Vintage Rocker Photo

Photographer’s Note

I was driving through downtown of San Anselmo, my home town, a couple of weeks ago when I heard the sound of music coming from the Creekside Park. I recalled there was a summer series of concerts on Sunday afternoons and decided to check it out. The week before I'd stumbled onto another concert that I documented with a photo called Rock and Roll is Here to Stay.

On this day I encountered a performer I'd not heard before, Bonnie Hayes, who is apparently a well known rocker, at least that was what I was told by the folks cheering her every song. No doubt she is a talented woman backed by a trio of excellent musicians. As I listened to the music I took the opportunity to take a few photos, including this one.

As I post this photo I'm kept in the mood by Bob Dylan playing in the background. Rock and Roll may or may not be here to stay, but it certainly is a great deal of fun for those of us who've enjoyed the music these many years. Thanks Bonnie. Enjoy everyone.

fabio_ts, ktanska, Cool-ice, Albrecht, peter1892, Rinie_Hoff has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ktanska (16695) 2005-09-30 3:04

Wow, a photo that sounds good!
Everything in that picture tells about good old time rock and roll. Well composed tight crop.
I don't have a large selection of music to choose to listen at my desktop while looking at this, but Steve Miller Band seems to be working just fine :)

Cool-ice (5289) 2005-09-30 3:16

It's hard to make a useful comment on this kind of image.
Technically, the composition is perfectly dynamic, the B&W is just with the right contrast.....briefly : excellent.
But more than technique, I feel a great feeling of sadness when I stay for a while on this image, there is a whole hard life behind these two musicians, behind their eyes.
And this emotion is more important than the technique, for me.

RGatward (19749) 2005-09-30 3:31

Good piece of rock photojournalism, and B&W perfect for it.

Albrecht (11213) 2005-09-30 3:34

Hi Curtis
Great shot; love musicshots of course and like this POV and the B&W. Sharp and full emotion. Well done.
Gr.Albrecht

fabio_ts (13674) 2005-09-30 4:30

Beautiful shot very well captured Curtis, I like your B&W choiche for to exalt much more the vintage feeling.. all of this woman is vintage, the 52's telecaster guitar, the written t-shirt, her look, and probably her age too.. ;o)
..great mood and "live set appeal".. I know, it's only rock'n'roll...but I like it...and I like it so much, compliments!!!
have a nice day, Fabio.

peter1892 (3201) 2005-09-30 9:23

Hi Curtis - great POV & the DOF works well here too. I like the choice of B&W for this shot.
Great information in the note too!

Rinie_Hoff (9334) 2005-10-02 17:41

Hi Curtis, for a minute I thought it was Bonnie Raitt, the best rocking woman in the US (played with every important rocker and blues person in the world), but like you, never heard of Bonnie Hayes before ;-). Yeah, Bob Dylan, that's a different world, I guess.
Nice double portrait, I like the expression on the black man's face. Besides, he's playing an instrument that I dreamt of playing for a long time, the bass. Not played by many women, that was probably the main reason ;-)