an evening at the Tripoli...

It's rare that I get to attend any belly dance event  for pure enjoyment. Almost every time I do it to shoot picture after picture. And most evenings I walk away with anywhere between 1500 and 2000 shots. When I do that, it is mostly for me. It's fun to see what you can get, how well you can capture a moment and all.

But this past Saturday it was enjoyment time in Milwaukee at the 8^th Annual Middle Eastern Dance. This is a yearly shindig, sort of a shimmy into summer event, put together by Samantha Fairuz and Denise. It's hosted at he Tripoli Shrine Center in Milwaukee, a really fantastic venue for this type event.

Through a Facebook post, I was told I could bring my camera, which I did.  But rather than shooting every dancer, I shot only those who gave permission ahead of time - that meant three acts only.

Anyhow, rather than stressing shots, I sat in my chair, took a few pictures from where I was seated and enjoyed the show. What you see here is a sampling of the few shots from the evening, all quick edited. Enjoy!

Friday the 13th Art Show at Salon Uptown

To see all the pictures in this set click this link!

These are all the shots from tonight's party. I may go into more on them later - like that they were all shot between 1600 and 6400 hence the grain - but need to get to sleep now.

Great party Deano! Make sure to be there next Friday the 13th ya'll!

Rockabilly Show at the Mosquito Gallery...

to see the entire film set click here!

Ok, so maybe tonight is the actual show. Frankly, I am old and tired - and most importantly not contracted to shoot anything - so tonight is a home night. But this past Wednesday, May 4th, the Mosquito Gallery opened the door to show off the pieces it would be formally opening up for view tonight.

The rule for showing was simple enough - every entry had to be Rockabilly themed. There, that's it.

I think there were some really great pieces there. But the shots are linked here, so click the link and make your decision.

As for the evening's entertainment, it was provided by that area favorite duo Sipos and Young.

Been meaning to do this for a while...

I have been meaning to get a photo of my main camera ever since attending the MudQueens wrestling match posted last month. In fact, I have refrained from cleaning it just for this picture.

Set up the "studio' in the kitchen at about 11 last night. I'm not happy with the text accompanying the photo and will rework it in the next day or three. My goal in the print section is to talk about my Rebel not being my "baby" but rather being my work partner. That obviously did not come across in this text. As it was after midnight when I began writing this incoherence and lack of focus is just to be expected.

I'll post the redo when it is finished. With luck, I'll have something to be proud of.

Lightroom Experiment #4 - "The will to edit...

is the will to over edit." Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

While this original shot is too flat and lacks contrast, it is not all that bad.
Still, it could use some more contrast and other basic improvements.

Ok, Nietzsche never said that. However, if he had been a photographer - or if he had ever seen this photo edit - he could well have.

The other shots I have posted in the Lightroom Experiments have been from stage shows or events. Normally, they have been shot in out of control conditions under the crappiest of lighting in the most chaotic conditions. 

So let's try something different - a controlled shot.

This edit has some stuff going for it. But it suffers from being overdone.
The increased contrast and darker tone has been pushed too far.
I'll be re editing it tonight.

The technical notes and all are with the pictures in Flickr, so I won't go over them again. Suffice it to say that I feel the after shot has too much "bad goth" going on with it. But the final determination will wait till I get home and see it on a real monitor. I will be re editing it tonight, along with another of one more barrista who wants her photo taken.

Lightroom Experiment #3

This is the shot as it came out of the camera. I believe the settings on this shot
were 3.5, 1/80th, 18mm on a 1.6 sensor. To see how much better this looked
after an application of Lightroom scroll to the edited photo at the bottom.

This is another of the shots I had left over from the Mudqueens bout at the Viaduct Theater.

The lighting was pretty irregular so I've taken the poor man's way out by converting them to B&W.

Conversion of this shot began with my taking one of the B&W presets from Lightroom and then tweaking the curves and using the brush tool to bring out the banner in the backround.

Three things limited the quality of this shot -

1) I am still just learning Lightroom so my useage is pretty basic at best.

2) The shot was edited in just 10 minutes.

3) The editing was done on a laptop. Thus, the light/dark balance will be off. Also, the monitor needs to be color calibrated.

This edit took less than 15 minutes, and yes, I know it shows it. It is far
from great, but compared to the unedited shot is it a vast improvement.
You can actually see the banner and the wrestlers pop out more.

Lightroom Experiment #2

You do what you can...

This is the second of the Lightroom experiments. If you click on this picture to enlarge it you can click on the previous and next buttons to better see the differences between before and after.

Before Photo

This shot was not taken in black and white. In low light conditions black and white is your failsafe, me thinks. When the shot is just too mucked up for color to look good you revert to B&W to save it. In this case, the lighting was not just low it was incredibly mixed and uneven.

