This past Monday, October 3, I attended Clark's annual Fall Concert. This year was Janelle Monae, a neo-soul singer most famous for her song "Tightrope." The Campus Consciousness Tour were the sponsors, with great goodies given out before the show for pushing fair trade and sustainability, including Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and Nalgene bottles (with Campus Consciousness Tour and other sponsors logos on it, of course). As part of my duties as ROCU News Editor, I was given one press pass to take photos for the first three songs of her set, and all of her warm up act, Timothy Bloom. As an aspiring journalist, I have had press passes before, but my previous press passes didn't really warrant much; attending a high school softball game isn't something where they really check for a press pass. So, this was essentially my first real press pass, and definitely my first time as a photographer.
I got a very nice camera, a Canon Powershot SX130IS, for my birthday this year, per my request; I felt that as a journalist in this economy, I would at one point have to shoot my own pictures. So, I figured I should know a little bit more about cameras and photography, and own my own camera. Throughout the summer I took various pictures, at baseball games, at a car crash outside my house, of my friends, etc., but nothing any really journalistic merit. There were multiple instances, including last week, where I was out in the world, and found a perfect situation to use my camera, had I brought it with me. I missed a perfect full shot of a double rainbow last week when out getting Coney Island Hot Dogs with my roommate Alan, as neither of us brought our cameras. In any event, I'd never really had a challenging shoot, testing my photo-taking ability until Janelle Monae's concert.
First off, I took way too many pictures of Timothy Bloom, the opener. This was not helpful at all for what I was supposed to be taking pictures of, which was Janelle. But, I did learn that my camera did indeed have a setting to catch moving objects, called "Children & Pets," so after a few minutes of incredibly blurred pictures, I was finally able to get some clean shots off. This came in handy for when Janelle came on.
Janelle Monae is incredible. She is a multi-talented performer who really knows how to throw an entertaining show. Although I only knew one of her songs going in, ("Tightrope") I found myself pumped each song she played. It helped that she did a few covers, including the Jackson 5 and Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground." The funky, soulful sound that Janelle Monae reignites a fervor for is well welcomed, and I am glad it is back to being popular and mainstream. At least there's something new on the radio I can like!
Janelle Monae made feel like quite the photography newb in her entrance and first song, an overture. I could not get a clean shot, as she danced too damn fast! She eventually cooled down a bit, at least enough for me to get some truly great pictures. Having a front and center, with no barricade, access to her seemed to me to be unusual for an artist getting as popular as she has been lately. I was in front of her the whole time, even when I could no longer take pictures. Because of this, I had the best spot in the house, and made it easy for me and Nina to get our hair tousled by Janelle, an added bonus to an already great night.
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