On Sunday, Charles and I went to see the Chromeo show I had mentioned here before. The day was grey and threatened rain. The air was thick and humid. The forecast called for lightning. Undeterred we set out at around 12:30 to get in line. The doors were supposed to open at 2:00, but, both being relentlessly on time for everything, we wanted to get there early. And not unreasonably, I might add, since the Pool Parties things typically get very crowded very quickly. We were just acting in a prudent manner. Business.

We got into line very near the front. We were excited to be so close to the gate even though we could have easily been much further back and still been guaranteed admission. But, fuck it, we were pumped. Neither of us had ever seen Chromeo before and you cannot deny a free show. You just can't.

And then, sometime just after 1, it started to rain.

Now, I'm not talking about that bullshit rain Californians get so upset about during the winter. No, I'm talking some motherfucking god damned 40 days and 40 nights DOWNPOUR. Raindrops like golf balls. Flooded streets, gale force winds, umbrellas torn to shreds, and there were Joe and Charles, without any sort of protection from the elements, getting absolutely drenched. But were we deterred?

No! Never!

We stood there literally for hours in the rain. When 2 came and went and the rain showed no sign of slowing, Charles very nearly hit his breaking point and asked if maybe we should call it. I stood firm, however, and made it known that I would not move until they told us the show was going on, it was being moved, or it was cancelled.

Shortly after 3, the rain abated a bit, and yet we waited in line for some spec of info. Was the show going on? Was it moving? So many people had given up and left for the dryness and safety of home. Fools! They missed the doors finally opening around 3:30 and we poured in. I made a beeline for the beer table as standing in the rain for hours had developed in my a considerable thirst which would only be quenched by beer. And, beer in hand, the show began as it was supposed to, minor delay notwithstanding. Here are my thoughts.

Telephoned

Is it me or does opening your set with a cover song seem like a fucking stupid idea? The best part of the set was when the wind blew the DJ's records off the turntables. I described them to one of the dudes I met in line as drum & bass karaoke. Forgettable.

The Suzan

I think I might have enjoyed The Suzan better if I was a 14 year old Japanese schoolgirl. Now, I'm not saying they were bad; they weren't. It's just that their brand of stupefyingly sweet bubblegum pop really does nothing at all for me. Maybe I don't have enough Hello Kitty shit in my house, but there's something about their music that gave me a toothache and made me worry I might need a root canal.

If you like this sort of thing, then good for you. Check these ladies out. They are by no means bad, just not my style.

Kid Sister

This is where the show really picked up for me. I've listened to Kid Sister's record and it's pretty good, I guess, but not something I would get behind and recommend to someone. It's fine, but, I don't know, not all that exciting really.

But, god damn, Kid Sister brings it live. I don't care if you're a fan of her records, but if you like to see a damned good show that'll make you dance and want to F&F, then this is your jam. I don't really have much else to say about the set except that it was awesome. A very nice surprise on a rainy day since I really had no expectations of her whatsoever. And, DAMN, watch that girl dance.

Chromeo

Through the three previous sets I had stood on the beer side of the venue. It's weird. They have two separate sections: the stage area and the beer area. You can't take beers to the stage side for some inane reason, but you can hear and see just fine from the beer side. Priorities straight, I stayed on the beer side for the three sets I hadn't stood in pouring rain to see. Even better because it gave me and Charles plenty of space to dance during Kid Sister. We looked at the crowd and felt confident that between sets we'd be able to push our way to very near the front of the crowd. Not all the way, because then you have to look up, but like 15 or 20 feet back.

Of course, we were right. Years of metal shows teach you how to walk through a crowd.

We were right where we wanted to be when Chromeo came on to the stage. I maintain that these guys are our generation's Hall & Oates. Pop funk duo taking cues from classic R&B? They just write more electro types of songs. All the blogs I've been reading call these guys joke-funk, but that just seems like a lazy description to me. Like one blogger wrote it, another read and stole it, and then the term spread. I like to think of Chromeo as good old party music. Does everything need to be a god damned ironic, tongue-in-cheek in-joke these days? Why not just allow for the possibility that these two French Canadians wrote great, catchy as hell, funky pop songs? I don't think there's anything that's a joke about their music at all. Sure, they have fun, but that doesn't make them a joke. Not everyone needs to be John Cage or Gaahl.

