A Beautiful Fall in New England

November 11, 2016

I've been lucky to spend the past month visiting my family in New Hampshire during New England's famous foliage season, which I'm rarely around for. This year has been particularly spectacular in terms of the bright reds and vibrant yellows the trees presented. The peak of foliage season in New England is rather short, lasting only about a week before the leaves start to dry up and become too weak to hold on through the Autumn winds. The peak week this year happened to be the same week I was flying to Colorado to work a show with Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness at Red Rocks, a legendary venue I've always wanted to experience.

The day before I was departing to Colorado I set out to the woods near my folks house to try and capture a great colorful image that would summarize my feeling for the Fall in New England, where I grew up. I was afraid that when I came back a week later all the foliage would be gone, so I suppose I was extra anxious to get one last good shot. Moments after snapping the picture above I noticed some fleeting sunlight shining through the trees fifty yards downriver. In a haste to catch the light in what I thought would be the perfect shot, I used hefty branch to counter balance myself while navigating the bank of the river. When I heard it crack and felt it start to give way I realized how poor of a decision I had made. The moment happened in slow motion, grabbing at the air while reaching for any other branch to keep me from plummeting backwards into about three feet of rushing water, with my prized camera hanging around my neck. I don't even recall the feeling of the cold water soaking my whole body, because all I could think about was saving my camera. Upon pulling myself out of the river, I immediately pulled the battery out and quickly unscrewed the UV filter to pour water out of the lens. I was absolutely horrified! Only three days later I was to be shooting a show at one of the most iconic venues in the world, and my camera was quite possibly ruined! I decided my best chance of saving my it was to bury it in rice for a few days, so I flew to Denver with a large ziploc bag filled with rice and my camera stuffed into my carry on bag with high hopes. Each day leading up to the show I pulled the camera out to find that it still contained water, until the fourth and final day, show day. I cant express how happy I was to have a dry, 100% working camera again, and just in time for the show!

Before heading back to my family in New Hampshire I stopped home in Nashville for a few days, and while I was there I happened to catch a few great shows. Relient K have become good friends of mine since working for them over the years as their backline tech, and they were in town for a tour stop at the historical Ryman Auditorium. They were a blast to shoot, and certainly a nice change of pace from shooting the same show every night for three months in a row!

I also had the opportunity to shoot Pretty Lights at Municipal Auditorium while home. Shooting a DJ was quite a different experience than I'm used to. The lighting design of the show was less focused on visually highlighting the musicians, but instead created an entire experience, incorporating lasers, strobes, and LED panels.

The following day I flew back to New Hampshire to spend the rest of October with my family. In my previous entry I wrote about my twin sister Jackie being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She has made an almost complete recovery from the tumor surgery in her spine, though she is still dealing with numbness from her chest down, making walking difficult for her at times. She now has a treatment plan which includes three weeks of Radiation, followed by three cycles of Rituxan and Chemotherapy. The doctors are confident that she will make it to complete remission after her treatments, and they are also hopeful that she will regain the feeling from her chest down. She remains in incredible spirits, and its been a joy spending time with Jackie and her family while I've been home.

Jackies newborn son Kenton is growing so fast! He's able to make eye contact now, and even smiles, often in his sleep. A little personality is starting to form, Its been so fun to watch!

Although the best part of foliage season had passed, I was still able to make some colorful pictures that I feel capture the feeling of fall well. The shot below has an interesting story to it. Towards the end of my stay in New Hampshire I was feeling guilty, like I hadn't taken complete advantage of the awesome outdoors all around me. On a whim I threw my bike in the car and drove a few towns over to Dublin, New Hampshire, where there is a beautiful lake overlooked by Mt. Monadnock, the splendid mountain that the local region is named after. I like to climb the mountain whenever I can, but this visit I just couldn't find the time. So instead, on my last day in New Hampshire, I took a nice bike ride around the lake. I noticed an opening in an old stonewall that followed the treeline beside the dusty old road I was riding on. I was curious why this obvious break in the wall existed, because as far as I could tell there was only woods on the other side. I left my bike behind to explore, and I found what seemed to be a seldom traveled footpath. I followed it up a rather steep hill, though I lost the trail often and had to backtrack to find it repeatedly. Eventually I noticed the sun shining bright onto what appeared to be a large rock outcrop, and when I climbed up to it I was stunned at the view it offered!

