I recently had the privilege of photographing the endeavors of filmmaker Micah Moore on the set of his newest series of short films, “Modern Warfare 2 Meets Metal Gear Solid“. A spoof combining characters from the two video games, the films are a hit with gaming fans and have already received over 100,000 hits. Working with Micah and the crew was a blast as always and here are a few shots to see what we did.
An outpouring of heartfelt passion was seen Tuesday night as the Often Awesome Army assembled to raise money for Timothy LaFollette and his fight against ALS.
The event occurred at the Green Street Club in downtown Greensboro. Donations were collected, raffle tickets sold and seven local bands came and performed for a wall-to-wall crowd, showing their support for Tim and Kaylan. Halfway through the show, Tim gave a moving speech where he asked for one more favor: keep spreading awareness for ALS.
All Aces Media shot video and the dotmatrix project recorded the show to create a compilation album. Both the video and album will be available shortly. All Aces is also currently working on a web series about Tim called, Often Awesome The Series.
Thanks to everyone who came out and made this wonderful night possible, especially Michael Sileno, who organized the entire evening.
Michael Sileno introducing Josh Neas
Chris Jackson of Citified joins Josh Neas for a song.
“if you love hip hop…”
Social Life giving it their all.
Raffle ticket sales were through the roof!
The Numbers
To see more photos from this show, check out our flickr site.
Our first dotmatrix project show outside of Greensboro took place at the Duke Coffeehouse in Durham. A great venue for shows, the coffeehouse served as the location for The Light Pines’ inaugural performance. The Light Pines are a new band with collective members from both Ryan Gustafson and Max Indian. They put on an act that must have sent out signals that something amazing was happening as dozens of people began to pour in despite the blizzard outside! For more photos from this show and previous dotmatrix shows, check out our flickr site.
Carter Gaj – vocals, guitar
James Wallace – keys/aux percussion
Josh Pope – lead vocals, bass
Thomas Simpson – drums
Ryan Gustafson followed up The Light Pines at the Duke Coffeehouse show. Deep and moving, Ryan’s music kept a captive audience. To see more photos from this show and others, check out the dotmatrix project flickr site.
Ryan Gustafson – lead vocals, guitar
Josh Moore – acoustic guitar
James Wallace – Drums
Josh Moore and Ryan Gustafson
Headlining the dotmatrix project show at Duke Coffeehouse was Max Indian. Fun, energetic, great music and great lyrics – Max Indian was the perfect end to a rich night of original music. It made the hour drive in a blizzard more than worth it! Take a look at more photos from this show and others at the dotmatrix project flickr site.
Charles “the cleave” Cleaver – keys
Carter Gaj – Guitar, lead vocals
Ryan Gustafson – Guitar
Carter Gaj – Guitar, lead vocals
The Alcazar Hotel headlined The Dotmatrix Project’s last show at the Green Burro in October. Out of Chapel Hill, NC., William Dawson leads The Alcazar Hotel with Edward Stanley on guitar, Steve Newton on drums and Adam Dodds on bass. They performed with intense energy, literally bringing the crowd into the show as William serenaded several members of the audience throughout the evening.
To see more photos from this show and others, take a look at The Dotmatrix Project Flickr photostream.
Liza Jane encourages crowd participation as Josh Johnson brings his one-man-band, Pinche Gringo, to the Green Burro for another fantastic Dotmatrix Project show in October. Josh sang, played the drums, guitar and tambourine while Liza Jane helped out on the maracas and Jimmy Brad added the bass. This was by far the most interesting show I have been to since my former idea of a one-man-band was an old man in the park playing symbols with his feet, blowing into a harmonica and thumping on a bass drum attached to his waist. This certainly wasn’t the case. Josh Johnson puts an entirely different spin on the idea, bringing a young, fresh approach with his ability to play several instruments at a time.
To see more photos from this show and others, check out The Dotmatrix Project Flickr page.
So I have no actual photos of music at the music festival (it is nice sometimes to just sit and enjoy the music). This scene caught my eye during a break between performances. I love shilouettes and the mystery that they invoke.
This year has brought more surprises, life lessons, sadness and beauty than I thought was possible in only eight months. Two years ago, I moved from the Southwest to a little town in North Carolina that no one had ever heard of to go to the best, unknown photography school in the country. Over those two years, I went from knowing no one to meeting some of the most amazing people in my life. Those connections will last a lifetime.
Graduation came all too fast and I can’t believe I have finally made it. Setting goals for my life was something I did not practice much. To accomplish something I have been dreaming about for years is an incredible experience I will never be able to fully put into words. As I find work here and there and start to work on my own fine art photography and documentary films, I am finding the reality settling in of the fact that the only thing ever getting in my way was myself. Fear is a funny thing because of the way it can make us feel safe from ever having to fail or succeed in anything. Excuses blanket dreams and make life “safe” and bearable. Or so we tell ourselves…
For the first time, I am excited about life and what will come my way. Sure, fear still raises its head but I hope that I can have the courage to stare right back and keep going. The most important thing to me is to always be doing what I love.
I am in the middle of moving to Greensboro and curating a photography exhibit right now. When the dust settles I will post more photos. In the meantime, have fun and I will see you soon.
Randy Furches, Morgan McPherson, and Kristen Leigh played for our June Dotmatrix Project show. It was a great acoustic set and all three gave a unique presentation. Join us this month on the 30th at the Green Burro for Amplify This (AKA Chuck Folds Five) and The Wigg Report!
