Gallery 9
Trent Tomlinson
Country Is My Rock
Before I show you my Trent Tomlinson photos, please allow me a quick story.
In September of 2006, I was working in New York on promotions for the movie "Grid Iron Gang". The film, which is based on a true story, stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a mentor and inspirational football coach, at an inner-city high school. Now, an accomplished actor, Dwayne Johnson, at one time was also a professional Heavyweight Wrestler, hence the name, "The Rock".
Copyright Columbia Pictures
During one of the many TV interviews we recorded that day, "The Rock", said he
found similarities between his own life and that of the kids depicted in the film.
Dwayne was pretty forthcoming during the interview,
recounting numerous times when as a teenager he had
found himself on the wrong side of the law.
At the time, I remember being surprised by Johnson's candor.
While describing his young life in great detail, "The Rock" went on to say... "I was no angel when I was a kid... I always had one wing in the fire". As soon as I heard those words, my ears perked up.
The TV interviews continued and an hour or two later we were finally done. As he was leaving, Dwayne, who couldn't have been nicer throughout the long day of shooting, went around the room thanking the crew for their hard work and shaking everyone's hand.
As he approached my audio position, we shook hands and I said to him "I guess you like Country Music?" Puzzled, he looked at me and asked, "How do you know that?" I said, "Well, this morning, I heard you mention having One Wing In the Fire". All of a sudden, Dwayne's face lit up and he smiled. Then he said "Yea, that's a great song... Tomlinson, Right?" "Yes" I said... "I don't have the album yet, but I've heard some of his stuff on the radio and he seems very cool!"
We talked for a moment or two more and then parted ways, each one knowing that the other had great taste in Music.
Well, to make a long story short, after listening to a few more of Trent Tomlinson's songs on the radio, within a short time I bought his CD. It's a great collection of tunes, all of which were written or co-written by Tomlinson himself. There isn't a bad song on the entire album and as it turns out, both the CD and first song, are entitled "COUNTRY IS MY ROCK.".
Now, whenever I play the album, I can't help but remember my conversation with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and smile.
In the early part of 2007, Bonnie and I heard that Trent would be in the greater Philadelphia area in March for a show at a small south Jersey club. So, naturally we wanted to go.
It was a great night and Trent and his band provided us with an awesome evening of music. These photos where taken at the Prospector's Saloon in March of 2007.
The club setting was small and intimate, which made it great for music listening, but terrible for photography. Thanks in part to Trent's rising popularity, the place was packed with a standing room only crowd. So, moving around the room to change shooting angles was impossible. Nonetheless I did get a few good images.
From a photography standpoint, all of the stage lights were directly over Trent's head with no front lighting at all. These shots were taken with the camera set at 3200 ASA and 1/25th of a second with the lens set at f-5. I shot everything in RAW using a Canon 30d and 24-105 IS lens. All images were brightened up and Color-Corrected using Photoshop Lightroom 1.0.
In front of Trent was a hardwood dance floor where people stood within one or two feet of the stage. The best position that I could manage for shooting was from the right corner of the stage near the Monitor Mix and house speaker position. Needless to say, it was also very loud.
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From my vantage point, I had a great close-up view of Trent, but there were a lot of obstacles in the way of getting a clean photograph. With the camera lens sandwiched in between an upright pillar and one of the sound system speaker stands, almost all of Trent's photos were profile and had a microphone boom arm running across his left shoulder.
After taking about 50 ambient light frames, I thought I'd try several images with the camera's on-board flash. I hate using a flash in these situations, so I didn't bring an external unit. But with such poor lighting, I thought I'd give it a go anyway.
The photo at right is one of about 6 or 7 that I made using flash. Thanks in part to the 3200 ASA, the on board flash did a good job filling in detail. As you can see, this image also has much less noise than the ambient light photos.
Nonetheless, after only a few frames, I felt the flash shooting was becoming a bit annoying, so I went back to shooting with the ambient lighting again. Here, at left, Trent is looking up into the light and looking in my direction.
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After shooting about 180 frames, all the images were starting to look pretty similar. So, with no chance of moving to the other side of the room or changing camera angles, I stopped taking pictures and just enjoyed the rest of the show.
Several songs later, Trent removed his "T" shirt to the delight of all the women in the crowd. But by then, I had moved too far from the stage to capture the event. Sorry, Ladies.
I'd like another opportunity to see one of Trent Tomlinson's shows again and perhaps shoot him at another venue. If he keeps writing and singing the way he has on the "ROCK" CD, he is destined to be the next Country Super Star. I'm sure when that happens, Trent will only play the big Stadium shows and photography will be even more difficult.
Sure glad Bonnie and I got the chance to catch his show at such an intimate venue.
We had lots of fun. Hope you enjoyed the photos.
For more information about Trent, his music and the latest tour dates,
Check out Trent's Website. The URL is on the Links page.
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