Photos: Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley

Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley, Sparks, NV 2011-12-02
A-Plus throwing down a blazing set to heat up a cold December night...

A lot can happen in 18 years.  Heck, a twinkle in a man’s eye can transcend birth, childhood and become an independent adult in the same amount of time which has taken place between the time of writing these words and when the world was hit (like a ton of bricks) with 93 ’til Infinity.  While I, personally, was stuck in the middle of the country (Wisconsin to be exact) and missed out on the initial release of this record, the rest of the world was promptly stormed by four MC’s from Oakland, California collectively known as Souls Of Mischief.  Each coming with an individual spin on how to set listeners’ ears ablaze, Tajai, Opio, Phesto and A-Plus would bring more talented MC’s into the equation and grow into the West Coast’s first independently run hip-hop internet successes aka Hieroglyphics.  While they were early bloomers in the age of selling hip-hop music independently on the internet, Hieroglyphics have continued to release full-length albums on a steady schedule through the late 2000’s … with plenty of side projects being released all the while.

That having been said, being given the opportunity to spend an hour in the grace of some of hip-hop’s greatest living legends at an intimate venue like The Alley in Sparks, NV has been a completely mind-blowing experience.  Being my first Souls / Hiero show, the group was everything I was hoping for and more.  The flows were on-point, positive energy was in the air and while the crowd wasn’t as big as the legacy of the performers deserved, the fans were more than potent with their abundance of love and respect for the music, the artists and their fellow concertgoers, male and female alike.

Lately in my posts here on I Shoot Reno, there have been a lot of ‘firsts’ when it comes to social outings, photography and post-production.  The newest ‘first’ comes this week in the form of my first full-fledged B&W gallery.  Well, there’s technically one color photo in the gallery, and that’s of the cast on Tajai’s left foot/ankle/calf.  Don’t know what happened there, but it didn’t stop him from putting on one helluva good show!  As per camera specs, I shot in color using the RAW (.NEF) setting on my Nikon D7000, and with the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D lens attached, I felt quite comfortable shooting in the low light with an aperture of 1.8, shutter speed at 1/250th of a second and ISO cranked up to 3200.  Needless to say, the Lightrrom 3 session afterwards was pretty close to that which took place for Sage Francis’ performance the night before in promotion of awareness for World AIDS Day.  Any feedback that comes to mind on these shots is welcome and if you like what you see here, please click through to view the full gallery.  I’m sure that there’s a lot more for me to learn, but if there’s any questions you might have, please don’t be afraid to ask below … or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter if that’s easier.  Thanks for checking out my art!

 

VIEW THE FULL SOULS OF MISCHIEF GALLERY HERE

 

Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley, Sparks, NV 2011-12-02
A great example of why seeing shows at The Alley is always a blast...
Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley, Sparks, NV 2011-12-02
Tajai standing tall and unleashing the flow...
Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley, Sparks, NV 2011-12-02
A-Plus showing fans some love in-between songs...
Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley, Sparks, NV 2011-12-02
Opio taking center stage early-on in Souls Of Mischief's headlining set...
Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley, Sparks, NV 2011-12-02
Appreciative fans throwing up the Hiero sign...
Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley, Sparks, NV 2011-12-02
Phesto sparking things up and getting mad props from the crowd...

 

Camera(s) Used:

Nikon D7000

Lens(es) Used:

Nikon 50mm f/1.8D


Go On, Treat Yourself to Something Nice!

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Super-Happy Funtastic Bonus Pics!!!

Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley, Sparks, NV 2011-12-02
The Hiero logo is hard to forget...
Souls Of Mischief @ The Alley, Sparks, NV 2011-12-02
A-Plus snapped from the back...

Photos: Sage Francis @ Knitting Factory Concert House

Sage Francis @ Knitting Factory Concert House, Reno, NV 2011-12-01
Sage Francis prominently poised with microphone in hand and cape tied tight...

