Fremont brings in The Summer...

Spent this past Saturday bringing in the Summer over in Fremont at the Summer Solstice Parade and celebration...

Went on Friday to get the press pass so I could shoot from w/i the parade...



So I shot walking through the middle of the parade, back and forth from every angle...It was fun, crazy and full of sheer abandon from the participants...

From the naked(yes, I said NAKED) painted cyclists, the topless chocolate painted dancers, naked skater girls...to all the fabulous people powered floats, the imperfectly gorgeous belly dancers, the fabulous drag queens, the political statements, the zombies, the love fest huggers, all of the enthusiastic participants, the crowd, all of Fremont...it was all sheer madness...

It was fabulous. By the end of the day with the bare and painted skin scattered through out, I was numb to excessive exhibitionist displays...

It was a celebration...Fremont, goes full monte bringing on The Summer...

Here are the images I clicked that hopefully communicates some of the pure joie de vivre that was there at every turn...Here is a slice of the spectacle, the PG version...you can go straight to the set for the "full monte" so to speak;)

Full slide show of the set including the chocolate lady and a few select painted bicyclists, skaters...beware, NSFW(not safe for work)!

Europe photos will be coming soon!!! swear! lol...

xoxo
~Elisa

Noise for the Needy ~ Festival 2008

Ok, I do not lie...as I mentioned previously, I am back to tell everything about the Noise for the Needy Festival shows I shot this past weekend!



I shot 2 shows: The Funhouse on Friday the 13th(spooky! lol) and King Cobra's early show on Saturday...super fun!

The lines ups for the shows were as follows:

The Funhouse ~
Omnia Mutantor
Oswald Effect - www.myspace.com/theoswaldeffect
Mos Generator www.myspace.com/mosgenerator
Sunday Night Blackout - www.myspace.com/sundaynightblackout

King Cobra ~ Featuring Fourthcity DJ's http://fourthcity.net/ - www.myspace.com/fourthcity
DJ Zapan www.myspace.com/zapan
DJ Same DNA www.myspace.com/djsamedna
DJ Absolute Madman www.myspace.com/absolutemadman
Specs One www.myspace.com/specsone
Delicious People www.myspace.com/deliciouspeeps

Both fun shows...the first at the Funhouse, a hardcore rock line up...the second, a kind of mellow chill hip hop bit with DJ spinners, etc...

As well, both shows were just a few in the line up of the Noise for the Needy ~ Festival 2008, www.noisefortheneedy.org. This year, the NFTN festival sponsored the charity: Urban Rest Stop ~ www.urbanreststop.org.

It felt great to contribute in some way...my way is to give images to them(NFTN) and the artists. I had a great time...it was great practice and I got to meet some great people. My good deed for the year(I kid...)...

I actually rented 2 lenses ~ a 24mm f1.4L(test drive), a 50mm f1.2L(dreaming), and used my own 100mm f2.0. I had a flash in my bag, but I am both not a huge fan of flash in show photography, and I honestly don't know how to properly use it in such a setting...so it was more a if I absolutely need it back up. I was pleased with the images I composed and captured with out...

Here are a smattering of my favorites from the two nights!

I love music...it is a beautiful thing!

Full sets of images on flickr www.flickr.com/photos/noisefortheneedy
>>Full set from the Funhouse<<
>>Full set from King Cobra<<

xoxo
~elisa

The camera loved Johnny Blackout

Hola! It's been a while...vacation was fabulous, and I have almost 5000 images to sift through!

But, more on that to come, promise...

This past weekend, I volunteered to shoot the Noise for the Needy Festival(www.noisefortheneedy.org) at 2 of their shows. More on that later, too:)

I had rented a couple lenses to push my kit to it's max since I knew lighting would be challenging at these gigs, and I wanted to test drive the 24mm 1.4L. So I shot primarily with that and the 50mm 1.2L and the 100mm 2.0 .

What came of these shows was some pretty good images I think...but the most striking for me on reviewing all the images from assorted bands, was the guitar player for Sunday Night Blackout ~ Johnny Blackout... He had all the rock star moves...some may even call them cliche...but it does not matter when it comes to images...Funny because he was also in the best light on stage...coincidence? I really had to push to get any images of the rest of the band. In frame it was magic when pointing it at Mr Johnny Blackout...take a look...............

Johnny's myspace :: www.myspace.com/rockaction1978

More from the show at: Noise for the Needy's Flickr

The whole experience was great...the organization is something I can get behind, and loved being able to contribute in some way...like I said, more on the whole bit soon!


~Elisa