If I remember correctly, they started with "Tenderoni" but I honestly have no idea. It might have been another song. I do know that they played my favorite song of theirs, "Bonafied Loving," and that they played "Night By Night." Their performance was pretty damned tight, even if they had to cue about half the instruments from Dave 1's laptop on the stage. Too many layers of shit going on not to either have a backing band or to have your laptop pumping out the jams. They chose the latter.

Luckily, it didn't detract at all. Their energy on stage was infectious. The crowd danced and screamed and yelled and jumped and threw their hands into the air with wild abandon. It's rare you get a crowd that is as into the band as this crowd was into Chromeo. I suppose there's something about standing around in the rain for hours that brings the best out in people.

All in all, it was an amazing show. To my friends who were here in Brooklyn and decided not to come out because they were afraid of the rain, sucks to be you. You missed an awesome afternoon, an awesome adventure, and an awesome show. Maybe next summer you can catch the Pool Party again. OH WAIT. This is probably the last year! OOOH sting!

And, because I know you want to see more coverage of the show, here it is:

Brooklyn Vegan - Chromeo, Kid Sister, The Suzan & Telephoned played the Pool in the rain (Williamsburg Waterfront pics)

The Village Voice - Live: Chromeo Thrill A Soaked, Oft-Shoeless Jelly Pool Party Crowd With Rampant Corniness

The Village Voice - Brooklyn, This Is Your Rain Dance: Rating Audience Moves at Yesterday's Chromeo Pool Party

The Village Voice - Pool Party with Chromeo Gallery (Can you find me in this gallery?! hint)

Stereogum - Chromeo, Kid Sister @ JellyNYC Pool Party, Williamsburg Waterfront 8/22/10

See you next time!

Is this the best photo ever taken of me or is it the best photo ever taken of anyone? Hint: click the photo for the answer.

Happy 500th, Black Laserites! See you again at 1000. Maybe for that one I'll have something smart to say. Probably not!

I cannot believe that it's been 3 months since I last posted photos here. What the hell have I been doing with myself? I've been taking photos—that much, at least, is certain—but I have no idea why I haven't posted any here. I have a serious back log to tend to which is only going to be set back further by the trip I am taking with Juli tomorrow to the Finger Lakes. Sounds dirty.

This last Saturday, The Metric System threw a fund-raising show we called "Alma Matter". Get it? Like "Alma Mater," but, like, different or something? Anyway, it was super deep and emotional, and, as usual, I documented it.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the photographs I made that night. Here are a few of my better ones.

The whole gallery can be found here: Alma Matter Gallery

The second Metric System party went off last Friday the 8th like gangbusters. It was a good time, maybe not as crazy as the first, but it felt more cohesive. So, good job, us. We kicked ass. Look for another party in 6 months!

Here's the gallery! The Metric System Naïveté Second Party Gallery - 5/08/2009

Here is a selection of my favorites

I think this set of photos, overall, is pretty good, but not as good as my first one. I don't know what the difference was. I guess sometimes I'm just not as on as others. Oh well. There are some definite keepers in this which is the whole point. I've really got to work on using my flash to better effect when there's absolutely no other ambient light around, as was the case during this party. I'm not entirely sure what I could be doing better while maintaining the look. I'd like to have better control of the light in general and be faster at adjusting the flash output without resorting to bullshit auto-mode. E-TTL II my balls. What I need, I suppose, is practice. These events are good for learning, but I've got to figure out some better shit for next time. I also think it would be helpful to have another photographer JUST to cover the performances, someone equipped with a fast, long lens who could focus on the stage, while I wandered the crowd, telling people not to smile, with a fast, wide lens taking photos of people. I want this one, but I think it's a little too expensive for my soon to be jobless situation.

Anyway, enjoy the photos. I have a backlog of stuff I'm still working through, so keep your RSS readers peeled for more.

This is your friendly reminder that The Metric System is having our second salon tonight.

Be there!

LOOK AT PICTURES FROM LAST TIME!

Doesn't it look like we had such an awesome time?! I know, right? It's going to be rad. JUST BE THERE!

YOU PEOPLE! THE METRIC SYSTEM IS HAVING ANOTHER PARTY. COME!

I will be there fulfilling my role as Party Photographer again. We're having art and artists, beer and sake, good times and great memories. I hope to see you there. Otherwise, you'll just have to wait until I post photos and that's no way to experience a party.

