Brian, an old friend of mine from Syracuse, New York, recently sat for a portrait in an impromptu studio and brought along his Odd Fellows gear – what a treat! I had a great time catching up with and collaborating with Brian and loved to hear of each item’s significance. I look forward to collaborating with Brian in the future.
My old friend Ron Kain recently celebrated the birth of his third child, a beautiful little girl, and I eagerly offered / demanded to make a portrait of the baby and her family in their Syracuse, New York home.
Helanah and I recently collaborated on a portrait session in an ad hoc – errr, cough cough – garage studio during a visit to Syracuse, New York. Despite the space being cramped (and the ceiling being comically low), Helanah was a trooper and her patience and poise are reflections of her professionalism.
I recently caught up with DJ Rose, an old friend and one of the owners of Syracuse’s Halo Tattoos (and one of the creative forces driving the Path of Resistance, a now legendary hardcore group), for a portrait sitting and a long overdue conversation about life, marriage, fatherhood, and a million other topics ranging from the trivial and outrageous to the serious and heartbreaking. Collaborating with DJ was a treat and I look forward to handing him a boxed set of prints the next time that I see him.
As I have discussed earlier (most recently here and here), music has been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. In the late nineties, I even booked a few shows, though that’s a story for another day. Crown of Thornz – pictured here performing at Syracuse’s once fantastic Hungry Charley’s – was one of my favorite bands and it was only natural to book them on a show with other acts that I loved and counted as friends. Crown of Thornz shared a bill that day with Earth Crisis, Madball, Merauder, 25 Ta Life, and Libertine*. In…
A quick post for tonight – my old friend Brian from Bleeding Through, a great metal band from Orange County, California, live on stage at Hellfest 2003.
As I posted earlier, 2003 was an interesting time – I was finished with school (for the first time), was fresh from a stint in London and had my whole future in front of me (much like I feel now, aside from the London part). Photographing hardcore and heavy metal was familiar and I took to it as soon as I returned from London. I hoped that tour management and the opportunities that came with it would help push my photography beyond the then-contemporary magazines “borrowing” my photographs for nothing more than a credit. In many ways, it did. More…
I recently posted some old photos from Terror’s set at Hellfest 2003. Like the Terror photos, these Converge photos were made on film and scanned by a cruddy mall photo shop a few days after the fest wrapped up. Uggggh. Film was incredibly expensive to learn on…and shooting live photography was a costly adventure regardless of how far along the curve the photographer was. Things have changed. I walked away from concert photography right when things were getting much easier and cheaper. I used to hate running home from a shoot, running to the darkroom (or the mall), processing, scanning…
And now for something completely different – Well before I started assisting photographers and spending all of my time in the darkroom I pushed my way into photographing as many metal and hardcore bands as possible. Photography was a fantastic point of entry into hardcore – I had a reason to be there even when I didn’t know anybody and my cameras (and the work that I was producing) opened a lot of doors and started many friendships that I still have to this day. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Joel Dowling Photography. 