Indie Hip-Hop legend Sage Francis is not only philanthropic with his wealth of verbal knowledge, but also quite so when it comes to offering performance for a cause.  Which cause you ask?  World AIDS Day.  The recent benefit show held at Knitting Factory Concert House saw this slam poet dj turned emcee give the city of Reno an extra-large helping of politically quotable and thought-inspiring verses, choruses and freestyles to chew on throughout this chilly post-Thanksgiving winters eve.  Brimming with creativity, live painting could be seen taking place all around the edges of the venue, along with sexual-awareness themed games and offerings throughout.  One thing which did throw us for a loop was that even though ‘safe-sex’ was being promoted, the free condom gift packs which were being distributed ended up all containing ‘magnum’ sized prophylactics … now don’t get me wrong, free condoms are better than no condoms, but MAGNUM sized condoms, really?  Most of which, from what I could spy, ended up either being stuffed in the upstairs booth cushions or got inflated and tied off at the end in the creation of makeshift patriot-looking balloon missiles.  Bomb’s away!!!

As far as my Nikon D7000 and  Nikon 50mm f/1.8D lens were concerned, Sage did move around a little fast during his caped crusade around the stage, but it wasn’t anything this fast and lightweight setup couldn’t handle.  Being the first concert I’ve shot in .NEF (RAW) format (I know, most photo geeks probably just dropped their jaws), the Lightrrom 3 session which followed was a big self-taught (and internet assisted) lesson in post-production and photo editing.  The amounts of color, clarity and contrast were just a few of the sliders which made up the process, and although there were plenty of bright lights to choose from, Sage’s onstage demeanor seemed to demand a handful of black and white depictions instead.  For these, the ‘develop’ process in Lightroom 3 went something like this: Enable Profile Corrections (Lens Corrections) >> Black & White >> Clarity >> Sharpening >> Fill Light >> Blacks >> Tone Curve.  I’m sure that there’s a lot more in store for me to learn in this software, and anyone reading this has a favorite to share, please do so below … or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter if that’s easier.

If you like what you see here, I’m pretty confident that you’ll enjoy the full gallery … so go ahead, click away and see why I Shoot Reno!

VIEW THE FULL SAGE FRANCIS GALLERY HERE

 

Sage Francis @ Knitting Factory Concert House, Reno, NV 2011-12-01
Sage Francis unleashing a poetic fury upon the crowd...
Sage Francis @ Knitting Factory Concert House, Reno, NV 2011-12-01
Sage Francis taking a quick breather after fully exhausting both himself and the crowd...
Sage Francis @ Knitting Factory Concert House, Reno, NV 2011-12-01
A packed house for Sage Francis' World AIDS Day benefit show at The Knit...
Sage Francis @ Knitting Factory Concert House, Reno, NV 2011-12-01
Sage showing the crowd a taste of why the ladies call him 'Sage Frenchkiss'...
Sage Francis @ Knitting Factory Concert House, Reno, NV 2011-12-01
An offering from the crowd which ended up going head-to-head with gravity...

Camera(s) Used:

Nikon D7000

Lens(es) Used:

Nikon 50mm f/1.8D


Go On, Treat Yourself to Something Nice!

Do you buy stuff online? Do you buy camera stuff online? If this post or anything else on ishootreno.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and making your next photo gear, music or general purchase through one of our affiliate links:

Every time our readers buy new gear through our affiliate links, it helps us bring to the table more of that which brought you here in the first place — the ‘money’ shots!

The best part?!  It doesn’t cost our readers anything extra to show their support!

If our readers do pick up some new gear, please drop us a line … we always love to hear about your new additions!

Comments, Praise, Feedback?  We’re all ears!

Please let us know what you thought of this post on ishootreno.com!

Super-Happy Funtastic Bonus Pics!!!

Sage Francis Crowd @ Knitting Factory Concert House, Reno, NV 2011-12-01
And the crowd goes wild for Sage Francis...
Sage Francis @ Knitting Factory Concert House, Reno, NV 2011-12-01
A still shot displaying on one of the many monitors adorning the walls at The Knit...