As I was staring out at this spectacular view of Mt. Monadnock and Dublin lake, I wondered about all the people in the past who had enjoyed this hidden outlook, and what their experiences might have been. This spot had a wonderful energy, partly because it was so tucked away and difficult to find, especially if you're not looking for it! Later that same night I was at my grandparents house, and my grandmother had a pile of books she had pulled out of her closet. I found one from the 1930's that was sort of an advertisement to entice people living in big cities to move to the smaller towns in the Monadnock Region. It has a chapter on each town in the Monadnock area, each with a picture of its view of the mountain. I flipped through the book to the Dublin chapter, and my jaw dropped to see an almost identical picture and composition as the picture I had taken just hours before!

This photo from the 1930's was taken from the EXACT same spot I had just stumbled upon earlier that day, but 80 years prior! What a truly awesome coincidence! Though I'm sure they have long passed on, It really made me feel a connection to the photographer who many years ago stood in the same spot I had, enjoying the same wonderful panoramic view, only to compose a picture in the same way I did. How would they feel knowing almost 100 years later some guy would find a photo they made and really connect with it on this deep level? The idea that 100 years from now someone could stumble upon a photo I took and really appreciate it excites me! Photos truly have the ability to transcend time, and this was a great reminder of that for me, as well as motivational. I like to believe this occurrence was the universe telling me something... Maybe that I'm on the right track? Its encouraging at a time where I've been questioning my direction and progress with my photography.

There are many great antique shops all around my folks house in New Hampshire that I love to frequent when Im around. I found a super cool little range finder film camera that looks almost identical to my Fujifilm X100T. I bargained with the owner and paid $30 for it, and had a blast shooting with it. I really get a kick out of the difference of experience shooting film versus digital, and love the challenge film cameras present. Here are a few pictures I shot with it, mostly at my friend Chris Myott's house, and studio. He is a fantastic artist, check out his instagram if you get the chance.

I hope you have enjoyed this journal. I'm still trying to nail down a format and I'm always questioning the sort of content to include here. I have opened a comments section below, I'd love to hear any feedback you may have. My next project is making sense of thousands of pictures I took on a month long trip to Iceland, Copenhagen, Prague, the French-Italian Alps, and Paris in August. Please check back in a few weeks for a new post and possibly a few photo essays, as I have taken some of my very best pictures on the trip and I cant wait to get them on here! Here's a shot from the Alps...

Thanks for reading, see you soon!

Ups & Downs

September 28, 2016

Life really is a roller coaster ride, filled with so many ups and downs. Personally, I've been climbing an apex lately, everything is just right. Two weeks ago I was finishing a personal trip, taking pictures in Iceland and backpacking in the Alps, experiencing things so spectacular that they didn't seem real, even in the moment. My twin sister Jackie was pregnant with her second boy, and I was flying home to document his first few weeks. Life couldn't be better.

During the final weeks of Jackie's pregnancy she was experiencing extreme back pain and numbness from her chest down. It was first thought to be a rare pregnancy side effect or a pinched nerve, and the doctors believed it would take care of itself after the birth.aaThe birth was pushed forward a week, from September 22nd to September 13th for the sake of Jackies well-being . She gave birth to my new nephew, Kenton Oliver Coll, a beautiful and healthy, 7lb little dude!

The night I arrived in New Hampshire Jackie started experiencing increased numbness from her chest down, making her unable to walk. She was admitted to the regional hospital emergency room, and was immediately transported to a larger hospital with better neurology facilities. The doctors were concerned that there could be an infection in her spine causing it to swell, so they kept her overnight to run tests, including an MRI scan. She was forced to give up her three day old baby boy Kenton to our mom, which Jackie admits was the hardest part of the whole ordeal. She had been carrying little Kenton around in her belly for the past nine months and nursing the past few days, so naturally she was devastated at the thought that she couldn't be with him.

