Twitter is an amazing tool. I barely even open Myspace anymore. Maybe this is the slow transition back into actually talking to people. Who knows.
I've spent the entire morning opening and responding to emails, and on the phone with managers, and setting up shoots for June. I love being this busy! Today is going to be an edit-a-thon. Tomorrow I'm filming Sleep District at the House of Blues in Anaheim, and photographing Bidwell at the same show. Should be very fun, that venue is amazing.
Saturday Byron from Hide and Seek flies in for our shoot. The summer line is amazing! I am SO excited for some new clothes to rock this summer. New gear is the best way to start the summer. We're shooting on Sunday and I have a rockstar lineup of models! It's going to be a very fun day. Then we'll head up to Bakersfield for the Rockin Roots Festival. Of Mice and Men are debuting and I'm going to take some live photos for them. Monday I want to take Byron to Six Flags... anyone have a hookup to get us in for cheap?
Yesterday I went down to Irvine and had impressions taken of my ear canal for Warped Tour. My Ultimate Ears should be here in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait to unveil them for you all! The shop was really incredible, and everyone I met was so nice. I met with the president and I'm going to have a ton of creative freedom on Warped which will be so great. I'm really stoked to be working for such a sweet company. Thanks to Mark for hooking me up with the job!
In other news, here's the first video update with footage from my FlipHD...

One day these will make sense...

Here's a few photos from the last week. This past weekend I was hanging out in the studio with Sleep District as they recorded a new song. The bottom two images are of Slade from Anarbor backstage before his set at Chain Reaction. Anarbor are super nice guys, and we share a manager, who is also a super great guy, so we're like super great siblings kinda... or something.

Glamour Kills has released the Jordan Raths photos! I'm stoked :) They'll be used on posters for the Zumiez Couch Tour. So keep an eye out. I'm excited to work with them again soon.

Since I moved to LA I've been really good about not making frivolous purchases. I've tried to be better with money and not impulse buy stuff I don't need. I was even talking to my mom on the phone yesterday about how I was putting everything into a savings account to prepare for a rainy day. That being said I have been wanting to get a camcorder ever since my old Mini DV camcorder bit the dust a few years ago. The desire to do behind the scenes footage from my shoots has been growing exponentially ever since I got to LA. Today I went to Best Buy to get a new CF card for my 5D and walked out with an 8gig card and this...

So prepare yourselves for a lot of video updates, behind the scenes, and random videos of rock stars being dumb.

It's 11:20 an I'm on hour 5 today in the studio with sleep district. Sleeeepy already and we're only on bass. Going to be another long night!

What a fun morning! I spent it at the House of Blues in Hollyweird photographing Mark and Pete as they sold tickets for the Irvine date of the tour. We got word about a half hour into the sale that the show's online sales sold out in 12 minutes! That's insane! So stoked for the guys, this tour is going to be ridiculous.
While I was making my way past the line to the HOB some kid in line yelled out "Hey that's Megan Thompson" and THAT was by far the strangest thing that has ever happened to me. I just looked around really fast and kinda waved... no clue who was talking to me. Anyway I met a lot of cool kids, and had a great time!
Now I'm off to Victorville to do some behind the scenes work with Sleep District. Probably end up sleeping out there too. Long day, but it's going to be a great one!

Today was an awesome day! Got awesome news, had an awesome photoshoot, then saw an awesome concert! Just AWESOME!
Anyway, I'm going to be working for Ultimate Ears on Warped, shooting the bands that are using their top of the line insane in ear monitors. My payment? I get a pair! I am so stoked, basically I'll just end up with a $1,200 pair of headphones, but MAN, my iPod is going to sound awesome! Plus they'll protect my hearing at shows, and I'm in love with anything that can help save my hearing. I'm going to get impressions taken of my ears next week, and then they'll make a custom set for me. You can see Mark's kick butt pair of monitors on his BLOG. I'm going to try to out cool him with mine, but I will probably fail. Mine are going to be Montana themed :)
Check Ultimate Ears out! Great company, especially if you're in a band.

I hate waiting. I hate waiting. I hate waiting...
Tonight was fun! I had a good long pep talk with Levi on the phone, then went out to Slide Bar to assault my ears. Static Lullaby killed tonight and I had so much fun! It was great to see so many friends whom I hadn't seen in forever! Sad to hear some news, but overall a great night. I just got home, and had a handful of happy e-mails waiting for me about Warped! Hopefully everything works out for that. Scheduled to leave on the 26th though the 7th or 9th of July with Breathe Carolina, then who knows. The summer is kind of up in the air as of now. It's a combo of frustration and excitement at not knowing what's going to happen. On one hand I like to have things planned, on the other it's nice to know that I can do whatever and it will most likely work out well. 2009 is the summer of possibilities!

I didn't get any really amazing photos at the rally last night. The dude with the sign that said "I don't want 5 wives, I just want 1 husband" is on my team. Best sign that I saw.

I had a whole blog of substance in my head, then I ate breakfast and forgot the whole thing. Wow. Sometimes my bad memory really worries me. I think I should start to play memory games or something, is that supposed to help?
Anyhoo, Goodnight Sunrise's presale for their new EP starts today. I'm so excited for them! Everyone should go check out their MERCH store which has some of my snazzy photos on it, and pre order the EP at 3:00. First 50 orders get the chance to win some swanky Hide & Seek gear as well as tons of free goodies from the guys.

What did you do today Megan?
Well today I woke up early, made breakfast, and drank coffee.
Then I sent e-mails about invoices, made a map for Thursday's shoot, and checked the news.
Then I left for Palm Springs around 12:30 got there around 2:00 got coffee, and hung out.
Then I set up for the shoot, waited around, shot photos for the album artwork, photographed the band.
Then I cleaned up, got paid, said goodbyes, and drove home.
I got home around 7:15 to pick up my roommate for the rally.
He was drunk, I brought him anyway.
Got about two miles outside of the rally, then walked the rest of the way, lost my roommate, kept going, found the rally, walked two and a half miles with it.
Took lots of photos, then remembered my bad hip, started hating my life, started limping, then broke off and found my car and came home.
My new business cards came, and they have a typo.
I just ate for the second time today and it's 11:52. Now I'm going to bed. Photos from the Rally tomorrow!

Wow California. I'm really disappointed in you. Iowa, Vermont, and Maine are more progressive than you. What's your precious economy going to do when all the homosexuals move out of state to get married? Ok that might be overkill, but I'm so pissed off right now. Screw you Supreme Court of California, and everyone who voted for Prop 8 in the first place.

I'm really really REALLY hoping that Prop 8 is overturned tomorrow. I'm hoping the rally in West Hollywood will be early enough that I can scoot down there with enough time to make it to my shoot in Palm Springs. Down with Prop H8!
Edit: According to Mark it's at 7pm at Santa Monica and San Vincente. If you're in LA come support! I'm going to speed back from Palm Springs and try my hardest to make it out.

Edit #2: We just got #rejectprop8 to #1 in Twitter topics! Small step, but it feels really awesome :)

I bought a Blackberry Curve. I have no idea what half of its functions do, but I'm learning slowly. I think I should just bring the manual everywhere with me for a while. Right now it's serving wonderfully as a Twitter machine. Not going to lie, I really just wanted a phone I could post photos to Twitter with. Oh and e-mail... yeah, e-mail. Still trying to set up my damn e-mail. Someone at Blackberry is going to have to deal with me in technical support tomorrow when I get help setting that up.

