A Tribute to Joe Negri Slideshow

At rehearsal, Tom Wendt (from back), Joe Negri, Michelle Bensen, Max Leake, Tony DiPaolis.

It’s all together now, music and everything, the slideshow from the performance.

We welcomed Joe Negri and and his quartet for the “A Gala Tribute to Joe Negri on October 1, 2011 at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. His quartet includes Max Leake on piano, Tony Dipaolis on bass and Tom Wendt on drums. Special guests included Michelle Bensen on vocals, Sean Jones on trumpet, Mike Tomaro on saxophone and Roger Humphries on drums.

I simply enjoy photographing performers, and I know the hall and stage of this Music Hall so well, even in the dark, tiptoeing around with my camera, trying not to disturb the audience during one of the silent moments of a piece of music, just to get the shot I envision. The lighting on this performance was particularly interesting, and I enjoyed the first set of photos with the violet glow during the rehearsal, and that red background during the performance.

You also get to see the glitterati who attended as we had the largest crowd for a benefit we’ve ever had, nearly 400.

Unfortunately, my 70-200 zoom quit communicating with my camera just after Mike Tomaro came onto the stage, so I didn’t get all the dramatic close ups I usually get during a performance. That lens is f3.5, a little better in low-light situations. The 18-35mm zoom is an f4.5, not very good in low-light and everyone is too far away when I’m photographing during a performance. That left my good old 50mm lens, the original from my Pentax K1000, totally non-digital but an f1.8 and great if I don’t need a zoom. It’s still the best lens I have and saved the day.

You can see this slideshow on Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall’s website in Photo Album under “About Us”. You can go directly to the slideshow here, but please browse the other photo slideshows which are also my work, as is the design of the website itself. In addition, please visit their page on my website to browse newsletters, post cards, posters and other items I’ve designed for them. This is my beloved local public library, the place I’ve been visiting all my life to read and take out books, do research, and just to hang out in big beautiful old building—it’s now one of my customers. I couldn’t be happier to use my skills and talents to help enhance the facility’s image as it moves through its capital campaign to renovate for the first time in over 100 years.

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