Meanwhile, three day old Kenton and his big brother Landon are staying at my folks house while Jackie is at the hospital with her husband James. Landon is great at staying busy, building trains from scraps of wood, and assembling crazy matchbox car race tracks.

The following day Jackie receives the results from her MRI scan. The doctors discover a large tumor pressing against her spine, which is causing the numbness. This was devastating news for everyone. Like the feeling I experienced in the Alps weeks before, this didn't seem real. Jackie's husband James is with her when she receives the news.

I point out the tumor on the MRI scan results. It is almost 4" long, and is inside her spinal cavity, compressing her spinal cord.

Jackie texts our parents the MRI scan results. I'm struggling with the idea that there is a tumor in her back, laying right beneath the knot on her hospital gown. The worst sorts of thoughts pop inside my head at a time like this, and all I could do was fight them off. I can only imagine how tough this was for Jackie.

Many doctors are in and out of Jackie's room all morning, including a team of neurologists, and a team of oncologists. They ultimately decide that operating to remove the tumor was a priority.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Bauer talks about the surgery to Jackie, describing how parts of her vertebrae will be removed to gain access to her spinal cord so the tumor can be cut out. He calls it "routine surgery", which is soothing in a conversation of the sort. Surgery is scheduled for 2:00 PM, and it will take about four hours. Recovery will take six weeks.

Surgery went smooth, and Doctor Bauer was able to remove the entire tumor from her spine. However, the oncologists feel that the tumor is Cancerous, probably of the Lymphatic type, though we won't know for sure until test results are back in "five to ten days". In this new MRI scan you can see that the tumor is gone, and the spinal cord is not being compressed anymore. You can also notice the bone pieces that are now gone when comparing to the original MRI results.

I'm constantly reminded how strong my sister is. The way she handles news like this is admirable. Her unwavering sensibility and composition make me wonder if I could react the same way in her situation.

Jackie spends two more days in the hospital recovering from the surgery. She has remained in high spirits, making jokes and laughing often. Five days after she was pulled away from her newborn son Kenton, she is finally reunited. Jackie, her husband James, and their two sons, Landon, and Kenton will be living with our folks while she recovers. She cant lift anything for weeks and needs a walker to navigate everywhere.

At times its easy to forget the magnitude of the surgery due to Jackie constant high spirits, but one look at the the incision is a swift reminder.

A few days after returning home Jackie is able to walk small distances with help, and is able to leave the house for breakfast at Landon's favorite place, the Bagel Mill.

Kenton likes having his mom back. He's a week and a half here, and he is the shining light through the fog for everyone. He is just a joy to have around.

Jackie's recovery is going smooth. We are waiting for the final test results still, but we do know that she has B Cell Lymphoma. The treatment will likely include both chemotherapy, and radiation. As disturbing as that may be, Jackie has set a tone that the whole family seems to have also adopted. She chooses to live in the moment and take everything day by day, as opposed to thinking too much about what the future might hold and letting it consume her in the present moments. This philosophy has made life much more enjoyable for her and the family among difficult times.

Like Jackie, I choose to focus on the positives, like how wonderful it is to all be living under the same roof again. I've really enjoyed spending quality time with Jackie and my family. I also appreciate the way an event like this puts life's daily woes into perspective for everyone involved. Things that seemed so important two weeks ago immediately seem trivial now. Its always important not to sweat the small stuff, because you never know when the larger stuff might pop up that actually matters.

We are all confident Jackie will make a full recovery from the Lymphoma. In the meantime I look forward to enjoying lots of time with my family.

Life is still good.