It's official! I really need a grown up phone. But this puts me into an odd boat. Do I stick with Verizon and get a Blackberry, or do I switch out and get an iPhone? I'm tempted to just stick with Verizon since I've never really had any issues with them as a company. I even got a free phone once. Plus in the next year or so they'll have the iPhone as well, and I'm definitely holding out for the 3rd generation iPhone. That thing's going to be ridiculous! Today I might go down to the Verizon store and see what they'll let me do. I can't be without internet on Warped. No e-mail would probably kill me. I almost didn't survive my trip to Montana. I literally had to drive two hours out of the way and spend another hour in a coffee shop just to check e-mail and to send an agreement. Space phone would solve this. I'm going to see if there's a way to just stay on my family plan thing and maybe pay my part of it through a kiosk at the store. Ahh technology! So what kind of phone would be best guys?

Carter Hulsey resembles my friend Kyle from Billings a lot. Spooky!

Yesterday was a loooong day! Woke up at 8 to hurry up and wait. Then ended up running late for everything anyway. Madison and I got stuck in gnarly traffic for an hour and a half on the way to Fullerton for his tattoo. So we were almost an hour late, sorry London! While Madison was getting drawn on I ran to Anaheim to photograph Carter Hulsey for Hide & Seek and had a great time! I wish I could have stuck around for the show. In the middle of the shoot he sound checked and played Blue in the Face by Alkaline Trio for me and now we're best friends. He's incredibly talented and you should all check him out. Right after the shoot I scooped up Madison from his tattoo and we sat in traffic again for over an hour and a half. Not fun! I had to get him to the Dodgers game and there were about a million cars trying to get there too. It was insanity. They wouldn't let me take him up to the gate so I had to leave him almost half a mile from the entrance. Then I sped home, dumped my CF card and headed to a benefit party for Plays Well With Others. I was their party photographer, and spent a good part of the night hanging out in a room taking pictures of the moderately wasted party goers. Then came home, and crashed hard. I slept wrong on my neck and it's killing me right now.
Today I'm running some errands, going to another barbecue, and meeting Mr Ryan Russell for some Pinkberry and bear hugs. Should be another good day.

Yesterday I bought a new book (Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk if you're wondering) and a new red moleskine notebook to be my journal. I figure sometimes this summer there will be times I'll be without internet and so I should try this awesome new thing called a journal! It's like a blog, but no one else reads it, so in a way it's the same, but you use a pen. I've heard great things about journals, so I'm excited to give it a whirl. Then when I get back from my two weeks on Warped I can word vomit all over this thing here for you to read the boring parts. Excited? I know I am!

Lately I feel very much in the same boat as Ms. Garofolo about religion. I try to keep my mouth shut, and mind my own business, but as soon as I mention watching a movie like Religulous I get attacked by so called friends who don't respect my beliefs. I'm very much proud to sit in the agnostic boat, and I don't believe it makes me better than or less than any other person. I don't argue my point, because there's no point in arguing, but I'm regularly argued upon. It's recently gotten to me, so I'm voicing it here on my little soap box called my blog. So here it is... You are not better than me because you go to church. I am not better than you because I choose not to. Because I am agnostic I am not a lost soul in need of your savior service, and because you are Christian I do not feel the need to tell you at any given moment that I don't agree with you. I respect your views completely, and only wish that you treat me with the same respect.
Thank you.

Keeping with my theme of nonsense blogging, today's blog is brought to you by things that make me happy...
Intelligentsia coffee.
When my planner is accurate, filled, and organized.
The band Dr. Manhattan.
Being caught up on editing.
Going to bed early, and getting up before 9am.
Having killed all the ants in the house.
Being woken up by birds outside.
Getting hooked up with new stuff from Hide & Seek for tour!
Going on Warped Tour for two weeks. (This might change after the two weeks are over)
New Breathe Carolina songs that make me want to dance! I can't wait for the new record!
Cereal.

I apologize. I lied and didn't post a blog of substance yesterday. I'm not going to post one today either. I just don't have it in me tonight. This past week has been totally incredible and equally draining. I ended up on MTV News three times, and met more incredible people than I can remember. It's all been intense! Things are settling back down for a short while. I'm booked solid all next week, and this weekend I'm shooting a great new songwriter named Carter Hulsey for Hide and Seek. You should check him out, he's great! I'm not going to Portland after all. The ticket price shot up through the roof within four hours of me looking at flights. Life would have been pretty chaotic if I flew out though. I have shoots on Monday, Tuesday, and possibly Thursday next week and Thursday night I'm doing another "musical reward" night and going to see Lydia. It's been about three years since the last time I saw them, and I'm giddy to see the new line up!
Some news I got about an old friend really bummed me out today, so thanks to everyone who twittered me well wishes! It always sucks to learn that someone you used to be close with is in a bad spot.
I think I'm going to try to continue this trend of editing during daylight hours, and go to bed. It's not even 9:30... I must be getting old.

Edit: Ok, there are two car alarms going off down the street... this is lame.

And it continues! My photo of Mark is on Spin.com. Pretty dope, and I'm quite excited! That was a good thing to wake up to in my inbox this morning.

Hey look I'm still awkward!
MTV NEWS
Thank god I didn't wear the same shirt or something...

Just realized that I'm the last person to post this. Sooo... Here's my photo of Mark Hoppus from blink-182 with a fake octopus. Ta da! Also at the party tonight someone brilliant hired a mariachi band to cover blink-182 songs. It is completely possible that I have never been more amused in my entire life. They didn't censor anything either!

Life is incredible and so so good! I think the theme of tomorrow's blog-o-substance will be gasoline theory.
Sleep well, and love life.

I keep listening to this song, it's so good.
Hand of God by Kevin Devine

In the hand of God there's a cattle prod
That keeps shocking us along
'Til we're flung from roofs without parachutes
To fill the patches in his lawn

There's an iron gate where patrolmen wait
To keep the chosen people safe
From the infidels and their terror cells
Rebels blessed with God's good grace

There's a shining half jewel that's shattered glass
Hemmed in with barbed wire
So you can skin your feet but you can't climb free
Oh hallelujah, higher and higher

All your fox-hole prayers full of fear you share
With a bored and distant son
While you held your will, killing time until
Answers came for anyone

You curse their Lord for all he ignored
In his flawed and vengeful plan
Cut yourself some slack against a deck so stacked
I mean come on now, you're just one man

Maybe after all when your conscience calls
You might prove the missing link
And all that white hot air you sprayed around out there
Might have meant more than you think

So when you breathe, breathe deep, breathe in greedily
Like you might never breathe again
Go and tell the truth so all that work you do
Won't be worthless in the end

Yesterday I photographed the amazing Jordan Raths for Glamour Kills Clothing. It was super fun, I wish I had learned to skateboard when I was a kid. I'm always amazed and jealous watching awesome skaeboarders like him. The people at the Vans skate park had no idea who we were or why we were supposed to be there. So we killed the time waiting for the park to open by just shooting normal stand up photos and a few of Jordan doing tricks. I didn't get hit in the face with a skateboard, so it was a winning day!
Last night I rewarded myself for cutting short my vacation by taking in Kevin Devine at the Troubadour. It was such an awesome show! I want to relive it over and over. Kevin met all the expectations I'd built up in my head over the past four years, and it was a great first experience seeing him live. I love a show where everyone on stage is having fun, and this one topped it. He played for at least an hour and a half, and hit on every song I could have wanted to hear. Thanks Kevin!
Another fun shoot opportunity tonight, should be a blast, these things usually are :)

MTV Shows

God Dammit, I'm in another one! UGH.

