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Oh Caroline Smith, how enchanting her voice was. Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleep’s live show was mesmerizing to the point where I lost track of time, and at some points even forgot that I was hired to take photos of their performance.

KVSC 88.1 FM approached me late last week asking me if I would shoot some photos of her performance at their 30th Monday Night Live show and, naturally, I jumped at the chance.

The truth was I would have been at the event anyway, and I would have shot photos regardless. But having been hired for the show gave me access and the comforting knowledge that I could move around and do what needs to be done.

It’s rare to find a band that performs better live than they sound on a CD/LP. But Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleep was one such band, and as unassuming as they might appear, their music is anything but.

The stage was very intricately designed to look like the living room of a rather vintage-styled house and it certainly added a nice feel to the show as well.

If only photographs could catch the sound of music, I’d be golden. But until then, here’s a small preview of photos to come.

I just came back from a two-week trip traveling across the US with my Pentax K-5 and a DA*16-50mm. While the trip was primarily for me to do a few job interviews (which went well, though I didn’t get any job offers) I did manage to take quite a lot of photos while I was out traveling.

The simplified plan goes like this:

- Chicago: 2 days

- New York: 4 days

- Boston: 4 days

- Connecticut: 2 days

Keep in mind of course some days I had to do interviews and there was a day or two where I fell sick and had to just sleep-in the whole day. I had to be in my top shape for my interviews anyway, and as terrible as it was, I opted to rest myself up instead of running out and killing myself.

I’ve updated my “Places” galleries with photos of New York, Chicago and Boston. Connecticut wasn’t as tourist-picturesque as I would have liked – at least where I was – but I was only there for two days. I actually did get a few nice shots, but not enough to warrant an entire gallery anyway. And they were more of the personal nature as well.

One thing I quickly learned during my trip is to make sure to bring a full-array of cleaning equipment. I brought a lens cloth (not even the lens pen) and that was it. I soon learned that it wasn’t enough, and during an extended shot I noticed dust in my sensor which I couldn’t clean. I had to run off to a camera store to buy overpriced cleaning equipment for it. A cost I could have avoided if I brought all my cleaning equipment.

That being said, the DA* 16-50mm performed remarkably throughout the trip. The vignetting that people complain about barely bothered me (and easily post-processed) and was gone in extended exposures.

The only time it bothered me was when I was surprisingly hired to freelance for a newspaper to shoot a basketball game. As you may know, shooting basketball with a 16-50mm can be hard but there are some tricks that helped me get some shots. It’s all about positioning, but I’ll talk about that some other day.

Also, a good backpack-styled camera bag is essential for an extended trip like that. I brought along an old film-era Tamrac sling bag that works well for most of my local work. But when running around and catching trains and buses a more secure backpack-styled bag would have been much better. Easier to move around and adjust, not to mention potentially more space (my 10inch tablet+dock could only barely fit, not to mention some chargers for emergencies).

Something invaluable I learned before I left was on how to squeeze a few extra “stops” of shutter speed handheld. A Pentaxian wrote a wonderful article on methods and techniques to stabilize oneself while shooting long exposures handheld. I only memorized a few and never really practiced them but they still helped greatly while I was shooting my long exposures.

Long Exposure Handhelds

Take a look at the gallery, let me know what you think. I’m fairly pleased at how the images came out, especially considering that I didn’t have much time to spend at each spot at times.

The website’s coming together fairly well. I have a few graphic designers that I can think of that I might call upon a favor or two – have them design a favicon and a proper website logo. Right now it’s a simple placeholder I cooked up.

I’ve yet to decide on a “proper” name for the website, but I’ve always liked “Ink Cafe”. I’m considering keeping it this way. Perhaps I’ll turn it into a full-fledged studio once I mass enough funds, but until then I’ll have to work on-site and perhaps rent studios for the occasional studio work. “Ink Cafe” might also be turned into a brand of sorts, something I’ve always thought would be a fascinating experiment, as I know a very skilled artist looking to sell her artwork.

And when I say skilled, I’m not talking about run-of-the-mill college artist. This person is indeed very skilled at art, and a very good friend of mine.

Looking through my past work for this site, I realize that I don’t do much studio or posed photography. Mind you, I’ve done enough of them to know that I can do studio work well even if I’m not anywhere as skilled as “Fstoppers” in studio work, but it’s just something that I’ve not pushed myself in.

Photojournalism enforces the “capture-the-moment” and “photographer not photoshopper” ideology. And while many photographers call themselves “Photojournalists,” few were actually trained traditionally as one or worked as one. My years taking photos for various newspapers and corporations have resulted in strong photos, but photos with very niche audiences. Events, concerts, shows, sports – they have specific audiences and they often result in photos that are less marketable.

Studio shots, landscapes and weddings, these are generally more marketable. Sadly, I don’t indulge myself in them as much – simply because my line of work often does not put me in a position to take such photos.

But as more of my time is freed up, I’ll have more flexibility to indulge myself in those as well.

This photoblog will serve a few purposes. It’ll be the blog where I rant about the photographic community and industry, it’ll be the site where I showcase my work, and it’ll be the storefront for any prints of my photos.

While the site has been in existence for a few years now, it’s always served as a personal photoblog. A day ago, I decided on a whim to tear it all down and build it up properly. Hence the lack of photos and the bare look right now. Also, ignore the “Village” sign as well – I’ll have it replace once I’ve tracked down a suitable graphic designer.