On Tour with Andrew McMahon, Weezer, and Panic at the Disco

July 25, 2016

Wow! Its been over a month since my last post, I never intended to take so long with the next! Since my last entry I have shot over 30 Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness shows! That's hard for me to imagine, but cruising through my Lightroom catalog certainly makes it easier. I have thousands of pictures of Andrew and the band, both on and off stage! On top of those I also have countless pictures of the crew I work with, as well as friends and family I've gotten to catch up with along the way! Taking lots of photos means lots of post work for me, so I've had to develop an efficient and consistent workflow to keep on top of all my tasks. I've also had to shift my priorities, and unfortunately keeping up with new journal entries has slipped down my list for now. When I'm not on stage setting up and maintaining all of the bands gear, I am in a dressing room picking and editing photos for Andrew and his management. I take anywhere from 75 to 300 photos per day, so I've learned just how easy it is to fall behind and also how difficult it is to catch up when I have stage responsibilities requiring my time as well. Between my time working on stage and photo work I barley get to do much else throughout the day!

One priority that is very important to me though, is taking the time to visit with lots of close friends and family when our tour comes through their city. Having the opportunity to spend time with the people I love in all corners of the country is one of my favorite parts of any tour. Here a some of my favorite shots of family and friends from the past month.

After about two weeks of shooting Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness on the Weezer and Panic at the Disco tour I started falling into a groove while shooting the set. I learned where to be to get the shots I was looking for because I became better able to predict where Andrew would jump off a riser for instance. I also quickly realized that there are only so many positions I can shoot from on our stage, so one of the bigger challenges I face is making sure my pictures don't all look the same. One of my favorite shooting compositions is filling the frame with Andrew, perpendicular to his piano. Here's an example.

I shot the left picture in Virginia Beach, June 22. I shot the right picture three weeks later in Tinley Park, Illinois. They look like the same picture! This forced me to figure out how to create images that are fresh and new with the limited shooting positions available to me. I started favoring similar compositions from different sides.

I began shooting from the opposite side of the piano, up on stage more often. This way the background is always different. This enables me to get the symmetric shots I like, but the vibe of the picture changes because the background varies so much. I also love capturing the crowds in my shots. The downside of shooting from this position is if I can see the crowd, they can see me too. This is a tough spot to shoot from while maintaining stealthiness, so I try to be in and out of this position quickly.

The Weezer and Panic at the Disco tour has a day off about every three shows. On many of the off days we have or own shows, either outdoor summer festivals, or headlining in smaller clubs. These shows are particularly fun for me because they offer all sorts of picture opportunities and various freedoms that I don't get during our opening slot on the Weezer and Panic at the Disco tour. Things also tend to get a little more wild because they are Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness shows, meaning the sets are longer, the fans are primarily Andrew's, and the smaller clubs are always more intimate. The shows being in our control also allows me to comfortably use my flash, which is generally frowned upon in most live music photography situations.

This is my camera and wireless flash kit. The camera is a Fujifilm X100T. I have taken every picture on this website with this camera, and it might as well be permanently attached to my right hand at this point. It has a fixed prime 35mm equivalent lens, which I believe has aided me in defining my own stylistic approach to shooting live bands so far. Most other photographers I see in the field use large zoom lenses, even when they are in the pit at the lip of the stage, often less than ten feet from their subject. When scoping out other photographers pictures of the tour I see lots of close up shots, and less full body shots. With my camera its difficult to get head shots, unless I'm very close to the subject. Most of my shots tend to be full body, which I have come to really enjoy. I also really like the natural perspective that the 35mm lens adds to my pictures, it feels closer to real life than a large zoom that compresses the background so much that an image seems surreal. The X100T is also seriously tiny compared to an SLR with a lens! I sling it around my back when I need to run on stage to tend to something and it stays out of my way until I need it again. Also the dynamic range this camera is capable of never ceases to blow my mind! It seems closer to natural human sight when the shadows are pushed in Lightroom, and with almost no noise!

