someone asked me last night why lesbians love amanda palmer. i didn't realize that lesbians in particular had an affinity for her, but i do know she's a damn good role model. she's passionate, articulate, intuitive, and real. she stands for something--many things. she might be a little (okay, a lot) fucking weird, but at least she knows that. she doesn't take herself too seriously and she wants to make the world a better place. even better: she's an accessible role model, which is a nice perk.
1. the entire set of photos up on
brooklynvegan.
2. that second photo? that's a pretty accurate representation of what i had to deal with for the duration of the show. it was the second time in as many weeks that i felt really embarrassed to be associated with my peers (the first was at the recent girl talk show). when i shoot, i try to be cognizant of the people around me--i want to get the shot, but in most cases, i'm on assignment and haven't paid for my ticket(s), so i try not have a false sense of entitlement about the whole thing.
like, you know, when i shoot, i try to make sure my elbows aren't in people's faces, my camera isn't in their line of sight for EVERY song (we're really only supposed to shoot the first three songs, anyway), and a lot of the time, i try to stoop down a bit because i'm sorta tall for a girl. i don't usually push past people to GET THE SHOT, and if i ask to, i won't stay the entire time.
the girl in the photo above was RUDE as she pushed past me, even though i said NO to her and showed her my photo pass. then, she said she'd only stay for a few songs during the opening act, but stayed for THE ENTIRE SHOW. cunt. i'm dying to find out who she is, as it's usually pretty easy to figure those sorts of things out here.
that particular idiot was annoying more than anything, but when it comes to the girl talk show, i left simultaneously wanting to cry and hit people. there were two "photographers" there who were downright violent in their approach. one of them,
paul birman, was shooting for
brooklynvegan. i'd never met him before, but somehow i knew. you can almost always tell a BV shooter from anyone else by their technique--i have no idea why.
anyway, i'd been watching him shoot the opener and was interested in seeing his photos (i should point out that i didn't have my camera with me that evening). then, when girl talk came onstage, things got a little rowdy. katie and i were dead center in front of gillis (GT)--so much so that he kept grabbing me and shit. at some point, this birman guy tried to elbow katie out of his way. he made me so fucking angry i almost hit him. i e-mailed him later, once i found out who he was, to tell him he was a douche, and i got a typical douche response. in a second e-mail (neither of which i responded to, if i remember), he said he'd like to smooth things over and that, at the show, he'd said excuse me, but i must not have heard him. seriously? elbowing two chicks in the front of the crowd does not an excuse me make, sir. the second photographer who pissed me off isn't really worth mentioning. she was just an asshole.
my point is that getting the shot isn't worth all that. part of the charm of concert photography is trying to get the job done by being inconspicuous (unless there's a photo pit) and blending in with the crowd. we get a lot of cool perks that others don't, so it's easy to take it too far, but i'm beginning to think a lot of us need to do some re-evaluating. myself included.
whatever. remember how i mentioned that i shot the bangles and that suzanna hoffs is still hot? check it:
i was supposed to shoot deer tick and jenny lewis tomorrow night, but deer tick's web pr people are dicks. they confirmed me well over a month ago, but suddenly only have ten list spots. idiots.
