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.

I think my concept of what's "normal" has been severely warped since moving here. Right now it's normal that I can hear terrible Dremel noises coming from my porch, where my roommate is finishing his pinewood derby car. Today it's normal that my friend Brittany is coming over so we can photograph her new bassist, and so that they can film it for her reality show. It's also normal that I only got five hours of sleep. I really wish I knew why the secret to staying this busy, but could add getting paid to the mix. If anyone knows this secret please let me know.

Tomorrow Jered and I have another fun little shoot for a magazine, and then I get to go out to see London for a while and catch up. Then Thursday is my shoot with The Summer Set for Hide and Seek. Excited! Friday is an edit day, and Saturday I'll either be photographing Brand New, Portugal the Man, Pinback, and Run Doris at USC, or I will be filming for AP at Bamboozle. Either way Saturday is going to make my face melt off with amazingness.

I need to drink coffee and make myself look pretty for the cameras. Ugh.

Today was a surprisingly good day on no sleep! Last night was Bidwell's show at the Roxy which was a LOT of fun to photograph! I love creeping around on that stage, the lights are so dope. I shot two videos for the band. One of Sugar and one of the new song they close with. I can't remember the title. After the show we came back to my house and celebrated with a couple of the Love You Long Timers, and Zach from Culprit who we ran into outside the show. It was a very good time with good friends. I was so wide awake I didn't get to sleep until around 4 and had to be up and at em for a shoot with my friend Jered Scott. We got lost a lot, but made it to the shoot which was super quick, very fun, and painless. I returned home before everyone from Bidwell was even out of bed. We all went to breakfast and then they walked out of my life again :(.

Now my life is back to "normal". I'm editing a mountain of backwork, with my myspace inbox filling up with bands and people asking "When are my photos going to be done?!" UGH! I'm sorry, I'm so behind on my own work and I have little projects popping up with Jered and other friends every five minutes it seems. But it's all fun. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing. Brittany is back finally, so if I can get work done it would be fun to hang out tonight. I need a nap... seriously.

Hey! I'm in AP this month!

Today I'm playing catch up! The goal is to finish up Settings composite, do all my laundry, and try to tidy up a bit. Bidwell's coming back tonight because I am the hostess with the mostest. Also I have the best cereal.

I haven't yet decided which show to go to tonight. I want to see Bayside SO SO SO bad. I just can't afford it, and they aren't headlining soooo.... marf. They are the only band on the set list I care about and trying to justify $20+ bucks for thirty minutes of pure joy and emotional wonderment... it's that or food. Fear Before is playing somewhere in LA tonight too, so I feel like I should go see my friends and support them, maybe get to take some pictures. They're playing in Anaheim tomorrow at Chain, and Chain is my favorite venue to photograph in, but Bidwell is playing the Roxy. I HAVE TOO MANY FRIENDS IN BANDS! Scratch that, I don't have any friends not in bands. It sucks. You'd think for all of them I would have had at least one song written about me by now. Well Goodnight Sunrise did write me the epic Megan Picturetaker Ponykeeper rap... boys you really need to record that please.

My roommate Matt has entered himself into the monthly Bigfoot Lodge Pinewood Derby Race. He's been on the deck all morning sanding his tiny vehicle. I think he's found a new hobby. The race is Tuesday so if you're in LA come down to the Bigfoot and cheer him on. I'll be there and I'm thinking about making a little pennant to wave while I hoot at him and make sure everyone there knows that I'm his six foot overenthusiastic roommate. I'm good at making friends.

I guess I should post a photo or something... Oh hey there Versa Emerge! This isn't edited, but it makes me laugh every time I see it.

I love HowCast...
How to Choose a Tattoo That's Right for You

Here is my new baby! I'm so happy with Goodnight Sunrise's new promo I think I'm going to print it out and hang it on my wall for real! I photographed the boys in the desert and then photoshopped them into one of my photos from The Natural History Museum trip with Dave and Rian. I wasn't so sure how it was going to work out, but in the end I'm pretty confident it's the happiest I have been with my work in a long time! You really need to click on it and then view it large at Flickr.


Aaaaand I reshot Sleep District last Sunday night and it was cold. I wasn't in a good mood, and I was sick for the shoot, but despite the hardships I'm really happy with the result. I had fun not editing a composite for once!

I somehow managed to make it to the Knitting Factory and photograph Versa Emerge for Hide & Seek today despite all of fate conspiring to muck it up...