Below are some shots where my flash helped in creating some awesome pictures that would otherwise be flat, or just impossible to capture. I use the flash in two ways. The first is as a kicker light on a portable stand I brought with me. I set the flash so that is is directly behind what I'm shooting so I can achieve a nice silhouette effect, or disguise it as just another stage light. This looks especially cool when the venue has a hazer.

The above left picture was taken at the same moment as the above right picture, but in the left picture the flash didn't fire. In the right picture the flash fired, silhouetting Andrew and adding a beautiful vibe because of the way the haze caught the light. I have my flash positioned on the stand directly behind Andrews head. Here are some other examples where I used the flash as a rear kicker light to add a specific vibe or drama.

The second way I use the flash is as a fill light, to capture moments I couldn't otherwise because the subject is either out of reach of stage lights, or just too dark. Here are some examples of this technique.

In the picture above left my flash didn't fire, and there was no stage light on Andrew crowd surfing, creating a rather useless picture. The flash fired moments later for the picture on the right. This flash in hand technique allows me to capture any moments in low light, like when Andrew rides a large rubber duck through a dark club and takes a shot of Jägermeister standing on the bar, or when Doris is running through the mud at dusk.

So far its been a great photo journey for me. I'm learning a boatload, and fast! Having the opportunity to get multiple great shots everyday is refreshing and exciting. Hanging out at home in Nashville I need to search out great photo opportunities, while out here on the road they happen every day. The only drawback is staying on top of the workload required after I capture the pictures. I think I'm figuring that out as well, and I seem to be getting quicker in the picking and editing process every week. I'm excited to end this tour with a solid live music portfolio, and I'm hoping it will help me build it even stronger in the future.

Below is a whole bunch of pictures from the past thirty-something shows for all the Andrew McMahon fans reading this, and anyone else interested of course. I hope you enjoy looking through them as much as I enjoyed taking them! Thanks for reading and following along!

-Alex

Andrew McMahon, Say Anything, X Ambassadors, Misterwives, and friends

June 16, 2016

Life got fast, real quick! At the moment I am at the beginning of a two month long tour working for Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness on the Panic at the Disco & Weezer summer tour! We have about five shows under our belt now, but before I post pictures from the tour I wanted to show you what I have shot leading up to it. Here are some of my favorites from the week prior.

Before heading out to Los Angeles to rehearse with Andrew McMahon, Say Anything came through Nashville. I've toured with them in the past, so it was such a pleasure to shoot them in my town.

MewithoutYou supported Say Anything and I got a few good shots of them too.

My best friend Matt was also in town tour managing for Say Anything, so I was able to snap a few pictures of him, Audrey, and their beautiful daughter Lily.

I flew back out to Los Angeles to rehearse for BottleRock, a three day festival in Napa Valley, California. Andrew McMahon in the wilderness played the last day of the festival. It was beautiful weather, and the turnout was awesome.

Above is Andrew's daughter, Cecilia. She loves watching her dad on stage.

I had the time to shoot a few other bands at BottleRock, including X Ambassadors.

Red Hot Chili Peppers headlined the festival, and I saw their drummer Chad Smith walk by backstage. I couldn't resist asking him if I could take his picture. He said "I don't know, can you? I'm just a guy walking." I said "Yes I can!" He smirked, as I took his picture. You can see my reflection in his glasses!

I also shot Misterwives, a high energy funk-pop band with a front woman who kills it. I love them!

I walked the festival grounds after the show cleared, and shot the aftermath. I met Ojha, who had been a bartender all weekend at this tiny bar, directly in front of the main stage in the middle of the crowds. He was high on the energy of the past three days still, and was singing Red Hot Chili Peppers songs out loud as he packed up his bar.

Magic the dog and Andrew McMahon's booking agent, partying hard.

After BottleRock festival I stayed in Los Angeles with some friends for a week. We did a little hike in Orange County and I took some fun pictures with my flash.

I spent four more days doing production rehearsals for the Panic at the Disco & Weezer tour in Los Angeles. Here are some process shots of the prep work involved.

