Meet Reid Simpson

Photographer Reid Simpson took photos for:

All Together Now #8 on 11/4/2017 to be posted soon!
All Together Now #3 on 8/27/2016
All Together Now #2 on 6/25/2016

Artist Q&A

Q: What drew you to photography?

A: My dad took a lot of pictures with slide film, recording family activities. I followed the example as a teen, mainly for Boy Scout events, not unlike what I do at concerts these days. In college, I started expressing more “artsy” views with textures and light effects with a 35mm Olympus OM-2n and a 50mm f1.8 lens.

Q: What do you try to achieve with your photographs?

A: For concert and event shoots, I want to catch the passion and craft of the performers. Expressions, movement, fingers, eyes, flexed sinew, flying hair… whatever evokes a memory of the moment.

Q: What do you think people feel when a camera is pointed at them?

A: By avoiding intrusion on the artist/perceiver connection, I’m trying to avoid forcing the performers to react to the camera. At a previous ATN, I quizzed Jaypix Belmer about subject engagement; I learned that it’s as easy as making the person comfortable with a smile, with the camera down, before starting to shoot. I’m still working on that.

Q: What will you be thinking about going into this All Together Now performance?

A: I’ve shot informally at other ATN events (and hundreds of shows), so I’m comfortable with the general staged performance environment. Music and spoken activities are instinctive for me now, but I’m expecting to be challenged technically and artistically by Amanda Graff and Muhammad Seven. Stretching my skills, camera and personal, is a big reason why I’ve participated in the ATN!

Meet Jon Beckley

Photographer Jon Beckley took photos for:

All Together Now #7 on 9/30/2017
All Together Now #5 on 5/27/2017

Artist Q&A:

Q: What do you try to achieve with your photographs?

A: I try to capture the emotion and feel of a performance which can be really hard as it needs to be single moment that not only shows the feeling of the performance, but ideally it’s also a good photograph which could stand on its’ own just for anyone looking at it.

Q: What’s the hardest part of shooting a live event?

A: Getting to know the performers and having everything click for that perfect moment. I try to line up my compositions and then watch them for a little bit, even in the space of a song you can get an idea of what they’ll do during the chorus or another major moment. But this also can change a lot during the course of a set and things can come back quickly so knowing when to shoot becomes almost a reflex.

Q: What’s your earliest memory with a camera?

A: It’s not actually with a physical camera, I started on this path via 3D modeling and animation when I was 12 and through those programs I had to control the camera position, settings, and lighting for the scene so it actually gave me a lot of skills that I’d later use in my photography. It wasn’t until I was 19 that I got my first camera and started experimenting with it.

Q: What drew you to photography?

A: Initially it was to create texture maps for my 3D work, but I quickly found that I could capture a scene almost instantly with the camera VS spending large amounts of time building it from scratch. Soon after I brought it to a Dresden Dolls show and I was hooked, concert photography is what really propelled me early on. I also had the benefit of being in art school at the time so I was able to dive in head first into it and had the help of some great professors.

 

Meet Jaypix

Photographer Jaypix Belmer took photos for All Together Now on 4/29/2017.

Artist Quotes:

“I try to achieve something true and worth questioning in photography – this allows transition and builds self confidence – feeling is believing.”

“Having connections with people through photography allows me to acknowledge and express Visual Soul. Showing how authentic individuals are in their moment and entirety is how I pursue the image.”

Artist Q&A:

Q: Do you put yourself in a particular head space to shoot an event?
A: When at an event I go with the flow and energy of the room. Whatever the circumstance stance is, I adapt to it.

Q: What do you think people feel when a camera is pointed at them?
A: I think people feel noticed. But it depends on who’s pointing the camera.

Q: What’s the hardest part of shooting a live event?
A: Squeezing and finessing through the crowd at a packed event when you’re not on stage and you want a center shot.

Q: What kind of images from a live event are you the most proud of?
A: All of them. I’m proud to meet & acknowledge the people that I photograph.

Meet Didi Delgado

Didi Delgado performs for All Together Now #4 on April 29, 2017 at the Lily Pad at 9pm.

DiDi Delgado is a writer, activist, freelance journalist and poet. She is currently Head of Operations at S.O.U.P (The Society Of Urban Poetry) a collective of artists and musicians whose mission statement, is to help shed light on the diversity amongst creative individuals and groups across gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, faith, ability, age; and aims to bridge the gaps between these intersectionalities. She has facilitated writing workshops at the Haley House and the Dudley Café in Dudley Square. She has served on the leadership team for the ACLU’s BCPA Committee, the Boston Branch of the NAACP’s Young Adult Committee.

As an organizer with Black Lives Matter Cambridge, she is constantly on the front lines blazing pathways, creating channels and fostering connections in support of other activists. She is the recipient of the 2015 Jack Powers Stone Soup Savor award which is awarded annually to one poet that serves the Boston and Cambridge communities as a mentor while consistently providing distinguished contributions to the art of poetry. DiDi has participated in Michael Rothenberg’s 100,000 Poets for Change, adjudicated with Boston Poet Laureate and others for the 2015 Mayor’s Poetry and Prose program, performed for various venues such as: Boston Center for Arts, Boston City Hall, Emerson College performing under the direction of Akiba Abaka and Walter Mosley, Boston City Councilor At Large Ayanna Pressley’s Jump Into Peace initiative and co-curated an event for Illuminus during Hubweek 2015. Deeply passionate about both her local and global community; she believes that poetry and activism go hand in hand.

http://www.soupboston.com

Meet Jeremy Stamas

Jeremy Stamas premiered an original film piece at the first All Together Now on April 23rd.

Jeremy Stamas :: Experimental Film :: Boston
Jeremy has been shooting and editing video since he was old enough to steal his Dad’s Betamax camcorder. He studied film at Bard College and he lives in Somerville, MA.

Artist Statements:

“When I was in high school and college my friends and I recorded video of everything. Going back and working with this footage, even just re-experiencing it as a viewer many years later, has a strong impact on my work. The challenge is finding a compelling way to share these essentially private artifacts with an audience of strangers who have no personal connection to the footage.”

“We only have one chance to experience a work of art for the very first time. And that first experience is often the most memorable, if not our only experience with that particular work. But all art changes dramatically over time. This evolution, both on a personal level and by society as a whole, has always fascinated me.”