I left my house at 2:30 to get to the Factory by 3. I had hoped to be about 10 minutes early to give myself time to set up and unload. I first pulled into and parked in the wrong garage. It took me hauling my pelican case and camera bag into the building and asking the juice bar girl where the knitting factory was to find out that I was on the wrong block! So I put everything back into my car, paid for the 2 minutes of parking I had participated in, and sped off. On the way out I double checked with the parking attendant which way to turn to get to the venue. "Left" to get to the KNITTING FACTORY? "LEFT" ... I was supposed to turn Right onto Hollywood. Fail. So I managed to scoot through tourists up the wazoo and newly found construction and 10 minutes later was parked in the correct garage. I unloaded as much as I could carry, now it's 3:10, and made my way to the entrance. I found someone who looked like they were supposed to be there and told him I was there to photograph Versa Emerge. "Nobody told me anything" Just then Mike, VE's tour manager texted me telling me to meet him at the load in. Hey friendly guy who knows nothing, can I walk through the venue? "You can walk out to Hollywood and up the street to the load in" Gee wiz thanks! So I hiked a full lap around the venue half running. Dumped all my gear at the load in and then sprinted back down the ramp (yes the ramp to the garage is directly next to the load in) and grabbed the remainder of my gear, sprinted back up to the load in and into the venue. By this point I am a disgusting ball of sweat and frizzy hair. I started setting up my lights and put my hand down into my softbox to pop it open and one of the rods snapped loose and cut my hand. This incident also left the softbox unuseable. Thank god for that new umbrella I just bought! Somehow I managed to get my gear set up. By this point sweat was literally pouring off my face, and I feel like a sweaty penny. Then I waited... I Twittered some expletives about my day and before I knew it the band was ready! From then on everything went as planned, THANK GOD! Well except I forgot to change my camera from JPEG to Raw. FRICK! Thank goodness I have the camera I do, because the files are perfect anyway. Hooray! After the shoot I found out they couldn't get me on the list, but Mike told me to basically just hang out and act like I was supposed to be there. That is the hardest thing in the world for me because as many of you know, I am the most AWKWARD human being possible when I'm stressed out or am instructed to "act normal". I spent the soundcheck sneaking around backstage and avoiding eye contact with anyone. Every time someone of importance walked by I immediately pretended to be on the phone so they couldn't ask to see my pass. Yep. I'm awesome. Bidwell came to the rescue and got me on the list somehow and I was able to stop being a freak for the remainder of the afternoon until show time.

So that's my story of today. I'm going to go eat a bowl of cereal and go to bed. GOODNIGHT!

In case I haven't been up front about it. I run a band hotel. The night after Goodnight Sunrise left, Versa Emerge crashed here, and then Tuesday night Josiah, Bryan, and Matty from Bidwell took up residence. My house is finally musician free for a little while anyway. Last night we went to see Versa Emerge play at Chain Reaction. The boys were promoting for their Sunday show at The Roxy, and I was there to take pictures, and be overwhelmed by the crowd.
It's really been a long long time since I've been to a show where kids were moved. I'm so used to the folded arms and scowls in the front row like the audience is judging the musical acts on stage. Kids were dancing to Versa and the Gay Blades and when Ace Enders took the stage I got so nostalgic I almost couldn't handle it. Ace was on stage with just an acoustic guitar and his backing band was the audience. I've never heard kids sing along like that. There were times you couldn't even hear him. He said during his set that it was one of the most moving shows he'd ever played. I'd vouch for that statement. By the time he closed out with Ever so Sweet I was singing along too. It was freaking incredible. I guess I've been to so many shows lately that I've become desensitized to the experience. I photograph rock and pop bands, so seeing some really intense sing alongs felt completely new again. After catching a breather outside Craig Owens took the stage. I didn't know what to expect and from watching the set it seemed like the musicians on stage didn't either. He played everything from Chiodos songs acoustic, to Counting Crows covers. Again the crowd response was intensely moving. I could barely get any photos because of the arms and cell phones in the air capturing favorite songs to send to the owners friends back home. I hardly noticed that I was standing alone in the crowd and had lost the boys. By the time he got to You Told me You Loved Me I was texting friends from home. Chiodos is one of those bands that always makes me nostalgic for Montana. One of those bands that I discovered when I was stressed out with school, and would listen to on repeat in the dark rooms at midnight when I was trying to finish my experimental final. I miss listening to new bands like that. It's starting to seem so rare that I find bands that I connect with on the Bayside, Manchester Orchestra level. The show last night was just... so good. I can't really say much more than that. I can't wait for tonight at the Knitting Factory. Should be easier to take pictures, but even if I don't get to, it would be great to just see these bands again.

I recently photographed a band called Settings as you might recall... Well the amazingly awesome dudes that they are, they put me in their studio update. So for those of you interested in booking a shoot... this is what it's like working with me when I've had 3 hours of sleep! Enjoy!

New analogy... "I'm as busy as Craig Owens..." Honestly how many bands is this dude in these days? This is from March 21st and he's on tour now with Versa. Soooo from what I've heard from my Fear Before friends he now has Chiodos, Cinematic Sunrise, Isles & Glaciers, a SOLO- solo project, and something else I can't remember. How the hell does he write for all of those? This dude is a robot. A tattooed, dreamy robot...

Isles & Glaciers first performance (Altpress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.

