27/365

Cheating again. This was shot last year. I chose this picture though because it'll be what I'll be playing on Saturday at the Comet with the Scheme.

I love this bass.

291/365

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/60, f/3.50, 50mm, Av, flash

Today's Daily Shoot was something about curves. I was gonna shoot pics of my bass and ended up doing so, but when I turned on the TV and saw what was on, well I had to wait for the right opportunity.

For those that don't know, that bass playing gentleman behind my bass is Geddy Lee. He inspired me as a kid and I tried to catch him and my bass in the same shot.

277/365

Picture info: ISO 1600, 1/50, f/1.80, 50mm, Av

Had band practice for the first time in forever tonight because I lucked us into a show at the Sunset next week. As I was playing, I thought it'd be cool to try to get a "Gwon's eye-view" of what I see when I play bass.

I held the camera left handed over my head and shot down. It was harder than it seems and even then, I didn't get the angle I wanted.

This is close, but not quite.

265/365

Picture info: ISO 1600, 1/50, f/5.00, 45mm, M

This is a shot of my favorite pedal on my oversized, fabric, pedal board.

Years ago I ran a compressor, chorus, this DI, a tuner and goodness knows what else. All in search of The Tone©. I never could find it. I think I've had the basses (MM Sterling, SB2 and Lakland DD), but my amp and cab combos have been lacking.

I bought my Trace head about 15 years from Capitol Loans on Capitol Hill. I keep waiting for it to die so I can get something new ($$$ permitting, of course).

It won't die.

And I really don't want it to.

Anyway, over the years, as I've needed money and not needed pedals, I've pared down my gear to the Sansamp and a tuner. I could probably get away without the bag, but I'm paranoid of using batteries, so I lug around a Pedal Power box and a power cord to make it all go.

I've been wanting to take a picture of my board for some time. I was disappointed to see that everything in it is black. So there you go.

221/365

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/60, f/2.8, 50mm, Av, flash

One of my favorite things makes another appearance on the blog. I had band practice tonight and got to take my old friend for a spin. Come to think of it, I think this month we will be celebrating 3 years together. And, come to think of it, in that time, I don't think I've changed the strings once.

Please pardon the dead skin flakes there on the bridge. It's pretty nasty.

200/365

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/30, f/2.50, 50mm, Av

A friend from church had asked me to fill in on bass for a program he was in charge of. It was for a jazz trio and I said yes.

Today I got the info I needed to try to practice. A link to a fake book and a list of tunes. I opened up youtube, looked up some songs and tried playing along.

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. Throw in the fact that I hadn't touched my basses in probably more than a month and, well, I was pretty rusty.

I was all set to practice tonight for the gig tomorrow when I got an email saying it was called off.

Whew.

It might have been cool... then again, it might not have been. We'll never know.

58/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/200, f/3.20, 50mm, Av, flash

Again, another uninspired day. We were late to an appointment so I didn't grab my camera. I did take some shots at the Children's Museum in Factoria with my BB, but I haven't even looked at those. I figured I'd make a token effort with some stuff in the house so I put a stack of photography books onto a bookshelf and started snapping.

I have been obsessed with reading technique books, Photoshop books, lighting books, photography blogs and all that sort of stuff. Then I go look at what I shoot and see that there is so much learn and apply and improve upon and it's sort of daunting.

I had a thought recently that I guess it's similar to when I picked up my first bass in the summer of 7th grade. Of course, I was just a kid. Good and bad, I suppose. I didn't know what I was getting into, and I didn't know where I was supposed to be. My music teacher let me borrow a Fender Jazz bass for the summer, told me the notes of the strings (EADG) and the relation of the frets (each fret is a 1/2 step) and I took it from there. I taught myself how to play by watching others and wearing out tapes of stuff I can't even remember, but mainly Rush. Exit... Stage Left, anyone?

As I got older, I was so into wanting to impress people. Look at me! I wanted to just be on stage and play music and jump around and have people enjoy it. I think with that, I've been successful to a certain extent. People enjoy my bands' music and my performances and I'll always love that.

I've played bass now for 25 years or something insane like that and been playing out in Seattle for 10+ years and it's become second nature. These days, like last night, for example, when I play, I have a few goals, the least of which is to impress anyone anymore. One is to play well individually and as a band. Another is to enjoy myself and let that come across when I play. I think I accomplished both those goals last night, but it can be hard sometimes, especially when there are not many people around.

Anyway, with regards to photography, I feel like I did when I first started playing bass. I have basic knowledge on how to use the instrument (camera), but no real grasp of it. I can take rudimentary pictures, but still have yet to turn those pictures into pictures that blow people away.

