Life Moves Pretty Fast...

"You come over to say hello in the brightest of the lights, 
I'm so impressed, you look your best, without an ounce of trying, 
I make light of a picture, and you're leaving with your friends, 
And I've no doubt I'll never see you again... 
Cause you may deceive me... but you made me try to make believe in 
That there's something more, we can't ignore, but nothing we can do..." 

So much has happened. It's insane that at times I have nothing to share and nothing to say and then other times I feel so full of randomness to spread that I can barely keep track of it all.

First of all, and most importantly... I have completely hot pink hair now. Yes. Photos soon. Also, tomorrow is tattoo day. Number 8. :)

Also, I have dyed Jennifer's hair blue...

Taken with my new lens that I bought for the 100 Monkeys tour. 10 days until the first show and the new Liquid Zoo album! Excited doesn't begin to cover it.

If you want to hear a preview of the album this Sunday be sure to head over to www.fender.com/100Monkeys - also, you should head over there since two of my live photos of 100 Monkeys are posted on the Fender site!!!

This is a beyond exciting moment for me. While my photos gained a lot of exposure from the Las Vegas radio station Mix 94.1 back in May, this is a huge mention and the completion of a personal goal of mine. (See the photos posted by Mix 94.1 here)

Another big something for this week is that I was interviewed by Hell Yeah! 100 Monkeys. It was pretty cool... you can read that here.

Here's two new photos that I've taken with the new lens. :)

One last thing before I go -- I have a new book coming out this fall. It will be all photos shot on the road between June 28th (first date of 100 Monkeys tour...) and August 28th (the last day of the 100 Monkeys tour...). While I'm not going to all 40-some-odd dates, I am going to a fair chunk of them and I wanted to showcase a point of view that is rarely seen. The loose and working title is "A Van With A View"... though, that might change. We'll see... ;)

I can't believe I'm about to make my 2nd book! Insane. This one will be available through direct order and will ship a helluva lot faster than the last one.

Thanks for reading this ramble...

Photo Journalism

They say "every picture tells a story" and that a "picture's worth a thousand words"... while I agree with each of those sentiments, there's been something that has been irking me for a while now that I'm finally ready to speak about.

I kept it to myself for fear of getting lynched by other photographers or photo journalists... however, as a compassionate human it's something that I'd like to discuss and hear your thoughts on.

I do believe that photographers and photo journalists are cut from the same cloth - telling a story via visual photographic art - but while the photo journalist focuses more on the raw and unadulterated emotion, a photographer such as myself aches to capture light, beauty, emotion - yes, and just like a photo journalist: moments.

The difference is that in the following situations of photos I would have put down my camera. Even as a photographer I believe there's a time and a place for everything. For instance, as the official photographer for last year's Spencer Bell Legacy concert, there were many moments that my eyes captured that my camera didn't.

Pressing forward...

This photo is from the Battle of Gettysburg and while even though there's death in this photo - it doesn't bother me as much as some of the others taken as recently as the ones in Iraq where there were photo journalists in pits with soldiers while they're getting bombed and shot at. Perhaps it's just me, but I would have felt out of place and in the way.

I understand the world wants to see what's going on and these photographers earn Pulitzer prizes for their photographs... but...

From the Vietnam war... this photographer won a Pulitzer for this shot... and then later apologized to this man's family for the irreparable damage that this shot did to his family. This was taken moments before this man was shot.

I could not fathom having my camera out at a moment like this, let alone having it pressed to my face and finger on the shutter.

And the shot that prompted this blog...

Photographer Kevin Carter took this photo of a patient vulture stalking a starving child in Africa. He won a Pulitzer for this shot... after which he was ridiculed for not helping the child and instead spending 20 minutes setting up the shot... Three months after taking the photo he committed suicide.

My heart is too big. I would rather give up my camera for eternity than to watch something like this - let alone document it for others to be subjected to... for it to be preserved for all time... It's horrific.

I know that concert photography is something different from photo journalism... as I stated in the beginning of this blog. Even on stage I use my better judgement on when to snap and when to stop. I've been asked once to put my camera away by an artist and I did so as soon as I was prompted.

Courtesy.

Ethics.

Art doesn't have to cross all lines of humanity.

While the world may or may not be better because of your shots... there are some things that aren't worth a Pulitzer.

Tell me your thoughts.

Additional photo credits: Timothy H. O’Sullivan – Battle of Gettysburg; Eddie Adams – Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executing Nguyễn Văn Lém.