Third time's the charm;)

I got the opportunity a couple weeks ago to photograph a DELIGHTFUL family, the Moultrays. We tried for two weeks in a row and we had rain both days, in the middle of sunny streaks, and finally we just said we would go no matter what! I am so glad we did because it was a perfect, warm evening, a little overcast (there were sprinkles, but we didn't care!) We decided on ice cream to start (my favorite..) and then they got out some bubbles and wierd hats. Two things that I freakishly adore...  They were so genuine and fun and the kids loved to be in front of a camera. Clients like this make my life so easy! Until I am sitting here completely UNABLE to get choose which photos I will present to them in their package. I am finally done, and I have been reminded that that sometimes, even if it seems gloomy or impossible, you should just try...unless there is lightning...then you sit inside and have your ice cream!

Ill just be in my musical bath if you need me....

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body... (Oliver Wendell Holmes) 

So I couldn't have said it better myself. I saw this quote awhile ago on some piano chord sheet I looked up online. It was nestled there amongst the bad advertisements for protein shakes and ads for lizard insurance that inevitably pop up every time you go to the sheet music sites. I don't know why it caught my eye, but it did and it is on the money. You must know that feeling..when you hear an artist play for the first time, and you are engulfed. No cover songs needed. It is when it just makes sense to some unexplained part of you. The words don't even have to make sense. It is that moment that the songwriter probably longs for, to have that perfect symbiosis (I might have made that word up..) with the listener. Like a painting on the wall that a hundred people pass by and then there is that one. They pay 1000 dollars for it, never mind that they can't eat for a month, because it was somehow painted FOR THEM.  A song is the same thing I think, and on a grander scale because music is wrapped around every fiber of our being, no matter if it is Beethoven's Sonata 14 or Def Leppard's Love Bites from the 80's. (The first two I thought of, no particular reason....) You hear the song for the first time and you stop. The best way I can describe it is a little jolt. Right kind of behind your sternum, yes where I suppose your heart is, excuse my cheese but it is pretty much true. That moment is then carved inside of you. I remember where I was when I heard Dave Matthews "Crash"...I was in the YVCC hub with my binder and my hopeless math problems, drinking an americano 1/4 full with whipped cream instead of cream,(must have been about 1997ish) and holy crap there it was. "You've got your ball you've got your Chain, tied to me tight, tie me up again..."followed by the most perfect circles of guitar I had ever heard. What? What is this? Who is this heavenly being singing this? Well I sat there in total shock until MTV(remember that?) put the little name thing in the bottom corner and I ran like the wind to the CD store and that thing was mine. About 8 exact same trashed copies later, and every version of every song the man has ever done on my itunes...it stuck with me. A large piece of my life's soundtrack if you will. 

Yes, that was a long intro to this entry, but I had to try to describe that moment, and honestly it has been awhile since that sense of awe in music has hit me. But this past year really to my happy surprise it has been LOCAL yakima musicians that have really made impressions on me (keep in mind I am not a musical expert of any kind, I just like it alot and listen to it alot, and am baffled and intrigued by those who can WRITE IT) So the first in my musical praise is the group Cody Beebe and the Crooks. They are ridiculously good. 

Their music is like the perfect salad dressing. (Bear with me on this), they include all the layers, the herbal earthy part, the salt, the pepper of course, a teeny splash of lemon because you need the acidity, just a tiny bit of honey for some sweet, and the best part is the oil for the smooth, then you take that and really shake it and then pour it on us...the lettuce. haha! That is OUR bath! (here is their bio on all the members Here)

 They played "THE BRICK" in Roslyn, a couple months ago and I for one,was blown away. I then got the spur of the moment chance to photograph their concert for Rock the Gap a couple weeks ago for Yakima Magazine.(YAY!)

These guys have it together,I love their music and style, and I hope they like the photos I came away with. I don't think it is possible to catch their energy on film. But I tried. ;) Check out their website here

Download their music and watch their video too...

 

Watch for the guys at Case of the Blues here in Yakima later this summer.  Also  watch for them all around the Northwest.

Cheers;)Jen