Josh used special paints to recreate the backdrop pattern on the band members show clothes. He also designs all of the board shorts for Volcom.

The band discusses the arrangments of a new song they will play on the tour.

And that brings us to the start of tour! Lots more to come soon...

the journey so far

May 23, 2016

My job as a stage manager affords me a lot of free time and flexibility throughout the year, which I absolutely love. Depending on the year, I can be on the road from six to ten months, and at home in Nashville the for rest of the year. While home, I spend my time relaxing and refueling from the high energy, always on-the-go lifestyle the road provides. This is also the perfect time for me to work on various passion projects, such as bag making, woodworking, and most recently, photography. I have been off of the road since January this year, and I have spent the time hyper focused on setting myself up to transition from my current career as a stage manager, into a career as a photographer. It has been a wonderful process so far.

I spent January building up the perfect photography travel kit for my needs on the road. I purchased a wonderfully tiny, lightweight flash, as well as a wireless flash trigger kit that enables me to capture great moments even in dark situations. I made my own camera bag using my favorite materials, waxed canvas and leather as a precisely fitting home for my FujiFilm X100T camera and flash kit.

By February, offers for stage managing work started coming in for the spring, and I realized it was the perfect opportunity to throw myself into the life of a working photographer. I decided to offer my photography as an added service to the band I would be stage managing for, in exchange for the visibility from my photos being used in social media and print with my credit.

In March I finished this website as a portfolio to show what I'm capable of, and soon after I committed to a job that will keep me busy for the rest of the year, stage managing and photographing a wonderful band called Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness. Success! My first photo gig!

I spent April and early May adding the essay and journal sections to this site so they are ready to display all of the adventures I'll will be experiencing while on the road this year.

Last week I flew out to Los Angeles to work my first few shows with Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness. My first impressions were amazing, and I'm absolutely stoked for the rest of the year! They are all wonderfully talented guys, and I look forward to the friendships that have sprouted already. This journal entry follows my first week as a working photographer, shooting and stage managing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.

I spent four days in Los Angeles, learning the gear that I will be maintaining, and rehearsing with the band. The photo above is from the first bunch I took, during rehearsals in a sound studio south of LA. We flew to San Francisco the night we finished rehearsals, and I took full advantage of the free night.

I went for a midnight walk down Market Street, and I photographed a few kids who were skateboarding in front of the San Francisco Ferry Building downtown. While I was shooting them a man dressed as an Alcatraz prisoner walked up, and one of the guys whispered to me "Be careful, this guy will talk your ear off". Boy were they right!

This is Dan Buddy. He is a locally known homeless man, who wanders the city entertaining tourists by singing the songs of an Alcatraz prisoner and spreading "good loving vibes" as he says. Upon being offered a few baguettes by one of the skateboarders, Dan quickly replied "I don't need food, but I will duel with you", and good, lighthearted foolishness ensued.

After the dueling was over, I walked with Dan Buddy for close to an hour and was fascinated with his energy, his stories, and his openness to connect with me. Dan is a 60 year old veteran who fought in the Vietnam War, where he says he held his best friends as they were dying on the war fields. When speaking of his time in the Army, Dan repeated a particular phrase often, "They didn't teach me how to kill, they taught me how to destroy". His animosity toward the US Army and war in general was obvious. I noticed Dan's mood shift from happy and playful to straight anger very quickly a few times throughout our walk. When speaking about losing his eyesight for instance, he spoke fiercely and violently about defending himself against his attacker on the street years before, but quickly snapped out of it. "But I'm not a violent person, I'm really not" would follow after each brief fit of rage. I was beginning to imagine the life Dan had experienced, and it filled me with empathy for him.

It was intriguing to me that Dan was quite prideful of his homeless lifestyle, explaining that unlike other homeless people he knows, he is always respectful to the area where he sleeps and would never leave garbage behind. Dan spoke eagerly about the time he spent train hopping around the county in the 80's, as if they were his glory days. He pridefully considers himself a street actor, and enjoyed showing me a few of his songs that he performs on the streets daily, complete with a searing guitar solo played on his cane. "Ever seen someone play the trash cans?!" He was performing for my camera.

