Janet's Smiles: Heart

Thursday, April 9, 2020

A to Z Challenge - 2020 - Heart

Heart is my pick for the letter "H" in our A to Z excursion. We have seen the Wilson sisters several times, the first as one of the opening acts for Journey at Shoreline in 2008. This is another set that was scrapbooked a while ago and I have just a couple of poor pictures and not much info about how I put them together. Pretty basic stuff.

We saw them again in 2011 as an opening act, this time for Def Leppard. I found another set of beautiful papers. They are from Paper Wishes. I probably should have been more diligent in keeping the names of the collections but truthfully, these papers are so old that if you really wanted them you probably wouldn't be able to get them anymore.

I used some gold letters for the title. Aren't we cute?

I thought this flower on the papers looked like the Rosette stencil.

This is what the finished page looked like. I used some yellow heart-shaped gems around the outer edge and put some Dazzles in each corner. I traced around the stencil with gold pen.

Heart has so many great songs and we were wishing they could have done more but that's what happens when you're the opener.

I stamped the guitar on this page and added some color accents.

The most amazing thing about this show was that just as the band started their final song, "Love Reign O'er Me" (the Led Zeppelin song) something astonishing happened that is very rare for a September night in California, it started raining! As they kept singing, it rained harder and harder and at the end, thunder and lightning.

It was magical. Fortunately we were under the tent cover so we didn't get wet but I was able to take these pictures. So glad we weren't sitting out on the lawn!

I wanted to add some hearts to the page so I used this punch for a border.

Here are the pages as they are in the album.

And just in case you think I'm making this whole thing up, here's a video someone took who was also there that magical night. You can see the rain around 6:45 minute mark.

Because of the lights, Ann and Nancy (I read) were not even aware that it was raining while they were singing. They didn't know until they went backstage. We have seen Heart twice more at the Mountain Winery as headliners but this is the show that will stand out for me.

I appreciate all the kind comments I've gotten on my little scrapbooking endeavors. Thanks. Come by tomorrow for the letter "I." I think you'll like it.

Sunday, July 2, 2017

July in Janetville - Tips for Taking Concert Photos

I am by NO means an expert in photography but after taking several thousand concert pictures over the last few years, I have come up with some of my personal ideas on the subject. I should also say that these ideas/tips are with the intention of scrapbooking the pictures, not for trying to get them published in a magazine or anything (unless of course someone sees them and thinks they are fabulous and wants to buy them from me - LOL).

Tip #1 - GET GOOD SEATS! It is much easier to take good photos if you have good seats. If I can't get close seats, I try to get in a section where I can see the big screens clearly.

Tip #2 - Have a good camera. When I first started taking pictures my camera did not have a very powerful zoom lens. I find that makes a big difference, especially if you can't accomplish Tip #1! Most venues will allow simple point and shoot cameras. Mine fits in a pocket of my purse so I rarely (never so far) have had an issue with it. It is a Canon Power Shot SX 700 with a 30 x zoom. I would not be able to take pictures if I had to manually focus, so having an easy camera to use is important for me. It also has a good setting for taking pictures without a flash, which is generally not allowed.

Tip #3 - Take LOTS of pictures. The artists generally move back and forth across the stage so there are many times I can't get anything more than a blur. If I have a lot of pictures, I can pick and choose the best ones for my pages. Sometimes I'll have a lot of mediocre and then one or two good ones. This spread I did with Tina Turner is a good example. It was before I got my Canon and the zoom was terrible but by putting together some not so great pictures with some okay ones, I am pleased with the way this came out.

This is one of my favorite layouts from the Adele concert. She didn't have a lot of costume changes, our seats were up in the second level and she does not do a lot of moving around when she sings but I think I was able to capture her here.

Same with Stevie Nicks. When she sings "Gold Dust Woman" it's almost like she goes into a trance and even though the pictures are not that clear, I can see her getting into her song.

Tip #4 - Take pictures of the venue itself. Shots of the building or the marquee help to document dates and times. Some of my favorites are:

I took the above two pictures and combined them to make the bottom one for the album. They almost match up perfectly.

Tip #5 - Take pictures of backgrounds. A lot of times the performers use the screens behind them to add "embellishments" to their show. Those shots can also be "embellishments" on my pages. They also serve as titles sometimes.

Behind Blue Eyes - the Who

Scorpions

Neil Diamond

Lights on the vine wall at the Mountain Winery, Heart concert

Tip #6 - Don't forget the shadows. At first I waited until the lights went on so I could get clear pictures of the performers but then I noticed that sometimes the shadows were the best shots. I am SO glad I got the ones of Prince!

Prince

Sade

Cher

Backstreet Boys

Tip #7 - The crowd. While I don't necessarily want pictures of a bunch of random strangers in my album, still there are times when the crowd is definitely part of the show.

Journey singing "Lights" and a shot of the AT&T Park crowd showing their "lights" made for a pretty magical moment.

Lights at the Adele concert. She is the tiny figure on stage at the bottom left of the picture.

Tip #8 - Expect the unexpected. We were watching Heart at Shoreline singing "Reign O're Me" and it started raining. Middle of summer. Heart didn't realize what was happening until they went backstage according to the article I read about it. Fortunately we were under the overhang so we didn't get wet.

Rod Stewart kicks signed soccer balls from the stage! We didn't actually get any but one went really close to us and on the BART trip home, two people near us had gotten them so they let my husband hold them while I took this picture.

Tip #9 - Stay until the end of the show. After all, you paid your money, may as well get all you can for it. I know it is tempting to leave to get ahead of the crowd and out of the parking lot but really, what's the rush? Savor the moments!