Now I have this old DSLR and, finally, after having read the manual, I have an idea on how to use it beyond simply centering the subject and pressing the shutter. I'm looking my environments, my surroundings and people and thinking, how would that look on camera? And then when I shoot it and look at it later, sometimes it's, "meh," but other times it's, "did I do that? Wow!" And those moments are pretty darn cool.

It's a learning process and it can be daunting, but man, is it fun. I wonder how my photography will be in 25 years?

32/365

 

Picture info: ISO 800, .60, f/3.20, 50mm, Tv, flash

Yup. Another music shot. I took only a handful of shots today. Some were of our friend's baby, Layla, who just got new earrings! Since I'm not going to post her here, I needed more pix. Luckily I had one more rehearsal tonight before our show on Wednesday and I brought the camera, flash and played with some rear shutter sync!

I told Yakup to just play his guitar. He has a beautiful Telecaster and I snapped with the flash bounced to my left. If you're in Ballard on Wednesday, come on out to the Tractor and hear his band (with your truly on bass) as he releases his new CD.

27/365

Picture info: ISO 400, 1/60, f/4.00, 28mm

Yep, more musical instruments. This is a family portrait. On the left, my trusty SB-2, which has made several appearances in this blog. On the right, my Lakland Duck Dunn, which is a beautiful bass, but unfortunately was on backside of this flash. And in the back is my rig. A Trace-Elliot GP12 amp, a 2x10 Avatar cab and a 1x15 Ashdown cab.

It's a mutt, but I love it. The amp and the cabs all fit in the back of my little GTI, stealth-like.

I took the shot in my garage (duh) and held the Speedlite off camera and pointed it at my car (to the left), which is silver and reflected it back.

25/365

Picture info: ISO 200, 1/60, f/2.80, 50mm, flash (off camera)

Cutting it close again. And I'm having Blogger issues uploading, so hopefully this Picasa upload works. I took more pictures tonight at the Rainier Brewery again as a Christmas gift I exchanged came in today. It was an off-camera shoe cord. In other words, I can attach the Speedlite to this cord and hold the flash in my hand. I took a bunch at the studio and I liked this one (though the others were cool too).

My beloved SB-2, my new earplugs, an awesome Ampeg SVT-3 Pro and a 6x10 cab. Awesome.

24/365

Ok, I had a different picture ready to go in the event I wasn't home by midnight. Well, I made it home by midnight and as my pictures download, I hope there's one I deem worthy to post.

Be right back.

I just checked them out. One I liked, because the lighting conditions were terrible and I had to hand-hold the camera, but the picture came out pretty sharp. But I'm not going to use it, as I have some graffiti ones up already. Instead, here you go:

Picture info: ISO 1600, 1/50, f/1.80, 50mm

I had rehearsal at the old Rainier Brewery for a project I'm filling in on. The guy needed a bassist and looked me up so I've been practicing with them. He has a CD release coming up and I'll be playing that show. Tonight was our second rehearsal and it's been going pretty well.

This picture isn't the best, but of the 41 I took, I liked it the best. I like how you can see the amp through the drum set. I like how the drum set is orange and has a huge double-bass setup.

That's not the kit the drummer I'm playing with uses, thankfully.

ps: I have a feeling people will like my reject better (mainly because it's clearer).

17/365

Picture info: ISO 400, 1/13, f/5.60, 25mm, flash

Since #1 has gotten some blog love, I figured it'd be time for #2. Sorry for the lousy background.

This is a picture of my Lakland Skyline Duck Dunn bass. It's a Korean version of the US version and I got it by way of trading my beloved MusicMan Sterling about 1.5 years ago. I usually play it with my band, the Scheme, or at church. It's a passive bass and it sounds fantastic. Looks great too.

Tomorrow's a day off for the kids so we'll see what kind of photo ops that brings. My family is shy to pose for me. I don't necessarily want to use them for the 365 project, but more to practice shooting people. Maybe I'll see if they'll sit and look nice for me.

4/365

I gotta get out of the house more.

My friend Malcolm posted a great picture on his Facebook page. He tweaked it and it looks awesome. I felt pressure to deliver too, but I was inside all day and didn't want to take my gear in the rain anyway. Plus, with this new Speedlite, I've been messing around with it, trying to figure out how it works, etc, etc.

Needless to say, today's picture is all about lighting and goofing around. I am pleased with the results of the flash and have been scouring this website to learn more and more. I have already gleaned some tips and am looking forward to taking the camera out and about, specifically to clubs to catch some rock shows.

Anyway, my picture is of what will probably be a frequent model for me, my trusted G&L SB-2 bass. I won't rehash my history with this bass, but let's just say that it's one of my favorite things in the world.

The picture above was taken in my basement earlier this afternoon. I had the bass on a stand in front of a door. With the 50mm lens, I was able to shoot at f1.8 and get really thin depth of field, so the door worked as an adequate backdrop.

Picture info: ISO200 1/10 f1/8 with Speedlite