Dan repeatedly excused himself from our conversation to sip his "go-go juice", a Gatorade bottle containing whiskey because he felt guilty drinking in front of me. He explained that he keeps his whiskey in a Gatorade bottle to avoid the attention of the police, but also so mothers don't have to explain to their kids what he's drinking. Later when I asked him what his greatest passion in life is, he replied "My two girls and my two boys". They all live in New York state, but Dan hasn't talked to them in years. He went on to detail how he had been in and out of jail and homeless for the past 30 years, starting when his "old lady" died. I pictured her being the glue that held him together, and again was filled with empathy for him. Before parting ways I asked Dan if he had any advice that I might find useful. Without much thought he quickly replied "You should help people only when they are ready to help themselves, otherwise you're just wasting your time."

The next day I worked my first show with Andrew McMahon. We played a corporate event for a Silicone Valley tech startup called Zendesk, who's software is embedded into apps like Uber and Facebook Messenger. The event was held in a beautiful old warehouse on a pier, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.

For lunch I walked to a park across the street and found a few pictures.

My first show went quite smooth, mostly due to the band being such pro's on stage. I was able to focus on getting pictures through most of the set. These are my favorites.

That same night we flew to Las Vegas for a show the next day. Again, we took full advantage of the remainder of the night, sharing drinks, walking the strip, and meeting new people.

This is Andrew, the frontman in the band, 56 floors up, but not too worried.

These woman liked Zac, the keyboard player because he looks like Jesus. They also loved playing for my camera, it was so fun!

"I want my picture without her!"

Beautiful women seemed to be coming out of the woodwork.

And pizza to end a great Las Vegas night.

I spent the next day at the Cosmopolitan rooftop pool because that's where the stage was, overlooking the Las Vegas strip! It was one of the more exotic stage locations I've gotten the opportunity to work on. Before our set began I shot some photos of BØRNS, a band I've been really loving lately. They played a great set, I was excited to see them!

By the time we played its was dark out, and the energy was palpable! What a joy the set was to shoot! The show went off without a hitch.

I love how Andrew engauges his fans during the set. During the last song he jumped in the crowd, posed for selfies, and even signed some autographs! All mid-song, without missing a note! I loved it.

I had a fantastic week and I'm as excited as ever for the rest of the year working with these guys. I cant wait to document our lives on the road together and everything in between. I feel relieved to have a week of tour photography work under my belt, and I'm really eager to see what my portfolio will look like by the end of the year. Next I need to streamline the editing process and everything that happens after I capture these photos. This journal post alone must have taken me six hours or more to produce! Starting in June I'll be working a show almost every day until August, so developing an efficient workflow will be imperative. I suppose practice will help, so expect more soon!

A New Creative Journey

May 19, 2016

Dear friend,

My name is Alex Perkins, I'm 32, currently loving life in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm a transplant here, originally from a small town in the beautiful New Hampshire countryside, though I've lived in Nashville for close to five years now. I moved here for the music industry, in which I've been participating for the past seven years as a traveling stage manager and guitar tech. For more than ten years prior to my career as a tech, I pursued the music industry from the other side, as a musician, creating music that I loved with my best friends and traveling the country trying to be heard. The idea that I could possibly spend my life this way, experiencing so many new places and people while spreading music I helped create and believed in was so Utopian to me! Those were some of the best years in my life, and I was sad when they were over.

