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Blue October had a 5 show 3 city Acoustic tour this past July and I decided to make the road trip. I drove from Houston to Austin to see show #1, then drove from Austin to Dallas the next day for Shows #2 and #3, then drove from Dallas to Houston the next day for shows #4 and #5. Logged about 700 miles on the car but it was sooooo worth it! I also had photo passes for all 5 shows so I will be going through them this week to get them edited.

Here’s a shot from the opening night of the acoustic tour at Paramount theater in Austin, Texas.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/8th : f/2.8 : 2000 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Well as some of you may know I am a big fan of the band Blue October and have seen them perform live 12 times in the past 13 months in 7 different cities and 5 different states. This is one of the only bands I’ll really travel for and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

This past June I got the opportunity to photograph a charity event for The Austin School for the Performing and Visual Arts (ASPVA) which was being hosted by C.B. Hudson (Blue October’s lead guitarist) and his lovely wife Betsy Hudson. Upon arriving at the event I noticed an autographed guitar on display with a silent auction sign up sheet sitting below it. I just knew this had to come home with me and be displayed in my mancave aka home office. Lol.

After a very intense bidding war between myself and two other attendees I managed to sneak my final bid in without the other parties noticing. Once the auction ended the guitar was mine! LOL! SCORE! Haha.

Typically when purchasing autographed guitars, you only find Fender Stratocaster’s which makes it easy because the person gaining the autographs only has to carry around a small pick guard in order to have the band members sign. Then once all of the signatures were given then they’ll mount it to a guitar and sell it. In this particular case there is no pick guard. Each member of the band signed the solid body Epiphone guitar which is a much bigger deal than just a pick guard. In addition to the signatures the guitar also feature the custom Blue October artwork drawn by bassist Matt Noveskey. How’s that for a one of a kind display piece!

Shortly after getting the guitar home I began looking online for a wall mount display case in order to mount in my mancave/office. After a few days of searching I finally contacted Jeff McMurray at Bandmate USA and had them build me a case for my new piece of wall art. Jeff’s craftsmanship on the display case was amazing and I would definitely recommend his products to anyone out there looking for a nice custom case. In fact, I’m about to have him build me another case in order to round out my mancave/office. =)

Signatures going clockwise from the Blue October artwork are:
Matt Noveskey, Jeremy Furstenfeld, Ryan Delahoussaye, C.B. Hudson & Justin Furstenfeld

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/100th : f/8 : 800 ISO : 70mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : Flash Fired

I first saw DJ Z-Trip perform here in Houston about 2 years ago and I was completely blown away by this guy! The music was amazing! I made it a point to keep an eye out for this guy’s tour schedule so I can see him live again. As it turns out he was in town on June 23rd and I almost completely missed this current tour date. If it wasn’t for a friend of mine, Alex Luster over at ShootEditSleep.com calling me only hours before the show to tell me about it then I would have indeed missed it. It was a week night and didn’t make it home til past 3am while still having to be at work at 7am that morning. Oh joy. Was it worth it? HELL YA!!!

You can view the entire set of lower resolution photos on my FACEBOOK ALBUM HERE.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/60th : f/2.8 : 1000 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : Flash Fired

Have I mentioned recently how much I love my 135L lens? Ok, just checking. This lens is so freaking tack sharp wide open it’s unbelievable. This is definitely a lens I will hang on to and will not be selling for any reason whatsover.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 135 f/2L : 1/160th : f/2 : 2500 ISO : 135mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Cliche fisheye shot of the crowd. I had timed it just right so when the house lights were at their brightest I snapped the shot. lol.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/40th : f/4 : 800 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : Flash Fired

Keep in mind guys… If you hear of DJ Z-Trip making a stop in your town do yourself a favor and go check him out! You will not be disappointed.

Blue October came to town on their Pick Up The Phone Tour promoting suicide prevention. Blue played at the Sam Houston Race Park and ended up bringing in the largest crowd they’ve ever played for as a headliner which was just over the 8,000 mark! Much different than the 3,000 capacity venues they’ve played throughout the rest of the tour.

You can view the entire set of lower resolution photos on my FACEBOOK ALBUM HERE.

