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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Sorry, I had to miss Blues Monday yesterday, had to get in to work early and was going until late last night - 8 hours of work and three photographic endeavors, including my niece's high school graduation.
So I figure instead of Tuesday, this would be Bluesday!
This is one of the performers from Memphis in May's Beale St. Music Festival. You are probably wondering why I'm not posting a shot of Steve Miller, or the Cult or some other popular band that played this festival - there were like 63 acts over three days. I love those bands, but nothing intrigues me like the blues, and for several years I have really enjoyed the Mississippi Hill Country blues. The music of R. L. Burnside, T-Model Ford and others I found on Fat Possum Records some years back. These guys are dying at a rapid clip, though, R. L. was by far my favorite - he's been gone 4 years now. I had tickets to see him in 2001, but he took sick and couldn't play. We learned that on our train trip to Chicago from St. Louis, and ended up going to the blues clubs all weekend. One of the acts we saw at The Kingston Mines was this guy's uncle, "Big Jack" Johnson.
This man's name is James Johnson, James "Super Chikan" Johnson is how he was billed. He was playing with a woman on electric piano, and they were great. "Super Chikan" is from North Mississippi and is a self-taught musician, song writer, painter and craftsman. He makes his own guitars, in fact, president Bill Clinton and actor Steven Seagal both own one of his creations. You can see some of the instruments he played at this festival if you click here. That link is purely informational, I had nothing to do with the content. There is also a video of one of his performances at that link.
One day I will get down to Clarksdale, Mississippi and see where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. Thinking about it gives me goosebumps...
Shot with my now old and clunky Olympus 8080wz - they were actually searching folks for "professional" cameras upon entry. They tried to tell me the Oly was a pro camera, but I talked them out of it. Lord only knows how many handguns and other incendiary devices those security guards let through in their search for cameras and half-full water bottles. When will they learn that it is not the camera, but the photographer who gets the good, saleable photograph? There were so many camera phones with video capability going the whole time - I'm certain YouTube is full of stuff like that, and I would think that would be more of a threat to a performer's art and lifestyle than a few practice shots from the likes of me. Anyway, I shot in RAW on that little camera, it takes like 30 seconds to save the file before you can shoot again, but it really gives the control you need for white balance and leveling. This was post-processed in PS CS2, but I did a lot of stuff to it to make it a little better here and there, such as healing an over-exposed area on Super Chikan's neck and some noise reduction. All in all it shows the stage and spirit of the blues, I think. Watch that video on the link above for an idea as to what he sounds like. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the more you listen to that Hill Country sound, the more it grows on you.
The stage was about 8 feet wide by 10 feet long, outdoors at night with a slight mist.
Have a fine Bluesday, where ever you are! |
shelbeesmom, Robert-E, teamill, luckybry has marked this note useful
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