festival - Part 11

The 23rd annual Beaches International Jazz festival is set to kick off this Friday at Woodbine Park with Carole Pope on the main stage, Quicy Bullen Band on the New Generation stage and Generation J(azz) on the Youth stage. This starts off a week of Free Jazz & Blues performances by local and international acts on stage’s at Woodbine Park & Kew Gardens, and a Streetfest on Queen where thousands of people come out to enjoy the music and atmosphere. I’ve been going to this festival since the early days and it just gets better & better every time. My favorite is when they close Queen Street and as you walk along from one corner to the next, the music continues non-stop, from blues to jazz, fusion to latin, dance & big band. A jazz flavour for everybody. Last years photo highlights here.

Check out the complete listing and schedule of music, seminars and workshops at www.beachesjazz.com Images from last years festival.
Michael Pickett with Harp
God Made Me Funky
camera screen shot

This years Winterfolk Blues & Roots Festival was a great time to see numerous established and new artists perform their songs and get a real roots music vibe going on. I was helping out as a soundman most of the time along with other volunteers to make everything go smoothly for the musicians and host venues.

I had a couple glitches to take care of, like monitor levels, faulty equipment, but nothing was a complete ‘train wreck’

My main beef was the lighting. The places I took photos in had just a row of spot lights on a stand, some with coloured gels, some just white. On occasion I was able to access the stand and adjust the light levels and direction of the spot lights but other times I couldn’t even get to the control due to the all the people in their seats.

I did manage to get a few resonable shots and corrected some overexposure/white balance issues as best I could with Lightroom afterwards. I used the D90 set at ISO1600 with the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 lens. I should have watched my Highlight Warning indicator to watch for blownout areas but realized afterwards it was off.

Regardless I got to listen to a lot of really great music without having to wear earplugs. Plus I met a lot of fellow fans, photog’s and musicians, all of whom where friendly and very happy to be there.

Can’t wait until next year. Check out the complete gallery Winterfolk IX