After Photo. Note that the MudQueens logo is visible. While other things
were lightened too, that banner is the most noticable thing. 

If you saw this shot in color you would note that the card girl was either in bright white or a brilliant, near-white yellow while Jackie Daniels (left), the ref and Calamity Pain (right) are in deep blue. By making the card girl look white you made the trio too dark to come out worth a damn. balancing the wrestlers colors gives them an attractive, light blue look but gives Card Girl a jaundiced look.

What to do? What to do? Resort to black and white.

As you can see, this is not high art. But then, it's mud wrestling, not Botticelli. If this were to turn out just the way I wanted, it would look like it belonged as a poster in some Noir movie. It should look 30's or 40's nostalgic, not artsy.

One last note - I did not sharpen this shot though it could definitely use it. Frankly, I needed to get home and have lunch. Low sugar was giving me "the vapors," so I opted for the quick edit.

As always, if you have any comments or criticisms drop them in the comments.

The wrestlers are the MudQueens of Chicago - http://www.mudqueens.com/

The venue is the Viaduct Theater - http://www.viaducttheatre.com/cms/

And the tutorial that gave me insites from from Fro Knows Photo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EURb_ZbxzRY

Check out all three - they are worth the time!
M

Normally I don't post or link videos here, but...

I had two from the hafla at Arabesque Studios (that was two entries ago).

If anyone requests, I have a third video about ready to go. Just drop a not and I'll post it.

Enjoy!
M

Sir Pinkerton and the Magnificents in Milwaukee...

to see all the pictures in the set, click this link!

This set is from the Mardi Gras show in Milwaukee's Bayview Brewhaus, on the city's south side. I highly recommend seeing these guys - they are a blast. Of course, the mini burlesque review (yes, some of those pictures are included) likely shaped my opinion - but I would have gone to see the band scantily clad babes or not.

For a video of the performance check out my video blog - oldguywithanosering.com

For more info on the band check out this link!

The March Hafla at Chicago's Arabesque Studio

To see the entire photo set click on this link

These shots are from a hafla held at Arabesque Belly Dance in Chicago.

I like going to the shows and haflas there – the venue is small, but pretty. The dancers are always good.

Apologies for the briefness of this entry – but there is SO much to do. My apologies to the ladies who danced – these were quickly edited on a laptop, so the brightness and color are due to be off. Still, the resolution of these pictures is good enough that if you download some of the shots (and you are welcome to) you can edit them to your specs. Lord knows I don't have time to right now.

Oh, one last thing – if you like these shots show your love by clicking on one of the links to donate to my photography (on the right side – look for the PayPal buttons). Any donations are greatly appreciated.

If you clicked on one of the ads here well, heck... I wouldn't object to that.

Thanks,

Mikasihttp://www.flickr.com/photos/piczilla/sets/72157626274668914/

The Cheese Does Not Stand Alone...

  To see all the shots in this set click on any of the pictures!!

Or at least that's what the protester's button said.

There's been a rally in Madison, Wisconsin. It's actually been a multi rally or mega rally or a bunch of rallies or something that means it's been going on for over two weeks straight. The crowd was different today from when I first went two weeks ago.

For a video clip of the people outside were screaming during Governor Walker's speech, just click this link.
 

Then, it looked like a lot of union regulars from back when my dad was in the UAW - gruff looking guys, older (which means about my age), lots of national speakers. Today though, it was the middle of the week and two weeks in, so it was the locals that kept things going today.

Students, teachers, mostly white-ish collar union people. In with the mix were the firemen you've come to expect along with a contingent of cops.

One of the goals was to make a lot of noise during the time when the governor was giving his speech and presenting his budget to the national audience. It got loud (check out the video to see how loud). And apparently it worked. When I asked a network audio techie if they could hear the crowd in the auditorium he replied "Oh yeah, they could hear it. I had the headset on checking the sound from the podium and I could hear you guys over that."

Good job, ey?

As for the name of this post, it wasn't my idea. The phrase came from a button that a woman in one of the pictures was wearing. Apparently, there was another woman going around with a box of these handing them out to people.

Racine Union Rally...

To see the entire set of photos click this link

Plan was to get to Madison, spend the day, spend most of the night, then drive back.

The ice storm that frosted over my windshield faster than the blowers and wipers could clear it was not part of te plan. Got as far as the interstate before that plan got called off.

Instead of heading to the state capital, it was time to hit up the union rally at the Racine Labor Center, on that city's north side.

While normally just shooting pictures, recently I've been using the Rebel to do video. I took this opportunity to videotape the address by Racine state Rep Cory Mason, above.

