Saturn Bar on a Tuesday night!

Saturn Bar April 27, 2010 - Images by Erica Stavis

Shot 3 great bands last night at Saturn Bar last night, "Rotary Downs", "Barr Brothers" & "In Betweens"....thanks to Zack Smith for draggin me out on a school night.

Heard some new music and got interesting and good pics. I tried to re-adjust some of the new in-camera techniques that I created and developed during my studio lighting course to work in this very non-studio setting. Check out the results and def. check out these bands.

G-d Bless Morning 40 Federation

Had so much fun shooting Morning 40 federation show at One Eyed Jacks Saturday night. Of course I had a lot more fun shooting the audience than the band, but Ive really been trying to work on some different style club scene shots after getting that feedback at Photo NOMA. Not only was the show amazing but I think I burned enough calories to make up for all the junk I ate at Jazz Fest earlier that day. Met some cool people at the show and now feel amped for a great week of live music ahead. Its gonna be hard to top this one though. G-d bless Morning 40!

Check out the shots give me some feedback

Back In the biz!!

Continuing on the same train of thought as my last post I ordered new business cards today. In an attempt to market myself better I decided to create custom cards which I designed based off those great cards from London-based creative duo, Benrik.

I came up with a few words that I thought were "photo related" but simple and straight forward. I've also done a sample update of a new logo that is integrated with the new cards.... Still need to play with the new logo, and update my website once I decide I really like it. I may try and play with it more so it's a bit lighter.....I don't want it to distract from the images on my site.

I wanted something that spoke to the style of shooting I like to do, being as though i'd like to use these cards to distribute to potential clients. I also hand my card out to people at events that I cover, so I wanted something that could speak to both audiences. I tried to keep it informal, fun and energetic. I ordered a multi-pack with 5 different designs I made so each card will have a different font, whereas the back will be consistent.

Collect em all!

Blank Slate

Somehow I have gone though all of my business cards and its time to restock. My old cards (pictured above) were purchased almost 2 years ago and Ive been thinking about re-formatting my card to market myself a bit better. I still dont feel that I fall into one specific market, but since Im in brainstorming mode I thought Id reach out to my blog-audience for input. As of now I have Im thinking of 3 options:

1. Simple, with my Erica Stavis Photography Logo (picured above) on one side and info on the other:

2. Write a message on one side with info on the back of the card... Check out these amazing cards on Moo. Obviously none of these would work but I could craft my own message, which could be fun.

3. Photo cards with a characteristic "Erica Stavis" photo on one side and my info on the other. I can make a pack of cards a few different photos, so that I could have a few variations of my card

Then there is size to consider, a bunch of people use the mini cards now which could be pretty interesting for some of my club shots where I pair images...hmmmmm any thoughts?

Good eye, good shots, bad mood

Yesterdays show at NOMA was terrific, I got some great feedback from fellow photographers and museum visitors. Not surprisingly, people were drawn to the images because of the subject matter and use of bright color. I showed some shots from Spellcaster and other parties around town, because I thought they worked well as a somewhat cohesive series. (see some pics from exhibit above, and more on the web here)

Some of the most constructive advice I got was simply that the images were very good technically, so technical that some of the obvious dirt, sweat and craziness were hard to pick out. Some people really liked that effect and most everyone said I had a great eye and an obvious technical ability to control the camera and lighting.... and of course most people walked by and said ....we LOVE YOUR IMAGES!

More on that later.....Comments welcomed.....

BTW for all y'all locals....Patti Smith presents a talk "On Photography" tonight at NOMA

Meet me at the 2line

Second Line April 18, 2010 - Images by Erica Stavis

Hit the second line last Sunday and got some great shots, click here for gallery. Ive begun to focus on and children interacting with parents in many of the shots within this gallery and think this is a theme I might develop more over the spring/summer. Ill be showing prints of some of these and othershots tonight at New Orleans Museum of Art from 5:30-7:30 come check it if you can. Post comments and let me know what you think.

Im blogging again...

In order to continue the tradition of biting off more than I can chew, I've begun to blog again. Photo life's been hectic, heres the rundown: (sort of in chronological order)

• Studio Lighting class at NOAFA- amazing shots in the studio which cant be posted because of model release issues
• French Quarter Festival-Photo booth with friend Zack Smith (picture on this post is from there)
  
• Shooting my first wedding - great experience with many lessons learned
  
• Documentary photo class with Owen Murphy- many many hours of going through old photos to make sensible groups of images for galleries
• Photo Alliance- of which I am the new Vice President
• King Khan @ Spellcaster- Photo gallery gains lots of attraction
• Photo NOMA- showing photo work this wednesday at New Orleans Museum of Art
• 6 Shooters- planning an amazing edition of panel discussion with large format photographers
• Printed my first digital photo prints- came out great but sooooo exp.
• 6th ward Second line in process of being edited- gallery posted soon
• All day shoot at Empire Deli - great shots of Paul's deli in action as well as some cool food shots
• Beginning the Quest to find a job for this summer.
• Prints for sale starting this summer
• Jazz fest coverage coming up this weekend