Most days I go to sleep thinking that when I wake up, I'll be back to doing nothing and hating my life. Every morning I say a little thank you for being able to do what I'm doing, and making a living doing it. I realize more and more every day just how lucky I am, and that I can pinpoint almost every turning point in my life that has led me to where I am today. This is a blog of thank yous and 7degrees of separation... (Part one)
Thank you to...
Jay, Pat, Dave, and John Thanks for loving Blink 182 so much 10 years ago that you started your own band, and let me make a fake Rollingstone cover for an art class assignment. I'll never forget my first band promos and how ridiculous they were.

Titul, the Warmblood to whom I owe everything. If you hadn't thrown me at that jump and broken my ankle I'd be cleaning stalls somewhere in the south. Thanks!

Matt, Doby, Lindsey the Boy, Matt, I spent that semester with a broken ankle and your band and realized I like sitting in the wings taking your pictures and making videos more than riding horses. Thanks for having me around for three months on crutches, and for nicknaming me crazy leg.

Annie Leibovitz, thanks for taking the incredible photo of The White Stripes that made me want to do the same. If I hadn't seen that image, I doubt I'd even be taking photos.

Woke up Falling. I know you guys broke up, but you let me come on "tour" for my first time and that bug bit me and played a major part in me doing what I do now. Thank you do much! I miss you guys.

Montana State University graphic design program. Thanks for thinking that I wasn't good enough to be a graphic designer. You saved me from what probably would have ended up being a soul sucking existence making logos for giant corporations. I owe you one.

Angela, thanks for being the coolest intro to photograph professor ever, and motivating me to not try to make the graphic design gate again. You're the reason I majored in photography. I owe you one too.

The following bands... The Sharktopus, Acadia and the Asteroid, Deny the Dinosaur?, Cagematch to the Death, From Aphony,1090 Club, Bank, Josephine, This Word is Weapon, Mistress and the Misters, and Goodnight Sunrise(times 1000). Thanks for thinking I was good enough at the time to trust me enough to do your promos... looking back, I was terrible, so thanks for letting me practice on you guys.

Thanks Ian, for assigning the book project back in Advanced Digital when it was still Advanced Digital. That assignment turned into a project I can look back on now when I'm homesick. The Forgotten State is one of the things I'm most proud of from college. Thanks!

Kyle, Zach, Trevor, Jon, and Nick... Thank you for letting me live on your couch for an entire month when I moved to LA. I owe you so much... I'm going to get all of your faces tattooed on my back or something.

Levi the Snakeskinner for starting my 7degrees in California. I am the Ocean led to Fear Before led to Lorene Drive led to Vogue in the Movement led to everything else. You're the greatest and I miss you so much!

Chris Anthony thanks for inviting me to show you my work, and sitting there looking unimpressed and telling me to "Just DO the kind of photography you want and put bands in it". Thanks also for not calling the police when the worlds most intimidated and nervous fan showed up and sweated all over your couch.

To be continued.... (I'm going to see Kevin Devine right now!)

Dear Blogger,
I'm sorry that I've been neglecting you lately. Things have been crazy, and I've been dividing my days between driving massive distances and photographing amazing things and people. But I promise you, this Tuesday there WILL be a new blog-o-substance. I'm still trying to think up a good topic, so if there are any prying questions please ask in the comments to this blog.
Love,
Megan

Some behind the scenes fruit baseball with Breathe Carolina today

Breathe Carolina studio update! Some behind the scenes magic from our first shoot. I can't wait for Warped Tour with these guys!

And look, I'm awkwardly in the background on MTV News! It's like, can you tell which one isn't supposed to be on this carpet? Yep, the tall girl!

Tonight might have possibly been one of the best nights of my life. Tonight I stood on the side of a stage, and photographed Blink 182 as they played their first show in over four years. It was unreal, and I think I may have taken the best live photo of my career. I hope those photos look as good full size as they did on the camera.
Mark, if you happen to read this, thank you so much for tonight! It's definitely going down in the book of coolest things to ever happen to me. I had so much fun, I'm deaf, and dead tired, but it was so worth it!
You can see some of my photos HERE on Mark's Blog.

The video you've all been waiting for...I can't post it on here because it's locked. But here's the LINK! Yippee!

Today Mark and Pete are releasing the super secret special Fall Out Boy flash drives! Follow them on twitter to try and win one! I'll be on the road all day, so I doubt I'll be able to, so you should all try.
For those not in the loop, I recently photographed Mark for some special content to be released on this flash drive. It also includes his remix of Fall Out Boy's song America's Suitehearts. You can get the single on iTunes as well if you're not down to twitter stalk all day. I'm really stoked to be a part of this, and I hope at least one of my friends can get their paws on one so I can see the finished product! I should be able to release the photos as soon as they release the drives so you can see them.
Leaving SLC for Montana now, so I'll see you all soon! Pumped for some driving conferences on my dorky bluetooth!

I made it to Salt Lake without any major set backs. I was pretty amazed at how awake I was for the whole drive. Win! Now I'm in the SLC hanging out with my friend Levi and the rest of the I am the Ocean crew for Cinco de Mayo fun before heading out bright and early tomorrow for Montana. The clouds in SLC are unreal today and I think I should go out and shoot some sky and weather to have in my arsenal for composites in the future.

What's there to do in Salt Lake? I'm stealing internet at a Starbucks near downtown. I thought about going to the library for a bit to chill out and read some magazines. Sort of seems like there's not too much to do unless you enjoy smoking massive amounts of pot, something I'm not into. Hopefully going to meet up with Michael Brown and Katy P later today, then caravanning to Montana with them in the morning. Good times. Maybe I'll go find some bargain priced margaritas to celebrate the fifth with.

I just found out that my friend Mike is moving to Dallas because his job got transferred. I'm mega bummed. He was one of my only friends not in a band, and he leaves tomorrow, so I don't even get to say goodbye. Screw real jobs. This is so uncool.

Oh yeah... I'm supposed to leave for Salt Lake today... this drive is going to suck. I did get plenty of sleep. But I just wish i didn't have to get an oil change, and pay for all this gas :( I also still have to order a print for Brittany's benefit show. I hate being poor. I hate people who are super slow on paying me even more.

Of Mice posted their new myspace layout! It looks AMAZING! Phil M did an insane job on it, and I'm so stoked. Check it out.

I feel like I want nothing more than to sleep for a million hours after the shooting shenanigans today. The photo shoot with Breathe Carolina went so well! They are definitely the nicest most down to earth pair I've met in a long time. The shoot was a complete blast, and ended with me in the pool, and jumping off of an eight foot wall with Kyle into said pool. Finished up the day with a yummy veggie burger from Fred 62. It was a great day and makes me almost wish I wasn't leaving in the morning.

Oh yeah, I'm leaving in the morning. I am NOWHERE near ready. Still need an oil change, still need to pack, still need to pay my bills, and send out invoices with threats of knee cap breakage. Uuuughhh. Not stoked. I just want to be there, don't want to deal with the drive. What was I thinking honestly?

One of my photos of Blackhounds from SLC. I miss these guys already!

