birchblazephotography.com » Events

2011 Newport Folk Festival feat. Civil Wars & Pete Seeger

birch — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:20:41 +0000

Better late than never, right? Last summer Taylor and I experienced our first Newport Folk Festival together, together with my Daughter Maddie and my Son Dylan. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of our wedding photography some of our personal imagery gets pushed aside. Seeing how the lineup for the 2012 Newport Folk Festival was recently announced, we thought this would be a good time to share our photologue of last year’s Festival. I have to say, that despite the heat both days (man, were those frozen lemonade vendors busy!), the Festival was phenomenal with MANY standouts such as The Civil Wars (check out their work on their Grammy-winning Barton Hollow album and the Hunger Games soundtrack), Brown Bird, Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three, Mountain Man, legend Earl Scruggs (who, sadly, passed away recently) and SO many more! If you’re a music lover, the Newport Folk Fest is a must-see. And there are many genres of music represented, not just folk. One of the highlights was getting to see a folk legend, Pete Seeger, who at age 92, closed out the Festival late Sunday afternoon with 2 songs he wrote/co-wrote, Turn, Turn, Turn and Where Have All The Flowers Gone? I was able to sneak my way up fairly close to the stage for this and came away with a pretty decent video, which you can view below. Of course, you could barely turn around at the Festival without bumping into a photographer and most were, as you might expect, vying for the best vantage point around all 3 stages. We took a few shots of performers doing their thing, but besides soaking up all the incredible music and talent, we mostly enjoyed shooting some of the offstage happenings. For 2012, we hope to make it for Sunday of the Festival—we have a wedding on Saturday—but even if we can’t, we’ll never forget the wonderful time we had last summer and I know we’ll be back…

Click here to view the embedded video.

füd: Bella Tavola Catering

birch — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:42:23 +0000

Back in February we did a food shoot for our good friend Kim Dion at Bella Tavola Catering. Kim was great to work with and we had a blast, not to mention getting to sample some of the incredible edibles we photographed! Kim is great at what she does, not only creating culinary masterpieces that taste amazing and look absolutely gorgeous, but she can wrangle any event, pulling it together and making it happen whether things go exactly according to plan or even if Murphy’s law rears its ugly head! We know because we’ve witnessed it with our own four eyes (six if you count my glasses). Kim catered our wedding in ’06 and the location was a challenge for sure. We were married in a beautiful old barn (even had a bluegrass band!) in the middle of a field and everything—food, tableware, silverware, chafing dishes…everything—had to be hauled in—and out. No kitchen. Kim made it all happen seamlessly even though it was probably one of her tougher gigs. The food and the presentation were amazing(Alaskan king crab legs, come on?!) and our friends and family still rave about it! On another occasion my Band, Casual Labor, played a wedding that Kim catered and that went off without a hitch (at least to everyone in attendance) under similar circumstances as well. The Girl knows her stuff. So if you have an event that needs catering, give Bella Tavola a call. Kim’ll hook ya up. Cue the pics:

And at the end we snuck in a couple of nice ‘environmental’ portraits of Kim:

Thanks Bella Tavola Catering! Till next time…

Mush-a-Boom!

birch — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:08:32 +0000

Saturday we showed up at the Purity Spring Sled Dog Race Classic in Madison, NH. Maddie and Dylan took a sled dog clinic last week at the adjoining King Pine Ski area, where they learned the basics of operating a sled, hooking up the dogs, and more importantly, how to stop! So, on Saturday they had a sign-up for the kids, and the first twenty could actually get a chance to run (actually, be towed might be more accurate) in a one dog race! Dylan was thirteenth in line (Maddie opted out of the racing part), but somehow didn’t make it in. But that wasn’t about to stop my Mom (thanks Mom!) from making sure that her Grandson got his place on the starting line…that’s a story for another day, but our sincerest thanks go out to local dog sledding hero Bruce Crowther, and Gretchen Karlson of Karlson Kennels, Concord, MA for lending Dylan not only their team leader, Squeaky (I apologize Squeaky, if I’m not spelling your name right) and a sled, but also their time and expertise in getting Dyl ready to roll (I mean, slide). He had a blast and so did we! Here are some shots Tay and I took…

Yes, their eyes are that blue!

After racing 12 miles, they’re just a bit tuckered out on the home stretch…but still workin’ it.

Nothin’ like a good old Dodge to get yer dogs to the race on time!

This next photo is one of my top 3 faves, I think. I swear I did not Photoshop the expression on that dog’s face (I didn’t even know a dog was physically capable of doing that). It’s priceless…way too funny, but I promise she is not choking him!

Another classic from Tay:

The kids have a go…I think it’s great that the kids can get involved in this great sport at such a young age…with or without a sled!

Pre-race pep talk:

…and she’s ready to go.

One of the things I love about photography is the story you sometimes find in your photos only after you take them. This little guy was doing his darnedest to keep his dog motivated…the dog, feeling a bit social I guess, stopped off to say hello to the spectators:

Oh well…

Ok, you definitely deserve some lap time…

Dylan finally gets his chance:

The End.