Hey folks, the next Metric System party is coming up! It will be on Friday May 8th, from 7 to 11pm. That's all for now, so save the date. I will post more details when I have them.

My friend Jermaine asked me to photograph a party he had coming up at Secret last Friday. I'd never heard of the place before, but, knowing Jermaine, I knew that the party was probably going to be worth shooting. Here's the beginning of the set. I have some thoughts about the shoot after.

If you're coming here because I met you at the party and gave you my URL, welcome! I hope you like the photos.

Here are the rest of them: After Dark at Secret 03/06/2009 Gallery - Note that there are some potentially non-work-safe photos toward the end of the set, so you have been warned.

So, it feels like my camera has a warm up time. I'm not talking about the typical 50 or so frames it takes me to warm up when shooting situations like this, but that the camera itself seems like it needs to be broken in a little bit each time, like stretching before exercise (not that I know anything about that). It's weird, and I might just be imagining things, but it really feels like there's a period at the beginning of a shoot, especially under difficult conditions, when the camera just doesn't respond like it's supposed to. It's extra strange that I don't have the camera set to use any automatic settings; everything is manual. You would think that with everything in manual the response time would not be an issue, but it was. In the long run, it doesn't matter. It's just an idiosyncrasy I've noticed over the last few shoots.

Another challenge for this shoot was photographing black people in the dark. It basically meant that my metering was not useful. Once I had set a good exposure for inside though, I just went with that for everything since most of the light was coming from my flash anyway. Even worse was that the ceiling in the club was black, so no bounce flash for me.

Furthermore, I keep getting weird skin tones with the camera set to a high ISO (1600+) while using the flash with the orange diffuser. I experienced this with the Metric System party and I see it again here. It's reflecting REAL hard off some lower layers of skin or something and make people look really yellow. Fortunately, setting the highlight recovery to a modest 20 in Lightroom completely removes the harsh yellow cast and allows normal skin tones. You know, thinking about it, I had the same issue when shooting How To Disappear Completely for the photos shot under the stage lights. Maybe something is happening with colored lights and skin at high ISOs? I mean, there's no maybe about it—there is definitely something happening. I just don't know what it is. At least it's easy to fix.

Overall, I feel this was a very successful shoot for me. It was wildly different than anything I've shot before and a lot of fun. I hope that I can come back and shoot this again and that these things open some doors for me because I would love to shoot more events like this, especially when I'm given sort of free reign to shoot how I like to shoot as I was this time. The one thing I learned was that I need business cards. And probably to set up josephdillingham.com as a more professional counterpart to the wild bastion of heathenish debauchery and immorality I have set up here.

The ultimate yield from the party photos I took was something like 441 usable photos. In the selection process I basically only rejected photos that had some major technical defect (soft focus, bad exposure, horrible). Usually I only pick and process photos I like, which would have probably cut this set in half or even a third, but since these pictures are for The Metric System to use as press I went ahead a left in a bunch of technically fine, artistically lacking photos.

Because there are so many, I'm only putting the first 35 into this post. A link to the whole set follows. I encourage you to check it out since the real party pictures don't start until well into the triple digits.

The Metric System - Naïveté @ Flickr

Everyone, Metric System party is tonight from 8-10pm. If you live in New York and are not infirm, I expect to see you there. Here's the invite with the location.

Metric System Invite

If you want to be slick and come by for the VIP hour, the party starts at 7, with a silent auction, exclusive performance, and a bunch of other really great stuff for a suggested donation of only 20 US dollars.

Come by! Support the arts!

Dearest readers and RSS addicts,

On December 12th the Metric System will be hosting its premiere party, announcing itself to the world. The Metric System is a group of folks in and around the New York City area who have created a support network for like-minded creative types to facilitate the realization of projects and performances and whatever else strikes their fancy.

Don't take my word for it, though. Check the site—The Metric System.

This is the invite that is floating around for the party.

Metric System Invite

Come by. I'll be there acting as official party photographer. And, if my soothing presence isn't enough lure for you to show up, there will be art and music and sushi and sake and beer and all sorts of great crap that you just can't turn down. Besides, it's from 8-10 on a Friday which makes it the perfect time to come out and pregame for what will probably turn into a massive Friday night. Besides, art and music! Who doesn't love art and music? For free?

If you read this, I expect to see you there.

Here is a set of photos from Jesse and Brian's house warming fest.

Check out the remainder of the set here: Jesse and Greene's House Warming Party