Ahh Saturday night. In case you were unaware by my absence, but I've been busy this week. Justin pointed out my absence, so this entry is for you Justin. I love proof that people read this blog by the way...
Where was I? Oh yes, Saturday night. In front of me sits a cold fresh can of Tecate cerveza, an empty cereal bowl, and four hundred bucks in cold, hard, cash from today's photoshoot. Second shoot this week in the desert. I have decided that while desert photos ALWAYS look cool, I need to find a closer desert. Driving an hour each way to the middle of nowhere is not conducive to getting more than one thing done in a day. Also, I realized that Lorin from Blackhounds stole my sunglasses thinking we'd see eachother again before they left. We did not see eachother again, and now I have another thing on my list of things to get/ buy before leaving LA on Monday. Need to get a oil change too... ugh. Why is trying to just leave town so expensive? I'd also like to give a big shout out to all the bands who wanted to book a shoot on this trip and then bailed three days before I leave. Thanks! You're really helping me out right now. When you finally get down to LA and book a shoot you're getting a "jerk fee" added on, and no traveling discount. Even better are the bands who just aren't emailing me back to confirm... not cool guys. I can see you're reading my e-mails through the wonders of myspace, so just e-mail me back! Enough work venting though!

Last night I met up with the lovely gents from Breathe Carolinawhom I am photographing tomorrow, hopefully poolside. Still waiting on a callback about said pool. Should be insanely fun, those guys are honestly a couple of the nicest dudes ever. Also doing a shoot with only two bandmembers will be refreshing, and I'll be able to light the crap out of it relatively easily. The shoot is for Umbrella Clothing, and I'm going to be working with them a lot in the coming month or so, so be on the look out for some insanity that borders on me completely selling out my morals to pay rent. WOO! This will also be the first shoot where I blast champagne... wish me luck that I don't get hit in the eye with a cork.

I feel completely sandy and icky right now. I'm going to finish this well deserved beer, take a hot shower, make some calls, and sit down to edit until my fingers bleed. Should be fun!

So this week has been a busy one...
Sunday, shot Of Mice and Men, great guys!
Monday, photographed Blackhounds, and stayed up waaaaaay too late.
Tuesday, feeling the lack of sleep pretty intensely, faxed releases for the Fall Out Boy release for Mark, ate Pink Berry for the first time. It was good.
Tomorrow, Editing until my eyes fall out.
Thursday, more editing, then going to the Music Saves Lives party with my Sleep District, Love You Long Time, and Abeline entourage.
Friday, Packing for Montana...?
Saturday, shoot with Close but not Quite, then Sleep District's 1st show, then off to Chain for Lorene Drive's show with My American Heart
SUNDAY! Shooting Breathe Carolina for Umbrella Clothing. WOO! Word of mouth worked wonders on this one. I'm crazy stoked.
Monday, truck on out to Montana to escape this speed of light life I feel like I've been living.
I can't WAIT for my Montana vacation!

Mark won a Compassionate Choice award from PETA for using a fake octopus in the shoot last week! HAHA, that's so awesome!

This is a portrait I snapped of Jaxin from Of Mice and Men for his Mum back home in Auckland, NZ. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I want to get an alarm clock that just plays The World at Large by Modest Mouse when it goes off. I do not want a "Clocky". That thing would last about 2 seconds before it went out my window and into my crazy back alley tattoo artist neighbor's yard. So as I was saying. The World at Large. It's a good wake up song. It's one of the songs I listened to repeatedly before I moved out to LA. I like songs like this...

Hey lookey there! God I love Youtube for ridiculous visual aids such as this.

Today's alarm clock was Mark calling with questions about photo credits and what not. I like to think I'm getting better at sounding awake when I'm jolted out of weird dreams about cocker spaniels by my vibrating phone. I'm dreaming about getting a dog now. It's pretty much now an all consuming desire. I turn into the dog loving equivalent of a 38 year old barren woman around a new born anytime I'm within 5 feet of a dog. It's gotten so bad that I even freaked out about Zucco, Lorin from BlackHounds chihuahua. Zucco is a bad ass little guy, and I spent quite a while in the van getting my dog fix and scratching his belly.

Last night I dreamed I found a little cocker spaniel on a ski hill and he was stuck in the trees. So I freed him and we lived happily ever after until my phone started ringing. Sigh.

In Other news....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JUD FROM GOODNIGHT SUNRISE! Little dude is FINALLY 21! He's finally aging into his spectacular facial hair. Miss you buddy, have a great day and be safe!

Good shoot today with the loverly men from Of Mice and Men. My first shoot for The Artery Foundation, and I'm really stoked to start working with them!

Last night I had totally forgotten that my good friends from SLC, BlackHounds, were playing at Slide Bar! I checked the lineup to see what bands were playing before heading down and low and behold, there they were! I almost missed them, crazy. I was friends with most of them back from when they played in a band called The Lauderdale. BlackHounds is their new southern rock band and they KILLED last night. Such talented guys. They were hands down the best act last night. The crowd was being awful because they're from Utah and the Jazz is in the playoffs with the Lakers. Naturally throw in a few dozen beers and you end up having the "O'DOYLE RULLES" guy from Happy Gilmore yelling at your friends that he's going to kick their ass.

Portfolios I am currently lusting after...

Lost Luggage Limited Edition Looking Glass Portfolio
This thing is effing GORGEOUS! It's white patent leather, bound with silver signature fabric. Drooling over it for only $420 for my 11x17" landscape size... Ugh. DO WANT!


This beauty here is Lost Luggage's Looking Glass Portfolio with an encapsulated silver mesh cover. GOD it is so pretty! This one rings in at $250 for my lanscape size.

I currently rock the Machina Aluminum in 11x14 Portrait and a Pina Zangaro Vista 11x17" Landscape in snow. In case you were wondering.

Twitter has taken over my life. It's like a video game or something. Yesterday Mark even Twitter-scolded me and Pete Wentz in the same tweet for over using the phrase "Epic Fail". We were told to come up with new words... I've decided to make those words "Tank" and "Pants". So catch on world you heard it here first. Tank pants.
Tomorrow is my first shoot for The Artery Foundation and I couldn't be more excited. I'm going to be shooting a new Rise Records band called Of Mice an Men. I found a sweet location north on the 5 that I'm going to go re-scout today to make sure we can make it work. The hills out there are ridiculously pretty.
I'm rewarding a busy week with girl time tonight... oh and Matty can come too. Jenni is coming down from Victorville and we're going to have a grand evening! Matty from Bidwell just let me know he's in the OC tonight so why the heck not make it a party and invite Sleep District out? Slide Bar anyone?


In other news...
BEA ARTHUR DIED! NO! Now who am I going to look like when I get old?! Sam broke the news to me through a text message... Break my heart why don't you?

Cale just sent me this link... Blink182 Online Wow. That made my Saturday!

Have a great weekend everyone! Go Tankpants crazy!

Byron from Hide and Seek Clothing sent me this... Bwuahaha!

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

For those out of the loop it's in response to the "Gathering Storm" biggot fest that the National Organization for Marriage posted a couple weeks ago. You can hardly find it now though, because youtube is full of awesome parodies pointing out just how ridiculous the ad is.

I found this pretty amusing too...

MAY MONTANA SCHEDULE! BOOK NOW!

