I have some time on my hands this morning (I’ll explain that later), so I thought it was a good time to write a rambling blog post on my website. If you’re not into that kind of thing (you really should be), I’ll cut to the chase.

This year I’m going to be shooting photos at The Canadian Indie Music Fest here in Belleville. The lineup is going to be amazing again this year and I can’t wait. But the real news is that Danny Sheppard Photography is an official sponsor this year. That means that in addition to shooting the event I’ll also have a merch table, how cool is that! So come check out the festival this year and support indie music. While you’re there, drop by and check out some of my photos for sale! You get to watch some amazing live music AND go home with pretty photo too. You can’t beat that 🙂

Now that we have the important stuff out of the way, lets continue shall we?

Last fall, my wife mentioned to me that she had heard about a concert that was being put together by local band Rye And Silence. Being a curious sort and a lover of music I thought I’d check it out. As it turns out this concert was actually the first ever Canadian Indie Music Fest featuring a ton of local independent music. I found myself digging around the interweb and Facebook to find out more about these bands. It did not take me long to come to the conclusion that I had to go see this event.

Rye And Silence

That was that… I was going to see a festival. But then I thought about how I had been wanting to start doing some concert photography. Then, as I often do, I talked a lot about how I’d like to go shoot some pictures at this festival… wouldn’t that be fun? Then I talked some more, and then some more. Then I talked about it a little bit more until my wife pushed me to ask for a photo pass. Then I talked about that for a bit. Then I actually did it. The initial reply I got was “What publication are you with?”… uh-oh. Publication? I knew that would happen! Of course I had no publication, but that was cool I got in anyway (thanks guys!).

The Dead Sparrows

That show was my first real experience shooting a live concert and I really didn’t want to mess it up. I was so excited and really worked hard to get some great images of these bands. In the end it really paid off. I ended up with some images that I was really happy with, and more importantly the bands were happy! I’m going to be there again this year and get some even better pictures, just you wait and see.

As if the show wasn’t amazing enough last year, this year it’s part of The Belleville Waterfront and Ethnic Festival. How great is that? But wait there’s more. There’s also going to be a battle of the bands to fill a spot at the festival. So that’s two concerts. Plus there will be food….. many many foods

Sorry, the only picture of food I have is of this chip truck (which was awesome). But this was taken at the festival last year, so there it is.

Let’s recap. On July 12th, you will be at West Zwick’s Park. While there you will:

• Enjoy an amazing independent music festival with some of the best bands around.
• Eat copious amounts of food.
• Be supporting independent musicians. They really do like that sort of thing.
• Drop by my merch table and buy a picture. I like that sort of thing.
• Enjoy more music.