Figure Photography...

Click on this link or on any of the pictures to be taken to the full set of photos!

The pictures linked in this post are from two events from the night of January 31st - the MAAM Summerfest preparatory meeting at downtown Kenosha's Sazzy B's and the Sipos and Young open mic, featuring its first appearance at it's new home TG's tap.*

Warning - this is lightweight photo nerd stuff. If you are a photo nerd, drop a comment or question. If you or a friend is in the picture, feel free to link them to it or download a shot. If that photo is for commercial use talk to me first, because I gots to make bank. The lights don't keep themselves on! Thanks!

These pictures were shaped by two influences in my past - first, my initial involvement in photography was with small newspapers, combined with my love of archived photojournalistic shots from the Depression. 

The second influence comes from my involvement with the Uptown Salon in Kenosha. My partner - Dean Tawwater - and all the other visitors were painters and sketchers and such. What I got to see there was a fair amount of figure drawing and figure studies. These were done as an exercise to help the artists develop and further their skills. Ofttimes, the results would end up in shows and were interesting in themselves.

So think of these as figure photos. My secondary goal was been to make the lighting and such work so the pictures are "good". But primarily, I wanted to take the shots from different angles, trying for different interesting framings in the foreground with nicely posed central figures.

*didn't want to break in the middle of the paragraph for this, but I definitely recommend either bar as a place to get a bite to eat and enjoy music. If you make it to K-town check them out.

Five Minute Graphics...

Click picture to see larger copy

I've decided to add another set to my Flickr account. Rather than pictures of events, or belly dancers or disasters, these will mostly be pictures that amuse me for no good reason. Think of these as social commentary and social commentary. Done by someone not qualified to comment on society and who is not funny.;

All pictures in this set share three qualities - they are all parodies of things or conditions you find in socitey, they are all quickly and artlessly cobbled together in about five minutes and - being parody - they make "fair usuage" of existing works.

Click picture to see larger copy

If you are the owner of the copyright of any of these and want them taken down just email me with your demand (if you are angry enough to email I can only assume you are demanding). I will happily take the shots down. However, I will also share your email/demands/legal papers with my viewers here by making it into a graphic. I'll likely also post it on Facebook.

Yes, I am so powerless and pathetic that I find it a status bump to noticed by the famous and powerful even if it is just in a legal proceeding.

A helping hand to newer photographers...

I don't mean to be tedious posting so much over the last two days. But I was just checking my hits and noticed a couple of my links - the "Online stores you can set up. Write me with questions" section.


Now, you need to know that I do stand to get a little bump from one of these companies. However, I still stand behind the suggestion I am about to make. I have been using one of the sites to host my web store, Mikasiphotography.com. My experiences there over the last year have been really good. 

They have been limited mostly by my decisions on what to shoot. I don't like to do weddings, so when I do them I tend to charge low and not put a lot of marketing work into them. Still, using this web site I will be making an extra few hundred dollars off the site this month. 


In addition to the occasional wedding, I also post the results of shoots I do for bands on this site. 


This isn't meant to be a bragging session, nor is it a a bare-faced pimping of the site I use. What it is is an attempt to give some sound advice to any other photographer.

At least three other photographers and a pair of artists have helped mentor me.  So I feel obligated to help you. If you want to know more, you can email me. We'll have coffee and talk about what you need.

“No one was killed, praise the Love of God...” - Kenosha Explosion, the morning after...

 It was a new house and garage - but one gas leak and a spark later it's a pile of lumber

To see the entire set of pictures click on this link or on any of the pictures.

“No one was killed, praise the Love of God,” said one neighborhood resident, walking away from the blast site this morning.

Officials reported no fatalities from last night's blast – which is remarkable considering the extent of its damage. The explosion, which took place last night at about 11:15pm, totally leveled a newly built vacant house and garage. The blast was felt throughout a large part of the city.

Pictured from the west, looking east, the blast totally destroyed 

the home and garage and inflicted extensive damage to the two buildings 

across the street, housing Atlas Gym and the Kenosha Flea Market.

At 2113 55th Street, the house sat right on one of the city's busiest north/south thoroughfares, 22^nd Avenue. The blast, thought to be the result of a gas leak, was strong enough to break three second story windows at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church, one block south and three blocks east of the site.

Signs on church doors this morning announced there would be no mass, adoration or confessions due to “possible structural damage”. The church's preschool and Frank Elementary School, both in the neighborhood, were conducting classes today.

Signs on church doors this morning announced there would be no mass, 

adoration or confessions due to “possible structural damage”.

By noon today, numerous shattered windows in a one block radius around last night's blast had been boarded up. Repair persons, city workers, insurance company employees and a Milwaukee media wagon all walked the neighborhood, surveying damage. 