I'm heading out of LA on the 4th of May. If you exist anywhere between LA and Montana, and would like to book a shoot I would love the help with gas money and happy fun time.
Here's the tentative reworked schedule of sorts...
May 4th: Leave Drive to Vegas, linger if a shoot is booked, if not drive to SLC
May 5th: Hang out in SLC (LOTS of shooting time!)
May 6th: Head to Montucky through Wyoming (or is it just a rectangle?)
May 7th: Arrive in a hail of glory and gunfire in lovely Bozeman Montana, I'll be at the Senior photograph exhibition drinking gin and tonic, come hang out!
May 8th: Recovering from inevitable Senior Show hang over. Then going to the Tracy Awards to see the Senior films, then to the swanky after party, come hang out!
May 9th: Tearfully watching the last of my friends graduate from college to embark on their careers as starving artists! They make me so proud!
May 10th: Chilling in Helena with my Nana for Mother's Day since MY mother and father skipped town for Oregon when they heard I was homeward bound!
May 11th: Shooting around Helena, and heading to Missoula to shoot some bands, shoot some sass, and hang with the Hide and Seek crew!
May 12th: Same... want to book a shoot?
May 13th: Take off towards the coast to find my parents and any bands that would like to book a shoot should take advantage.
May 14th: Probably chillaxing in Seattle or Portland with long lost comrades. Finding my parents... shooting your band?
May 15th: Heading back into Cali, shooting some bands... your band?
May 16th: Oh SNAP! I lost track of time, gotta get back to LA for Kevin Devine at the Troubadour tomorrow! Time to shoot your band?
May 17th: Arrive back in LA 3,000 miles later. Going to the Troubadour to see Kevy D, come hang out!

Make yourself a part of this party!

Mark Hoppus has a way cooler blog than I do. But today I feel special because I'm in it.
Behind the scenage...
Thanks to Basset, Jen, Tim, Cale, Erika, Chris, and Mark for making the shoot a success! Cale shot some gorgeous footage with his crazy camera for pretty much the worlds most intense behind the scenes video. So keep your eyes peeled for that popping up somewhere in the future!

People with cooler blogs than me...
Mark Hoppus
Anthony Raneri

So the guy from the Wildlife Refuge we were supposed to be shooting in, who hasn't been calling me back for four days, finally called me back 7 hours before today's shoot. Yes, we can shoot in the refuge. No, we cannot use flash. So after politely pulling the "Oh gee wiz, I'm from Montana" act, which didn't work, I found a new location. I drove all the way there just to make sure it was chill, found an incredible spot (this one even has little waterfalls) ceased the huge brewing freak out I was about to have, and now I'm back home, waiting for Jenni. Bring it on Wednesday... but please don't throw anything else at me, during the shoot, that would just be mean.

Goodnight Caulfield

Octopus...

Blog o Substance #3

Sorry about my fluffy posts this last week. I swear it will all make sense eventually. Today I'm making up for fluff with Tuesday's Blog-O-Substance! YAAAY!

"Duuuuude your photos are insane! How do you come up with ideas like that? Are you on drugs or something?"
Today's Topic...
Creative Brainstorming
No. I'm not on drugs or something. I don't do drugs. Sure I have a beer on occasion and I'm by no means straight edge, but I don't snort and 8 ball and then sit down to edit. I use this little guy. This is my Moleskine notebook. One of about 4 that I have sitting in my car, by my bedside, in the living room and on my desk. I try to always have one within arms reach because if you think you can remember that crazy idea you had for a photo, if you're like me you can't and it will be gone in 10 minutes. Even just jotting down a couple words about an idea will help you remember it. If I don't have one near me, I'll twitter a couple words to remind myself later, or send myself a text message.

So that's how I remember the weird stuff my brain throws at me. Coming up with the weird stuff is a whole different thing. As you know I went to school for photography, but before that I had a stint in graphic design. At Montana State one thing they love in the graphic design department are brainstorm maps. You know, those things where you write down one word in the middle and spiderweb other ideas off of it. Like Cheese leads to chevre, chevre leads to goats, goats leads to herd, and all of a sudden I'm pitching a shoot for a band goat tying a heard of goats at a rodeo... I like that, I'll have to write it down. Sitting down to hash out ideas in this way trains you to think bigger. So never hesitate to come up with the strangest ideas you can. Then you always have a long list of ideas to pitch when a band hates the standard "flying V" band photo.

I'm also very blessed to have a network of friends in the film industry, who are all brilliant and hilarious. Sitting around on a Saturday night with a few beers leads to many many ridiculous ideas for all of our projects. Some are tangible, some we put on our "When I'm so famous I can demand ANYTHING" list for the future. Such as how one day I want to photograph a band in front of a Rube Goldberg machine that blows confetti at them. Think of the most obscure ridiculous ideas that you can, then scale them back to reality. My absolute favorite thing about shooting bands is that you don't have to have an answer to "why?" Fine art always needs a reason, but you can have a band jumping out of a skyscraper for the hell of it and no one will question it, just make the image look good.
Sorry this entry is a bit small, but I'm off to a Hollywood prop company to pick up a fake octopus. Dream big!

I haven't even thought about what to write tomorrow's blog about. Time to go through the old myspace e-mails and find weird questions to answer. This whole week has been a blur, and I've been up since my 5am trip to the fish market where I was scared off by a herd of prostitutes.
It hit around 101 today, no we don't have air conditioning. Montana, I miss you right now.

This is our costar for Wednesday's shoot. He was made for My Name is Earl back some time in 2008. I'm going to have to try to figure out which episode that was.

Man if there's anything I've realized this week it's that I really need to stop underestimating myself. I need to just go for ideas and stop trying to think of reasons why they won't work. New goal, be more self confident in my work. If I'm not, why should anyone else be. I think that's a good goal.
In other news it's REALLY FUCKING HOT OUTSIDE! I wasn't prepared for hundred degree temperatures quite yet. My Mac says it only got up to 95 today but I know it's lying. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 95 again and then 98. Luckily it's going to be in the 70's for Wednesday's shoot. But of course it's going to be boiling as I run around LA searching for raw seafood. Lovely. Pray that I don't get stuck in traffic!

This week has been a big old blur. A good blur, but blurry. Doing a pretty cool portrait this week that involves raw octopus. Tomorrow's task is finding a few of them. Not sure exactly where to look, but I'm going to try Chinatown and hope that someone speaks English at the fish market.
I fell asleep tonight on the couch watching American Dad on Hulu. Cold passed out for like two hours. Now I'm all ready for bed, and hoping I'll be able to fall back asleep. I want to start tomorrow bright and early in hopes of resetting my sleep schedule. It's so messed up right now.

Another Sleep District treat for the ears.
Sleep District- There I Said It

Today was another weird day. Lots of ups and downs, but all good and exciting stuff to look forward to I hope! I finished off the day by going to the Knitting Factory to see Astronautalis. He's freaking insanely talented, and if you haven't seen his live show I suggest it strongly. On the way to the venue traffic was diverted all the way to Sunset and back and all around. Once inside the venue Andy (Astronautalis) informed everyone that it was because they were filming a fake movie premiere for Entourage. Welcome to LA.

In other news, The Summer Set have decided to use my Hide and Seek promos for a new myspace. This is going to be the header...