Here is the capacity crowd of over 8,000 dedicated fans ready and waiting for Blue October to take the stage. I purposely purchase the Canon 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens for crowd shots like this and when its coupled with my full frame Canon 5DMK2 body it gives me that wide angle that I love! I stood up on the short platform which is located on the inside of the barricade and then stretched out my arm as high as I could in order to get the highest possible perspective in order to try to capture as much of the crowd as possible. Looking back on it now I wish I had brought my monopod along in order to extend my reach another 6ft up above the crowd. Now that would have been really cool. Well there’s always next time.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/80th : f/2.8 : 2500 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Justin Furstenfeld, lead singer of Blue October taking a moment just before beginning of the first song.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/160th : f/2.8 : 1600 ISO : 70mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Another somber moment in between songs which is one of the reasons as a photographer I try my best to not ever take my eyes off of the stage. When I need to change cards or such I usually try to do it during a song as weird as that sounds. Some of my favorite photos like this all occur in between songs while most photographers are checking their images on their LCDs, changing cards and/or changing lenses.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 135 f/2L : 1/160th : f/2.8 : 1600 ISO : 135mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Jeremy Furstenfeld is usually the toughest member of the band to photograph due to him being set near the back of the stage plus 90% of the time he’s in shadows since there usually isn’t much light on him. I was concentrating on trying to get some images of another band member when I noticed the light tech began to shower Jeremy with light so I quickly diverted my attention straight to Jeremy in order to try to get a few shots of him.

One of the things I learned shooting NFL games from the sidelines is shooting with both eyes open. Not only in order to watch what plays are developing and such but also for my own safety so I don’t get mowed over by a massive football player sprinting out of bounds. LOL. This technique of shooting with both eyes open also helps in concert photography since it helps me keep track of what all is going on stage while still shooting photos of a single band member. That is what happened here, I was photographing one member when I noticed out of my open left (non shooting) eye I saw Jeremy become lit up so then I simply switched to shooting him.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 135 f/2L : 1/200th : f/2 : 1600 ISO : 135mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

This is by far my most favorite photo from the evening. I absolutely love the clarity and bokeh of my 135L lens. In fact most of my favorite photos over the past year or so have come from this lens. The 135L is one of the sharpest and smoothest lenses I have ever used and I’m never afraid to shoot with it wide open at f/2.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 135 f/2L : 1/200th : f/2 : 1600 ISO : 135mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/50th : f/2.8 : 1600 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

As some of you readers know I am a huge fan of this band and this Houston show marked the 12th time I’ve seen them in less than a year’s time. Out of those 12 shows I’ve attended I’ve been fortunate enough to photograph 7 times. I love each and every show I attend and it makes it so much fun when I get to photograph them. I look forward to my next Blue show!

Jay-Z came to town on his new 2010 BP3 Tour at The Toyota Center. The venue was packed and we were only given 2 songs to shoot as opposed the the normal 3 song count at most shows. Under normal circumstances 2 songs would leave us wanting more but Jay put on a great opening for us which made getting the shot that much easier.

You can view the entire set of lower resolution photos on my FACEBOOK ALBUM HERE.

As I’ve said in previous posts here on my blog… I’m a sucker for detail shots. So here’s my one detail shot for the day. =)

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/50th : f/2.8 : 640 ISO : 70mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/160th : f/2.8 : 640 ISO : 66mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

I sold my Canon Fisheye lens about a year before I ever got back into the concert photography game and ever since I started shooting shows again I really wished I had that lens in my bag. About a month ago I decided to pick another one up. Hehee. This is a pretty special lens in the sense that it’s real easy to over use it but I find that it makes for a few good shots in every scenario. I just have to remember not to go overboard in using it. This is the first concert I’ve gotten to use the new lens and here’s one of the shots with it.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/100th : f/2.8 : 640 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Here’s another one of those somber downtime moments in between songs. Never take your eye off the stage just in case. Not every concert photo has to have the artist screaming into the mic and such. Case in point.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/160th : f/2.8 : 640 ISO : 70mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/50th : f/2.8 : 640 ISO : 55mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

This particular shot was originally shot vertically but during post I decided to convert it to landscape simply by expanding the canvas to the left using black as the background color. Since the left side of the image was completely black anyways it was a pretty seamless edit. I think the horizontal layout lends itself better to the photo.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/1600th : f/2.8 : 640 ISO : 70mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash