A couple of weeks ago I posted that watching Doctor Who made me want to travel more and see London. I have only been there during a layover to Germany. I have always had a deep love affair with Paris, in fact my kitchen and dining room are full of French prints and signs. Ireland has always interested me because of folklore and the beautiful countryside. So I sat down with pen and paper and figured out a way to go. It looks like I will be taking the trip later this year.

I am looking to possibly September of this year to take my trip to the UK and France. Once I get these countries done I will have traveled to the large majority of this part of the world. So far the sites I am planning on hitting look like this:

France (mostly Paris): Notre Dame (mass at 8 & 9 am and noon), Bastile, Pantheon, Louvre, opera house, moulin rouge, Les Tuileries, Eiffel tower, Pantheon, Arch De Triumph and the Catacombs

England (mostly London): British Museum, forbidden planet, Buckingham palace & gardens, earls court, Trafalgar square, piccadilly circus, china town, regents park, notting hill, windsor castle, st george chapel, oxford, church college, stonehenge, Westminster Abbey, 10 downing street, parliament, big ben, St Paul’s Cathedral, westminster cathedral, Globe, Southwark Cathedral, tower of london, Canary Wharf, natural history museum, kings cross station (for platform 9 3/4), leadenhall market, lackock abbey. I am also looking at going to the Proms one night.

Wales: Cardiff

Ireland/ Dublin: Trinity College and the Book of Kells, st. patricks cathedral, christ church (services daily at 10, 12,12:45), Blarney Castle

Scotland: still looking for places.

For anyone who has been to these areas….am I missing anything important?? I would love feedback and tips.

Technorati Tags: UK, France, London, Paris, Trip, Travel

One of the main questions I get about photography is how I got started in concert photography. So I decided to do a several part series on how I got started and who my favorite musicians are to photograph.

Part #2 – Natalie Grant

So really I should be inserting Crystal Lewis here, but I am having a hard time finding my old photos so I need to look some more. I first met Natalie in 2000. I met her manager at an event for Habitat for Humanity which I was shooting at. He wanted to set a meeting with me once he found out I did websites and photography. He had a new group coming out that needed a site (plus one). I went to the meeting and walked out with three clients and Natalie happened to be one.

I started working on Natalie’s website and did that from 2000-2004/5. In that time I had the privilege of going to many many many many shows and shot them all for the website. Natalie was a great subject to photography — she has great stage presence and happens to be very pretty so it did not take a whole lot of work to get good photos. Natalie is one of my favorite people to take photos of because she is just awesome, very sweet and down to earth.

Here are a few of the photos that I could find. Mind you these are all scans so the quality is HORRIBLE! But I have long since lost the negatives. Some on stage shots, sound checks and one from the studio when she was recording ‘Deeper Life’.

The next round of this series will either be Crystal Lewis (if i can find photos) or Plus One. Yes I am saving Amy Grant till last since I have taken more photos of her than just about anyone in the world (except maybe my niece).

Technorati Tags: Natalie Grant, Concert Photography

One of the main questions I get about photography is how I got started in concert photography. So I decided to do a several part series on how I got started and who my favorite musicians are to photograph.

Part #1 – The beginning

My love for concert photography started in 1992. I was in 7th or 8th grade at the time and was deep into country music (I grew up in West Texas and country music was still somewhat good). In 1992 an artist named Ronna Reeves released her second album called “The More I Learn” and the song had me hooked. I then found out Ronna was also from West Texas and played the area often. I went to a show and met her then I ended up going to Fan Fair (yes it was still fan fair) in Nashville the summer after my 8th grade year. At fan fair I met Ronna again and she remembered me from the show in Odessa a few months earlier. I also met her parents and grandmother at fan fair. After that I went to every show in the area and I always had my camera with me. Pretty soon I was getting good shots. Ronna let me take pictures and encouraged me to get close, get on the stage, etc.

I would mail the photos to her fan club based in Midland, TX ( a few miles from my house) and her fan club manger (and godmother) would use my photos for the newsletters. It was awesome for me as a kid to have Ronna and her family to encourage me. No matter what show I went to they always made time to talk to me and have me backstage and when you are 13/14 that makes a huge difference. One time she even pulled me up on stage to sing with her and well…that did not go so well because I am horribly shy and I can’t sing!

She was putting bunny ears on me

As time went on I kept taking pictures and attending Ronna’s shows. I eventually moved to Nashville and went to her shows here all the way till the late 90/early 2000s.  One show in Nashville at a local coffee shop I went backstage to say hey and she encouraged me to pursue music marketing because I would be great at it. Not too long after that I landed some gigs doing just that and loved it.

Ronna took the time to encourage a kid and it made a huge difference in my life. Somewhere between all my moves across the country I lost most of my old concert photos. All I am left with are a handful of pictures of the two of us together. So I thought I would post those because well they are funny! Also here are a few Ronna videos in case you have never heard her (unfortunately the quality of these videos are not great).

#1 – The More I Learn – the first song I heard by Ronna.

#2 – My Heart Wasn’t In It –  I always liked this music video

#3 – Sweet Pretender — This was on her pop album that Peter Cetera produced. It was one of my favorite songs that she did.

Part Two – coming soon — I think it will be Crystal Lewis.

Technorati Tags: Ronna Reeves, Ronna, Concert Photography, Photography

Last night was the 5th annual ‘Lighting Of The Green’ at Lipscomb university. It was a great night of music. I was unsure about the line up when I heard about it because I am not a fan of the Gaithers. I have a friend who sings with them and have been to way too many tapings/shows so I debated not even going, but ended up going and enjoying the night. It was not as cold as previous years so that helped with the general merriness of the event. The line up included: Amy, Lipscomb choirs, Brenda Lee, Guy Penrod, Buddy Greene and the Annie Moses Band.

I am going to let the photos speak for the evening. Here is a sampling and for a link to all the photos look below. I shot one video of Amy singing ‘Heirlooms’ and debating if I am going to put it up. Check back in a few days to see if I have.

See all the photos: Flickr.com

Also past years: 2007 and 2008

Technorati Tags: Amy Grant, Christmas, Lighting Of The Green, Lipscomb, Nashville, Brenda Lee, Annie Moses Band, Buddy Green, Guy Penrod, Gaithers

Here are a few pictures from last night’s Donald Miller event. It was a great event that hopefully tomorrow I will expand on. Until then, enjoy…

Last night Amy Grant was part of a taping called ‘Holiday Notes From Home’. Here are a few pictures from the event. It was a fun event with Amy, Take 6 and the Military band.

Enjoy…

Technorati Tags: Amy Grant, Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Holiday Notes From Home

Last week the awesome place that I work part time had their big event called ‘Rally For Rocketown‘. It was a great event that raised money for Rocketown. This year former NFL coach Tony Dungy was the keynote speaker. Also in attendance Titans coach Jeff Fisher, Martina McBride, Vince Gill and Michael W. Smith. After the event Tony Dungy came by Rocketown and checked out the facility.

Here are a few photos from the event.

To find out more about Rocketown visit the awesome website.

Technorati Tags: Rally For Rocketown, Tony Dungy, Jeff Fisher, Vince Gill, Martina McBride, Michael W. Smith, Nashville, Rocketown

Today I headed to the ‘Narrows Of The Harpeth’ for the first time. It is an amazing view. Funny just 30 minutes outside Nashville you can find these little hidden treasures tucked away everywhere.

I was quite jealous that everyone seemed to be taking kayaks down the river! I defiantly want to do that next time I go back.

Anyway here are a few pictures from the day.

Technorati Tags: Nashville, Narrows Of The Harpeth, State Parks, Tennessee, Harpeth River

Tonight Sam & Ruby had an album release party at Grimey Records here in Nashville, TN.

This is the third time I have had the pleasure of seeing this duo in action. The first was time was about two years ago at a fund raiser for hurricane relief. They were a new duo on the scene and I knew then that one day they would be releasing an album.The second time I saw them was at a benefit for Falling Whistles. (I wrote about it here).

Tonight was no different than the times before…they just came out and blew people away. They have a smooth style that just seems to be listen too while driving down a road with the windows down and your hand blowing in the wind. If you have not heard them please check them out on iTunes tomorrow (Aug 10, 2009) their album ‘The Here And The Now’ drops.

Here is a sneak peek of the madness you will get when you go download the album…

Here are a few snaps from tonight. To see them all visit my flickr page.

Technorati Tags: Sam & Ruby, Grimeys, Nashville, In-Store, Album Release

One of my roommates and I went to Burgess Falls to shoot a few pictures. I had never been to this amazing area. In a very short area there were three amazing waterfalls. The hike was about 1.5 miles and incredibly easy. The only part that was hard was the hike down to the last fall, but to see the fall you don’t have to go down. I had a few problems crawling down with my backpack and small dog, but nothing a little crawling here and there could not fix!

Such a great hike. Here are a few pictures. To see them all visit the flickr page.

Technorati Tags: Burgess Falls, Hike, Waterfalls, Tennessee