It was a good day :)

Yesterday was such a strange day. I woke up with that nasty headache which was remedied by taking a bunch of Excedrin. Then I looked at my calendar and freaked out. I've been so busy that I crapped out on following through on a bunch of shoots, and it's looking so dim right now. I spent a majority of the morning sending out e-mails only to get replies like, "Oh we got some dude's sister to do them for free". Frustrating. So I decided to one up it all and e-mailed management groups, magazines, and editors. Actually got replies such as the amazingly vague "Your work is great- let's work together, keep in touch" ... I have no clue if I'm supposed to just bug them once a week or so, or if I'm supposed to just sit tight and wait. I think I'm just going to bug them.
My friend Brittany let me know last night that one of her 103 students chose ME as the photographer for his emulation project! He wrote a paper on me, and tried to copy my style for their assignment. That is so flippin cool! I'm ridiculously flattered, Britt's going to scan me one of his images, and send me his essay. I'm excited. I feel way cooler than I actually am right now.
I tried to go to sleep early, then realized none of my friends do that, as they kept texting me. So tonight I turn off the phone before trying to get my sleep schedule back on track!

Here's Justin's Faith in Fame print! It only exists in the blogosphere, and the two prints that were printed. It's been deleted! Woo hoo! This one is titled "Things That Like Air"

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

My friends in Sleep District make pretty songs...
Sleep District- Dallas
Hit that HD button on the bottom. I shot this with my 5DMkII. Watch the end... Jon's face is priceless!

I just canceled my photoserve account. I feel kind of bad about it, but the money could definitely be spent in better ways... like the power bill. Today is going to be a long day of editing and trying to send out as many e-mails to bands as possible. Have to schedule a reshoot with a band from Bakersfield who want a different feel in their images that what we did the first time around.
Another thing I'm going to try is cutting back on my caffeine intake. I woke up this morning with a raging headache. I think it had to be because I hadn't had coffee for a day. Caffeine withdrawal sucks! I'm out of ground coffee for the french press, so I'm going to treat myself to an americano up the street.
Yesterday on Flickr I had almost 1,200 hits on my site. That's more than I've ever had in the history of the thing. The day before I had about 500 in comparison. I blame this on the Versa Emerge photos I just posted for Hide and Seek. Those kids are blowing up! Couldn't be happening to a nicer bunch of kids either. I'm happy for them!
My hair is getting long. I need a haircut, but the economy has apparently boosted business for my hairstylist Casey, down at Rudy's barbershop, and he doesn't have time to fit me in anywhere. My roots are getting out of control, and my split ends are even worse. I feel guilty every time I even plug in my flat iron. It's like one of those hair commercials where the model's hair hisses at them or grabs the brush and throws it. I need coffee....

I want to be friends with these guys...

A. Because I am a giant.
B. Because they take good photos.
C. Because dammit, I want a studio!

Today's event in "Megan's life in LA is not normal" involved me putting eyeliner, eyeshadow, and lipstick on Mark Hoppus... Yes, that Mark Hoppus. Sometimes I think about getting a "normal" job, but then I remember that there is 11% unemployment in LA and I couldn't get a normal job even if I wanted one. Then I get a call from Jered, and I end up putting eyeliner on the iconic bassist of Blink 182. Another day in the office, whatevs...

Blog o Substance #2

"Horse" Selective Development Silver Gelatin Print
Megan Thompson 2006

Today’s informative rambling is going to pertain to a question I often find in my inbox…
“How did u learn to do all that stuff u do in photoshop? Can u send me a link to where u learned it?”
I can usually tell from their slaughtering of pronouns that they are not currently enrolled in a four-year program the local college. Here is my usual reply…
“I went to college, here’s the link to where I learned photography… www.montana.edu”
Snarky yes, but hey, that’s me. There are always people asking where they can find a short cut, a tutorial, or a how to. Very few people I encounter actually want to take the time to study the art and science behind making a photograph. Ask them what SLR stands for and they will stare at you and blink twice before mumbling, “Lens something… I dunno”. Here’s where the digital age gets tricky. Do we spend time educating students about silver halide crystals when there’s a huge chance they’ll turn out like me and exit the darkroom never to return? In my opinion yes. I’m a snob though, so if you ask me flat out, I will say, “Yes, I consider myself a better photographer because I learned alternative processes!” So HA!
This brings me to the real point of today’s blog.
“Should I go to school for photography?”

My professors would be the first to say that, no; you don’t need to go to school to be a great photographer. I back this up whole-heartedly; I know a lot of great photographers who don’t have $22,000 in student loans like I do. But most of the people I know who don’t want to “waste their time in school” aren’t that good. Chances are if you’re reading this and found me on myspace and you think that I am the greatest damn photographer in the world, then you my friend should go to school.

I know that for me personally going to school for photography was probably the best decision I ever made in my life. Up until I switched to the photo department I, A) Wanted to be a band videographer, and part time horse trainer, B) thought I was awesome already and most importantly C) Thought that taking good photographs was EASY. It is not easy. If you think it is easy, you probably need to go to college.

I decided to double major in graphic design and photography after seeing Annie Leibovitz’s portrait of The White Stripes. I looked at that photo and thought to myself “WOW. I want to do this for a living… what she does… this right here.” I decided to major solely in photography after the graphic design department made the executive decision that I sucked, and booted me out of the program. Failing so splendidly made me work about twice as hard as most of the people in my intro photo class because I was so afraid of not getting through that gate too. Fear is a powerful motivator, that’s why I edit with a bear in the room.

Like I said when I went into the program I thought I was pretty awesome. The reason most people should go to school is to be ridiculed and criticized and to learn how to let it roll of your back. I would have never gotten any better had it not been for my professors telling me when something was terrible. They also saw through any bullshit in about .5 seconds so they kept me always making better work. Working on assignments also makes you look at your work from all different angles. How do you see the 7 deadly sins versus your classmate? Working in such close quarters creates a competitive edge that will prepare you for competing for jobs in the real world, and keep your brain always producing. That’s how I come up with these ridiculous ideas for bands, my brain is always producing them, and I just need to remember to write them down.

This gets me to the last point I was going to make about photography being easy. If you think that taking photos is an easy gig, then you haven’t taken enough photos. Look at your favorite photo, then go out and try to recreate it. I’ve been trying for about three years to get an Annie feel in my lighting and I can’t do it. I can’t do it because I’m not Annie Leibovitz, and I haven’t been taking photos since the conception of Rolling Stone Magazine. But I’m finally able to take what I like about her photos and put my spin on it. Taking a photograph is easy, you just push a button, but making a good photograph is very hard. Look at how many images a photographer takes to get just one image that’s good enough to publish. You should never feel like you're good enough, because then you won’t strive to get better. That’s why I went to school. I’m the type of person who can’t learn anything technical unless it’s forced into my brain for 20 hours a week. I don’t think I’m anywhere near as good at photography as I want to be. I want to keep learning, and I think all good photographers should feel that way. I never stop reading, and looking at new work and you shouldn’t either. I feel like my generation is spoiled, and kids want to be handed a fun, cool career like “rock photographer” without working for it.

So should you go to college? If you’re like me, then yes, you really should. Go for nothing more than the opportunity to learn so much more than just photography. Go to learn how to teach yourself about photographers, learn about new and exciting processes, and learn about fine art. Maybe you don’t actually want to photograph bands. Maybe you want to document cornfields and the people who maintain them, but you don’t know it yet. Most importantly, COLLEGE IS FUN! Go to college and live it up while you’re still young enough to not be the creepy nontraditional student.

Make sure to always check your settings kids! I have been battling the fact that I accidentally shot all of Versa Emerge's photos in Jpeg. Go me. UGH!

