The Lunar Eclipse

Did you see the Lunar Eclipse the other night. I sure did. It was very, very cool indeed. It was little extra spice in the night sky. A little salt and pepper where it was once rather bland. A bit of extra light on a normally mundane subject.
I set myself up out on a dock near a couple old rickety shrimp boats down in Bluffton, South Carolina. I set up my tripod, put in some 100 speed Fuji Velvia film into my Nikon FM2 body and pointed my telephoto lens to the stars or to the moon to be more exact, and took my first image. I then clicked an image every five minutes until the show was over. Its always a long shot with long exposures but all one can do is hope, is rely on your years of previous long exposure experience and the sometimes dissapointing results in the darkroom, and hope that you got the exposure you wanted. Time will tell. But, it was very cool indeed. At one point the moon turned bright red and all the wispy clouds that misted around its circular glow were suddenly bathed in a reddish hue. I think the moon was blushing because of all the sudden attention it was receiving from the stargazers on Earth. Sorry, no images yet...

Concert Photography

My last few posts on this blog have all revolved around music and so I am sticking to that theme for just a bit longer. I have years and years worth of concert photography just waiting to be released into various books and films. For the first time in years I am starting to go through the archives and pull out some material that if not stored correctly would certainly have cobwebs tangled around the flimsy edges of the negative. (CAN COBWEBS GATHER UPON DIGITAL FILES TOO?) I don't think so. Perhaps, their is some sort of digital version of the cobweb and if there was such a thing it would most certainly have found a home on these rock files.
Anyhow, it feels good to be going through the old files and starting to get them out there. Nearly all of my work has never been seen. I would say 98% of it has been locked up in binders full of overflowing negatives. The other 1% is on filled up hard drives filled with digital files and the other 1% is on my website http://www.strainephotography.com
It's time to release the files! alright, alright. So, check out this little movie I made of the rock band RAQ. It is over 300 still images laid out side by side. That's right. This is not moving images. These are all stills shot by strainephotography.

Northeast Kingdom Music Festival

For the previous two years I have worked as the house photographer for the Northeast Kingdom Music Festival in East Albany, Vermont. It is a three day music and arts festival that features rock and roll from around the world. The producer of the event, Ed Dufresne does an incredible job of putting together an eclectic musical lineup that is sure to please a wide range of listeners appetites. Everything from bluegrass to hip-hop to hard rock to soul can be heard. The stage, lighting and production is top of the line. This is not your backyard bbq/music shindig by any means. It is a full-on rock and roll festival and it attracts a lot of great people who come out to dance, hear new bands, meet up with old friends and toss back a few beers. I put together a short slideshow with some of the images from this past summer. check it out.
Thanks for reading about my photography. I am looking foreword to some great beach portraits on Hilton head island. Call me or visit my website to book your beach portrait on Hilton Head.
Daniel Straine.