TV show like this, I would highly recommend it. I watched a large portion of “Friends” like that over 7 years ago and it helped the terrible show drastically! Weeds is much much better than Friends, and I am sad to have only one season left. I won’t go into too many details about the show, but its basically set in a middle class suburbia where a single mother sells weed. I can’t help but remember when thirtysomething came to British TV and my parents were hooked. Could this be the thirtysomething of the 21st Century. Either way I feel old because I can remember my parents being the same age as I am now.

The second season changed up the artist who sang the opening theme song “Little Boxes” which was a song written by Malvina Reynolds. (The song was covered by Linkin Park, Regina Spektor, The Decemberists, Engelbert Humperdinck, Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice, Tim DeLaughter, Mark Gunnery of Riot Folk, Randy Newman, Billy Bob Thornton, The Shins, Death Cab for Cutie, Mates Of State, Persephone’s Bees, Man Man, Joan Baez, Ozomatli, Rise Against, and Kate and Anna McGarrigle)

This is one of my favorite scene from season 1 (It shows how completely inappropriate the show can be)

Here are most of the cast members singing their own version of the theme song.

I am a huge fan of this set of movies. I even got to sit in the ‘original’ DeLorean DMC-12 once while visiting Universal studios as a kid (”The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?” - Dr. Emmett Brown). Now up for sale is the original prototype shoe used for Marty McFly on ebay. It has been timed for the release of the Nike Hyperdunk that look like the ones from the movie. Only 350 pairs of these Nike Hyperdunks have been produced, with the color of the Nike shoes that Marty McFly wears in Back to the Future II, and glow in the dark soles. The tissue paper in the box even says “Great Scott” all over it! The new Nikes are available on ebay and range from $800 - $2,000.

I suffered from regular nightmares as a child and would constantly wake up screaming around 11pm until I was about 12. Occasionally I still have them, although they are now different every time and based around more tangible fears I have, such as being caught in a fire and losing everything (I had one of those last night). I also had regular nightmares in India which I could blame on many things ranging from altitude to sobriety. This video I found posted on the Getty Images Creative Blog originally from vimeo is pretty close to the regular childhood nightmare I used to have, although I would not have the office-type setting around the lines. The second video is how it would sound. Terrifying.

Magnetic Movie from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

Brilliant Noise from Semiconductor on Vimeo.