As a new rule I'm trying to make my blog more insightful so that maybe somewhere someone will actually want to read it. (Hi mom!) So less, "OMG whooooooaaaa" moments, more sounding like I'm not an illiterate fucktard.
In a separate effort to no longer be poor I started looking at my bank statements to see what sort of automatic charges I had on there. Found my lovely PhotoServe account. This bank drain has been with me since before I left Bozeman and I had high hopes that being a part of this "elite" community of photographers might put me in touch with the rich and famous, or at least get me a job. Wrong. I've been spending about $800 a year, I've been featured on the site several times, and in e-mails to creative executives, and not one single job has come of it. I am enjoying my free subscription to PDN though. I was thinking about this "email to creatives" that they send out so frequently. Who is to say that that e-mail isn't the same as spam is to us? I wonder who these "creatives" are...
Anyway today I e-mailed my... broker?... liaison?... Jeanne, the person who is in charge of my account, asking when my next payment is due. Maybe if she feels like I'm going to leave they'll get me a job. Probably not, but hey, I'm going to save about $200 every three months. Go me! I win. Stick it to the man and all that.
Tomorrow I'm going to write another "how to not be a crappy photographer" blog so stay tuned. Maybe I'll even learn something from myself and then those "creatives" will come a runnin'!

I'm celebrating Easter, or as I like to think of it, International Zombie Awareness Day with a room purging. I'd say I was cleaning my room, but it was so beyond trashed that the only way to start cleaning was to throw half of it's contents away. I cleaned my closet and actually started to sort through three boxes of clothes that I never unpacked after moving to LA. This means that there are two huge bags of clothes outside of my room to take to the donation bin at the liquor store up the street. I hung up a couple of paintings, and cleaned off my desk. I can see my desk! Woo hoo! Ikea is open today... maybe I'll go and get organizational goodies...

I'm also being proactive and spraying my baseboards with Raid in case it gets hot soon and the ants come running back into our house. I hate ants, and they came with a vengeance last fall when it was really hot outside. If I see so much as one little marching line I'm calling the landlord and complaining for real this time.

I'm a huge huge fan of how much behind the scenes action you can find on Vanity Fair's website. They have so many great videos from their cover shoots, and articles. It's all hilarious too. I like this one with all the comedians emulating their favorite icons. Seth Rogen as Frida Kahlo is pretty freaking awesome!

Ok. Tonight was the best and worst stream of luck a photographer has ever had. A while back OkGo scheduled a show in Anaheim that I wasn't able to go to because I was too poor, or out of town or something. Damian got sick and the show was postponed (hooray!) but it was moved to May when I was going to be out of town again (booo!). Until I got an e-mail at the beginning of the week from Jorge informing all of OkGo's fan kingdom that they rescheduled show was now moved to Friday the 10th (hooray!). However I was still way too poor to afford a $25 ticket (boo!). Until I got a care package from my wonderful mother and decided to spend a little Easter cash and treat myself to a concert for once (hooray!).
Fast forward to me trying to figure out how to secure a ticket for tonight's show. I couldn't get one online, I couldn't get one on the phone, I couldn't even get a human on the phone to tell me if there were actually any tickets still available. I found two tickets on craigslist but they were gone by the time I e-mailed the guy. I posted a bulletin on the wonderful myspace and my great friend Nik who works for Capitol Records (OkGo's label... ) texted me to "see if he could find me a ticket"(HOORAY!). I got a text letting me know I was on OkGo's list! (Double HOOOOOORAY!) Then I started into the "Oh I hate going by myself" mindset and decided to find a friend and Mark agreed to go. I told him I'd pay for half his ticket since mine was free. Here's where karma comes in somehow... We went to the ticket window to get my ticket and they didn't have the list yet. We asked to buy a ticket for Mark, and a gentleman behind us offered us his for FREE! We even tried to pay him but he didn't want it. So nice of him! Then we went to get dinner... I should have gone back to check if the list was there... we had a nice pizza dinner and around 8:30 went back to get my ticket. The nice window girl went off with my ID and came back with a contract for me to sign for my PHOTO PASS! She slipped an after show pass and a photo pass to me... I was completely unaware that Nik had e-mailed OkGo's manager saying his "Photographer friend wanted to go" OkGo has the most amazingly awesome manager in the world apparently, and hooked me up. So back to me being completely unaware and completely without my 5D... NOOOOOOO!!!!! If I had checked back before dinner I would have had enough time to speed back home and get my camera in time for OkGo's set. FAIL!
All that aside, it was my first time seeing OkGo in 4 years and my golly they still pack a punch! It's going to take so much for any band to top them as my absolute favorite live show. Tonight was lucky #7 for times I've seen them and... I mean... I GOT TO SEE THIS LIVE TONIGHT!

There were also about a million confetti canons and they threw OkGo tambourines into the audience. If you have never experienced OkGo, you really need to before you die. It will make your life exponentially happier.

OH MY HELL GET OVER IT YOU NARROW MINDED HORRID PEOPLE!!!!

Yes, the gays be commin' with pitchforks and fire to terrorize and kill your heterosexual ways! You a gonna catch the homogay! God people are ignorant.
I was literally waiting for Andy Samburg to pop out and for this to turn into an SNL Short. I'm getting so unbelievably sick of the argument that gay marriage takes away people's "freedom". Ugh the worst part is the woman horrified by her son being taught that gay marriage is ok. Yes, I hope too that when my future children are enrolled in school that they are taught that being gay is bad, and to taunt and tease anyone who's different. Then and only then will my "freedom" be protected. Come on the 10 Commandments have condemned me for being a PHOTOGRAPHER, and they don't say anything anywhere about "Though shalt not join in marriage with someone of the same sex". No coveting donkeys, but nothing about same sex marriage. I mean seriously, IOWA is more open and accepting than California at this point. I honestly can't think of many other issues that get me this hot headed and worked up. Let's kill two birds with one stone, and legalize marijuana for only these narrow minded people. Then maybe they'll chill the eff out.

Thank god Portia De Rossi knows when to say sorry...

I'm about to head downtown to a tattoo parlor I've never heard of...







To photograph a band for a spread in AMP Magazine! Wooo hooo!

I wasted a good part of today making this... and all the titles are too small.

Last night was so fun! I'm pretty sure very few bands are as giddy on stage as Dr. Manhattan. Seriously one of my all time favorites! I was pretty bummed about the lack of lighting, but for some reason the video that I shot looked incredible. I love my camera. I feel like I need to say that on a daily basis. After the show I spent a good portion of the night on an epic mission with Matt from Dr. Manhattan trying to find an open Taco Bell. Five T-Bells later we found an open Del Taco and victory was ours!

I finished Justin's "Faith in Fame" print... I love it. I'm totally going to hang the artist proof copy in my room. So Mr. Carroll be on the lookout for something fun in your mailbox soon!

ahem... roar.

Blog o Substance #1

Recently I've been getting bombarded through my myspace e-mail with people asking for "tips or tricks" on photographing bands, or clothing companies. So I've decided to try to address these through this blog once a week so that I can then point the inquiries to my blog, and not have to respond to each e-mail. While I'm not going to give away all of my tricks, I'll definitely be giving away some valuable advice on how not to make the same mistakes I made. So... without further procrastination...


Goodnight Sunrise in the Desert.