With temperatures in the 20's and snow projected just a few hours 

away, residents within a one block radius of the blast 

wasted no time getting windows boarded up.

22^nd Avenue was thick with traffic rerouted from 60^th Street due to an unrelated fire closing that street this morning. Countless cars slogged by, their progress made slower as drivers rubbernecked to see what was left of the house at the blast sight. 

 

The remains of the house at 2113 55th Street as seen from 55th Street.

Where once has stood a newly built home and garage, drivers saw nothing but an exposed foundation littered with small piles of lumber.

The west face of Atlas Gym shows extensive damage. 

Picture shot from a northwest angle.

Buildings housing businesses across 22^nd Avenue – Atlas Gym (directly across the street) and the Kenosha Flea Market (one half block south) suffered heavy damage. At the time of the blast there was one resident in an apartment above the gym. Emergency responders found him inside the building, making his way downstairs from his apartment. Either part of the ceiling or the roof had collapsed in his quarters. It is not known if he needed medical attention.

The outer walls of Atlas Gym showed outward bowing (north facing, above) and 

cracks and fissures along joints along the mortar (east facing, below).

Windows in the Flea Market were blown out. The stone walls of Atlas Gym showed numerous cracks along mortared joints, running both vertically and horizontally. The second floor outer wall along Atlas' north side showed some outward bowing. Virtually all of the windows on the side of the building facing 22^nd Avenue were blown in.

For more information on this story just Google “Kenosha Explosion”.

"Introducing America to Americans..."

was the mission of the FSA during America's Great Depression. The FSA (Farm Security Administration) would most likely be no more than an answer on Jeopardy if it were not for the team of photographers hired to document the Depression. Many of the Depression era images we take as iconic today were taken by Walker Evans, Dorthea Lange, Gordon Parks and others, in service to the FSA and ultimately to all of us.

Thanks to ChingChongBob1693 who posted this video. Do me a favor - if you liked this give it a thumbs up and maybe drop a good comment.

The Green Mill Poetry Slam and low light photography

 

Click any of the pictures to see them in all their full size noisiness. 

They're "Chunky-licious!" 

Last night a friend and I went to the Green Mill, a fantastic jazz venue, to check out their Sunday night poetry slam event. Before I launch into the technical crap know that you should definitely attend this slam! There are some really good poets reading there – and by poets I don't mean those boring dead people they force fed you in literature class. These are living, breathing people who fuse a sort of jazz, humor and feeling in their words. You can find out more about the slam here.

OK, now the technical crap - 

The goal here was not to get any great shots, but to experiment and see what could be captured. Rather than take 950 shots like last time (http://upyourasa.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-years-eve-punkmetal-show-at-rhode.html), I took just 12 shots, trying only to get Marc Smith in a halfway decent pose.

Here are the specs on the shot -

Format – RAW

ISO – 12,800

Focal Length - 39mm

Shutter Speed - 1/125^th

Aperture – 4.0

Picture Posted – the same shot was processed in color and black and white. An enlargement of approximately the same area in both photos was also processed and posted. All four pictures were posted at 72dpi with minimal JPG compression.

What I found - the reds in the stage lighting seemed to distort the picture. Intense reds seem to make the picture look “fuzzy” - I don't know how else to put it. If you switch from the color to the black and white you'll see that the image is much clearer. For the record, adjusting the curve of the reds down or desaturating short of going to b&w didn't really improve things.

Whether you look at the shots in black and white or in color it appears the focus could have been a little sharper (the shot was set to maximum sharpness in Digital Photo Professional, Canon's free RAW processing software). However, if you look at the closeups you'll see that the problem is not really focus-related. The issue us that the picture is incredibly noisy – that is the image is really chunky.

All photography is a matter of making trade-offs and compromises in order to get the picture you want. In this case, I wanted to get a low light shot of Marc Smith. The tools I used were fast ISO (12,800), maximum aperture opening (with this lens at this focal length 4.0), slowest possible shutter speed (1/125).

What I got for this was roughly the picture I wanted.

So what improvements could I make to get something more like I wanted? Next time I would use the following settings – 3200, 2.0 (which would mean bringing my fastest lens – a standard 50mm with a maximum aperture of 1.8) and a shutter speed of about 1/80^th. Shooting with a prime, not a telephoto, lens, the picture would have to be taken from farther away to get the same framing. Or I would have to settle for a more of a close up. The background of the shot would also be fuzzier. Why? Because a larger aperture results in less of a depth of field. This would likely make it a better portrait shot, drawing more attention to the focal point, the poet's face.

As always, I will happily accept any suggestions or questions. Thanks!