I recently returned from my annual Coachella trip. This year we had 8 people and a nice big house. Here’s a list of the bands we watched:

• Los Campesinos
• The Ting Tings
• Franz Ferdinand
• N.A.S.A.
• Leonard Cohen (partial set from the food area)
• Ghostland Observatory
• Girl Talk
• Paul McCartney
• Superchunk (partial)
• Amanda Palmer (partial)
• The Bloody Beetroots
• TV On The Radio
• TRV$DJ-AM
• Band of Horses (partial)
• M.I.A.
• The Chemical Brothers (DJ set – partial)
• The Killers

Check out some photos of the trip

The Family

Joshua Tree - Hidden Valley

Light Writing

Sidewinder Rattlesnake vs. toad

Lady Bug

Kauffmann House - Palm Springs

I know two quotes relating to photography (which I had to look up):

“When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes.  But when you photograph people in black & white, you photograph their souls.”

Ted Grant

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.  When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” 

Ansel Adams

These two quotes hit on two interesting aspects of photography. First, the impact of color in a photograph, and how the absence of that color allows us to better see the subject. Second, a good photographer can often communicate entire stories through a single photo by never using a single word.

To be a great photographer (in my opinion), one can’t rely on luck, one must have an innate ability to see. I’m not talking about the ability to use one’s eyes, but the ability to truly see what’s around, observe and understand without using any other natural sense.

An old friend of mine, Jennifer Bearden, has this innate ability. Jennifer is a professional photographer living in Charleston, South Carolina. She specializes in portrait, wedding, family and commercial photography. 

I’ve known Jennifer for about 15 years. She’s a true artist with a camera, something that is both very difficult and (in my opinion) under appreciated. If you have a moment, visit her site:

http://www.jenniferbearden.com

We traveled to Bend Oregon with some friends for the weekend. Today we went to the Death Cab for Cutie show at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in the Old Mill District. Below are a couple photos of the show (credit blurry photos: Brian Mead). I also threw in a photo of Walter – Ryan and Rebecca’s bulldog puppy.

If you know me, you probably know my friend Ryan Peterson (college friend, old roommate, my warthog driver in Halo). Anyway, he works on the Coke advertising campaign at Wieden+Kennedy.

Here’s Ryan’s first Super Bowl commercial – it’s a fantastic piece of work. Sorry about being so late getting this online…