Working with bands: Do's and do Not's
One of the e-mails I most frequently receive goes something like this...
"I want to photograph bands like you do. How did you get to photograph bands like Goodnight Sunrise, We the Kings, and All Time Low?"
These e-mails usually come to me from 15 year old girls. To which I mentally respond... "Do you want to photograph bands like these, or do you want to date the boys in these bands?"

I think that female rock photographers have the hardest time being taken seriously because of the over abundance of teenage girls calling themselves "photographers" in a ploy to hook up with the cute lead singer. This phenomenon also leads to bands thinking of female photographers as glorified groupies, and me getting slapped on the ass. So 15 year old girls, KNOCK IT OFF!

But back to the question at hand. Suppose you're like me and you're in it because you love music, and aren't necessarily in it for the fun of having a boyfriend on the road six months out of the year. I started photographing bands that I was friends with. Photographing your friends bands is easy because if you screw up, they'll usually be cool and understand. You can spend a lot of time getting it perfect. I've been photographing Goodnight Sunrise since 2006. I've built a relationship with that band and they're like family. They never hesitate when I have a crazy idea or a new technique I want to try out. That being said they're usually on the cutting edge as my style develops.

If you're like me as I said, and are photographing bands because you love music, you shouldn't have a problem meeting tons of local bands. If you don't have any friends in bands, start going to shows and talking to people. When I was working on The Forgotten State I spent 2 years embedding myself into the scenes in different cities. If I wasn't at a show 3 hours away in Missoula, I would get a call from someone asking where I was. I can't stress enough how important it is that you have to LOVE it. Love is an understatement. You have to eat, breathe, sleep, dream, and sweat music. If I find myself in a slow spot where I'm not booking much, I make a point to go to all the shows I can of bands I've photographed. I'll dust off my live shooting skills, and get introduced to the other bands playing. Maintaining relationships with the bands you work with is important because if you're nice, they will want to work with you again. If you act like a big shot during the shoot, and spend more time dropping names than taking photographs, the band will most likely tell their friends that you were a pain to work with.

Most importantly make sure you listen to what the band wants. If you have a fantastic idea that you're excited to do that involves fireworks and a slip and slide, but the black metal band isn't feeling it, you need to respect that. That also goes the other way, if the band wants to be photographed in their tighty whiteies and you don't feel comfortable with it simply tell them All Time Low already did it, and you don't want to copy someone else. Stick to your guns. I have a lot of little personal rules that I try to follow at all times. I very very rarely will photograph a band where anyone is smoking, because I don't want to portray it as cool to their young fan base. It's an extreme pet peeve of mine when a band of 18 year old boys wants to be portrayed in that way to their 14 year old fans. Moral rules are tricky because if the band is dead set to be chain smoking in a hotel full of call girls and drinking, they'll find a way. I've been flat out ignored, and a band has started smoking anyway because they really wanted to look like "players"... with cancer in their future.

Last but not least RESEARCH! Read every music magazine you can get your paws on! Keeping up to date on what's trendy in photographic styles is essential. If you don't know what a band means when they come up to you and say they want their photos to look "Spin Magazine" then you're screwed. Spin and Alternative Press have totally different photo styles. Chances are if a band is coming to you wanting AP photos you have that style already. Bands are pretty good at researching photographers before they plunk down their hard earned merch dollars. Don't stop at reading magazines either. I have a coffee table full of around 20 photo books by everyone from Franchesca Woodman to Annie Leibovitz. Don't settle for trying to emulate the photographers in Alternative Press, strive to be like the best of the best. Go sit in Barnes and Nobel for a day and look through high end fashion, music, and culture magazines. I even read wedding magazines looking for new lighting styles to try out. If you don't read PDN, start now. Photo District News has some great lighting set ups in the back of the magazine, and lots of interviews with world class retouchers. I've gleaned a ton of information from that magazine.

To sum up...
Be professional, especially if you're a girl.
Love music, or find a different niche.
Listen to what the band wants, and make sure they respect your style and moral code.
READ! Get off the internet and go to the library or a book store!

P.S. Stop calling photographs "shots"! God it's annoying.

I just wanted to pop in to say that very few things make me quite as happy as Manchester Orchestra. One of those things is Kevin Devine. I get to see them both at the Troubadour in May. In the same week. I win.

DONE! This is what 25 hours looks like you wussies!

HOME STRETCH! I can actually see the light at the end of this editing tunnel. For Settings anyway... sigh

Yesterday I went to Springfest out at USC. Not gonna lie, it was pretty cool getting to see Brand New, The Submarines, Portugal the Man, The Summer Set, Iglu and Hartly, and Run Doris Run... but I can barely handle a 6 band lineup, much less 9 hours and 16 bands. I got super ADD, and it there wasn't enough going on to keep me occupied. Mostly hung out with Jared and the Run Doris boys, and The Summer Set between sneaking around trying to figure out how to get my hands on a press pass for Brand New. Our theory of "security getting used to you" didn't work and half way through Portugal's set I got booted out of the barricade. According to the little lady who was in charge there weren't any photo passes. Yet in Run Doris' green room she handed one to her friend who I saw later taking pictures with a dinky power shot. Eff my life. I wanted to scream. Anyway, I'll post some of the photos I got of The Submarines in a while. The sun was setting right behind them and it didn't hurt that she has great blond hair and they cover everything in daisies! So pretty! Probably some of my favorite live photos ever.
Back to editing!
Currently listening to Ace Enders and a Million Different People- When I Hit the Ground

I went to the Verizon store in Glendale today to try my luck at getting a new EnV for free again. When my original EnV started acting crazy and turning itself off I took it in and they smiled and handed me a brand new phone. Not so lucky this time. Jose informed me that my phone wasn't under warranty any longer and I'm not up for an upgrade until September. I asked if I could just buy a new phone or something and he actually told me no, "not until September". But he told me I could replace it for $50. I started to say no thanks, then asked to just buy a new charger. Oh hold on there, I could get a new phone, and a charger and a dreaded douche tag bluetooth for $50. Sold. So now I'm home charging up my new, yet identical to the last two, green EnV. We'll see what happens with me and the Bluetooth. I think that California might have just made that cell phone rule to make everyone buy a blue tooth and therefore look like a douche. California douche law. Next we'll all be required to drive those stupid little mini hummers.

My other interesting observation in the store was once again that I was the solo white girl, and NO one was speaking english. I heard Spanish, Japanese, and something that just sounded like angry jibberish, but the man at the counter was fluent in it. Welcome to LA!

So this isn't quite finished, but I couldn't help but edit it a little. This is The Summer Set from Arizona. We photographed down the street from my house with two gallons of sherbet and it was messy and really fun. The shoot was for Hide & Seek Clothing. The Summer Set recently joined the sponsor roster with Goodnight Sunrise, Versa Emerge, and myself. Welcome to the family!

Slade from Anarbor
I'm slowly getting through the editing fog. Today was a very long day and I'm really looking forward to going to sleep. I'm actually getting a grownup tax return this year. Shame that it will probably be the last one I'll ever get now that I'm self employed. Oh well, not complaining, I can pay rent and all feels right in the world for another month. Tomorrow I'm photographing The Summer Set for Hide and Seek and all I can say is that I'm excited... and it's going to involve brightly colored sherbet. Yum!
My roommates had a gumbo feast and the whole house smells like home. It's making me homesick actually, and I can't even eat the gumbo because it's full of chicken sausage. Sad panda. I'm going to bed.