... oh I was originally posting this because my friend Jered Scott is the photographer all up in that huddle in the beginning. I hate my life for not going to SxSW...

IT'S DONE!!!!

www.meganthompsonphotography.com
CHECK IT OUT!

I still haven't taken a nap...
My friend Matt's getting married on July 31st and wants to fly me out to Minnesota to shoot his wedding. So now I'm Kayak.com-ing flight info. Looks like I can go round trip to and from Minneapolis for about $220. Woot! Of course then you have to add baggage bull crap to it. LAME!
So I'm looking at flying into Helena on the 22nd for Claire's wedding on the 25th, then flying out from Helena on the 28th for Matt's wedding on the 31st and flying back to LA on the 2nd... wheew! I can do all of that for $616.

The Lauras did this! So good! Plus you can see me creeping around taking pictures looking like a weirdo. Bonus.

Last night Aria and Stumpe hosted a wine party for the Montana kids and it was a grand time! I'm always in awe of how many Montucky kids are out here and being successful. I wish there were more photo alum out here (wink wink). I love and hate two buck chuck. I have learned to avoid the red unless I want to hate my life after one glass. Last night I was drinking from the assortment of white wines that Trader Joe's had to offer. I had three glasses, and ate a fair amount of the available snackage. We headed home around two and I began the task of half napping while waiting for Versa Emerge to get here from their 24 hour drive from Austin. 2:30am turned into 4:00am which turned into an actual arrival at 6:00am. When they got here I started to get a headache, so I ate two vitamin C tablets and drank three glasses of water. Still, I have a wee hang over. I think I'm just not supposed to enjoy cheap wine. BLAST!
Anyway, finally went to sleep some time around 7, woke up at 10:30 to wish Versa Emerge a happy recording day. How they had so much energy I will never know! Drank some more water, and some coffee, ate a fried egg sammy and now I'm typing this. Why am I awake... no clue. I think I'm going to remedy that with a nap now. Then I get to wake up, drive out to Pomona hopefully to catch Bidwell's set, and then speed out to Fullerton to reshoot Sleep District's promos with the new band members. Wheee! Nap now.

Another day, another band crashing on the floor. Welcome to LA Versa Emerge.

I can't stop sneezing. Here are some photos from the Roxy last Sunday...


Bidwell- Matty and Josiah

Bidwell- Nate

Bidwell- Bryan

Goodnight Sunrise before the curtain

Goodnight Sunrise- Mike

Goodnight Sunrise- Jud

Love You Long Time

Goodnight Sunrise on stage with Love You Long Time

Making Settings disappear... Doot dee doot...

I miss my friends.

Finishing up Brittany's photos for Radash

Done with Archaean's promos!

DESERT!
Back to the grindstone. Chugging tea and popping vitamins like candy to avoid catching whatever Dan from Goodnight Sunrise was dying of. The next three days are going to be nothing but editing. Tomorrow they announce the Pit Reporter, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Hide & Seek's new linky thing is neat...
Anyhoo, it's over and I'm sad. Goodnight Sunrise left this morning for Fullerton and beyond. Sunday was an incredible time at The Roxy, Monday was a fun night of social time off and then Tuesday and Wednesday were the greatest longest days ever! Tuesday was the Palm Springs show at Ignition. We left three hours earlier than we thought we needed so that we'd have time to shoot some promos at the Windmills, and grab some lunch at John and Judeah's house. Wrong. I got stuck in a two lane bottleneck for two hours and just barely got to the show with enough time to throw up merch and catch Bidwell. Matty cruised with us and jumped out of the van on the first drive past the venue just to get to the stage in time. Drummers are important you know. The show was a blast, and then we smoked a little hookah action on the patio. It was watermellon, and GOD it was good! We loaded up and took on about four extras back to John and Judeah's house for some of the most amazing grub I've had in a long time. The Sleep District boys challenged Goodnight Sunrise to an epic game of beer pong with a myspace video bulletin as the wager. Goodnight Sunrise whooped my Sleepy D's, sorry guys, but it was a good game. The resulting video was pretty hilarious and will undoubtedly be circulated when those two bands blow up, and cause much future embarrassment. The Love You Long Time boys brought in OZ's vocoder and the party dissolved into an underground hip hop circle of awesome! We all passed out around 4 in the morning, and I was in charge of being Momma Thompson and waking all the boys up at 10 in the morning for a trip to Disney Land with the Lauras. The Lauras are a couple of AWESOME girls who make kick butt live videos for bands. Disney was as cool as I remembered from childhood, but I still haven't conquered my fear of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We went on the rollercoaster over in California Adventure twice and on the second go around I lost my Powershot with all of my videos from the van ride and around the park. I was so bummed, but the awesome people at Lost and Found actually found the damn thing. I still can't believe it. It was such a fun day. Soon there will be a video update about it, but today I need to go and sleep. Until then check this video of the boys playing On Your Birthday in Palm Springs. We're making a music video!