The end of that chapter in my life brought the beginning of the next, which I am currently still writing, though I feel a new chapter is near. As my band decided it was time to throw in the towel seven years ago now, my love for the gear brought me my first gig as a guitar tech. I quickly found that my skill set was better suited to this tech side of music, and have since traveled around the world working for bands like Owl City, Relient K, Say Anything, NeedToBreathe, and many others. Through these years and experiences I have become much more introspective, and have been learning a lot about myself including my strengths and my weaknesses, as well as noticing my patterns and habits. One big revelation was realizing my reliance on maintaining a constant creative outlet. Working as a traditional guitar tech or stage manager, there really isn't much creativity in the job. Since I had stopped writing music with my friends, I soon found myself building elaborate rigs (AlexPerkinsBuilds) for the musicians I worked for to solve problems I faced on the road. Only recently have I realized that I've been subconsciously using these gear builds as my creative fix, an outlet which I now understand is vital to my well-being.

This is my shop where I do all my building work, as well as hangs

Here is a flyable guitar rig and a MainStage keyboard rig I built for Owl City in 2015

An Owl City soundcheck in Yokohama, Japan

Despite the fact that I really enjoy designing and building job specific gear, I've begun to question whether or not it is the creative outlet that I desire. I spend hundreds of hours building a piece of musical gear that performs as dependably and efficiently as possible. I love using the gear on the road daily or watching someone else interact with gear that I built, but I have since learned the harsh reality; these builds I pour my heart and my time into often get used for only a few tours before collecting dust in storage, or worse, get ripped apart by clueless techs.

Here is a MIDI controlled wireless rack that took over 80 hours to design and build in 2014

Here is the same rack in 2016, just bones collecting dust in a storage unit graveyard

This past year I witnessed my creative attention wander from gear building, and I began searching for the "next step" as I've termed it. Although I love the work that I do now traveling as a stage manager, I decided if I were to do something different it would need to include a few things: travel and adventures, a constant flow of new people and evolving situations, and most importantly, it would need to serve my creative hunger in a more infused and natural way. I had a few ideas I was pursuing as a possible "next step", but none seemed to offer all three of the core things I value most. Last summer I fell in love with a FujiFilm camera after holding one in a camera shop in Tokyo. Days later I climbed Mt. Fuji, and after shooting the trip on my phone I really wished I had the FujiFilm camera. I ordered one immediately, and It turned out to be the best purchase I've made for myself in years. I regret not buying a camera sooner.

The view from the summit of Mt. Fuji, as seen by my phone

I have owned cameras in the past and even questioned photography as a career path almost ten years ago, but I never revisited it seriously until now. This FujiFilm X100T camera has been the best way to be reintroduced into photography. It reminds me of shooting on an old Japanese Pentax film camera that I used in high school, when the photo bug grabbed me for the first time 15 years ago. It has physical controls for shutter speed and aperture, which make it a blast to shoot manually with. I've become absolutely obsessed with shooting with this camera! After six months of heavy research, studying the photos of the worlds greatest photographers, and shooting all day every day to grow my own skill, a new "next step" has materialized:

I WANT TO MAKE GREAT PICTURES THAT INSPIRE PEOPLE!

An inspired man inspires others in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, but not everyone succumbs to the power of inspiration — An inspired man inspires others in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, but not everyone succumbs to the power of inspiration

It hit me like an explosion! suddenly it occurred to me that photography is the "next step" I had been searching for, unfolding before my eyes for me to discover! I couldn't contain myself! I can maintain the travel and adventure, the new people and evolving situations, and feed my creative hunger by producing photos and photo essays of things that interest me most! I recently finished my first ever photo essay about Appalachian Trail thru-hikers passing through the Smoky Mountains. Every step of that process was an absolutely thrilling experience. I photographed the last tour I worked on, and thoroughly enjoyed that experience as well.

38, a hiker I met early in his 2200 mile hike along the Appalachian Trail

Mannheim Steamroller finishing their set at the historic Fox Theater in Detroit, Michigan

So that is where I will start my journey, shooting the people that I travel and work with, as well as anything I find that inspires me. I am going to record my experiences and results in this journal as a record for myself, so I can revisit at future points in my life and remember where I have been, and hopefully learn from it. But I also hope that I can inspire others to pursue whatever it is that excites them in life, because there is no time to waste! Wish me luck on my new journey, and please follow along for lots of pictures to come in future posts!

-Alex