Portra 400 medium

Moving on, second medium format roll. All 12 of these pictures were taken during the first annual ‘Hawk Dawg hot dog eating contest hosted at The Mohawk on July 4th. Since all of these pictures occurred on the same day I decided to label this roll post on the day it happened instead of when I got the roll back which was July 31st where the next rolls will be. Since it was the first ‘Hawk Dawg, we’ll see if it continues to be a yearly tradition. But given the turnout, it seems entirely possible. In addition to a few rounds of people slamming hot dogs down their throats there were 3 performances by local bands Farmer’s Wife, Party Van, and Die Spitz. Honestly, I went because it sounded a bit ridiculous and I kinda wanted to see Die Spitz again.

Ever since the Bourgeouis Mystics show I have been going around and being more varied in my positioning while taking pictures, and this set of pictures really shows that off. A couple are right up close to the stage but most of them are taken from all sorts of different angles and positions.

This first pair of pictures are of Farmer’s Wife. The first picture is taken from further up on one of the balcony areas while the second is taken from ground level, obviously a few rows deep. Honestly, I’m not super interested in either picture. I wouldn’t say they’re particularly bad, but they just aren’t particularly interesting either. I do like using the crowd and if I were to pick, I think I prefer the second picture. There’s a groundedness to it that I like as opposed to the more top down approach in the first picture.

For the next picture we’ve got the only hot dog eating related picture. Honestly, I kinda like the picture. Let’s set aside the purple line running down the picture, this will happen a few more times and is a result of my scanner. I could rescan but I’m not gonna, so get over it. Ultimately, this picture isn’t super interesting but I do like the clipboard of the judge just off frame. I like the expressions and the moment. Altogether it’s a fun and descriptive picture.

Next up is the first of 4 pictures of Party Van. I like this picture. I’d definitely prefer it to be a bit sharper but overall I like it. The expression and action is fun and exciting. The angle and setup matches the action and yea I like the picture.

While the next picture is sharper I don’t really like it as much as the previous one. It’s just a bit pedestrian in comparison. I was definitely having a hard time figuring out how to best make use of the really large field of view when up close to the stage. As a result, I’m not really sure if I like being so up close with this camera. That said, if these shows weren’t happening during the middle of the day I almost certainly wouldn’t have taken this camera at all.

The next picture is maybe my favorite of the entire roll. Taken from the set of stairs on the left side of the venue, it’s just a lot of fun. It’s very clearly two pictures that fit together and both of them are memorable. On stage is Party Van in a strong power pose. And up front is a fun shot of the crowd. Notably, the bassist of Die Spitz has her drink up and splashing and the cameras are out. It’s a fun and exciting picture. Since I noted the cameras, there were so many people with cameras at this event. I imagine at least some of that is due to it being an inaugural event and some of it is probably due to it happening on July 4th.

I’m gonna go ahead and ignore the next picture. It’s pretty bland and there isn’t much to talk about. Just a bit pedestrian.

To close out are 5 pictures taken during the Die Spitz set. This first one is alright. I feel like I wanted more out of this vantage point but honestly this picture isn’t that interesting.

This second picture on the other hand is more interesting. I’ve talked about this before but Die Spitz is one of those bands that just seems to bring out the energy of a crowd. They just have a very mosh pit kind of energy and a portion of their fanbase really brings it out. I do wish I would’ve had a bit longer of a shutter speed to really ramp up some of the motion blur but this picture isn’t too bad on that front. I’m not entirely satisfied with this picture but given the fact that I’m usually on ground level and closer to that, I’m pretty happy with what I got and that I wasn’t in it.

Getting back to that vantage point in the first of these, I like this one more. The posing is more interesting and I feel like the orientation of bassist, guitar, and drums in a line like this works well. In actuality, if I were to crop in so we just have those the guitarist and drummer, the picture is really clean and really nice. That said, there is that person in the back which is a bit disappointing but that’s life, sometimes people end up in odd places in pictures.

Honestly this next picture is just as much about the line of cameras as it is about the band. While I do enjoy how the band is oriented and the intensity on the bassist’s face, this picture really is about the juxtaposition of the cameras crowding the front with the band on stage.

To finish out the event and the day is this fun picture. Similar to that picture of Party Van, this is effectively two pictures stitched together in one. On stage you have Die Spitz rocking out. And in the front of the frame is a pair of ladies crowd surfing. Once again, this is a picture that I am happy I got and one where I’m happy I chose to move away from the front of the stage. This picture isn’t possible from that spot, it’s really only possible from where I was, up a good amount on the stairs off left. One thing I find myself doing is looking at where cameras are pointed and imagining the pictures being taken. In this picture I count seven phones/cameras. Of which there’s one on the opposing balcony which appears to be more pointed at the crowd than the stage. As a result it might be a similar picture to this one but inverted. Of the remaining 6, one is pointed at the stage and the other 5 look to be pointed at the crowd surfers. Ultimately, I think all of those pictures are probably pretty decent but I like this one a lot too. There’s something really nice about having everything together and expressed in one image. Since it does feel like two distinct pictures, it doesn’t feel overly cluttered even though it’s extremely dense. If there’s one thing I’d nitpick about I wish I had chosen a spot to focus better. Neither the stage nor the crowd surfers are particularly in focus and I’m not super happy about that. I actually like the crowd surfers being out of focus but the stage isn’t adequately in focus to be a good counterbalance.

Anyways, that’s a lot to say about one picture out of 12. But that’s it for this roll. I’m writing this before the individual posts, but there are a few rolls after this one and given those posts, I think they’re worth a look too.