The New Standards Holiday Show

So I must admit, I've been a fan of them for many years, almost from the beginning, or at least their first time playing at the Dakota. The part about seeing them first, and then another time early on is what made me hesitant to go out and see their new work. To me, and it is jaded, I think of them as a small room acoustic stripped down jazz group, not a huge theater with guests and larger arrangements. That's not taking away from their music, what they do, or what they want to do, only that in mine mind the picture that I have of them is a bit different than some of the things they do now.

Also please excuse the photo quality for a moment, we were pretty much in the back row, my phone isn't too new, and I was more worried about enjoying the show than taking pictures.

Anyway my girlfriend was looking at something and stumbled on tickets to the second show. It's amazing that they even pretty much sold out a second show, and that they had to move venues to a larger place, and that the venue move was pretty late, only a month or so (I think) before the show. So we were able to get some tickets, all the way up at the back top level, and I geared up to see what this holiday show deal was all about.

Tell you what it turned out to be a great time, I'll post a link to a better write up about it on the bottom of this post, and I'd recommend the show to anyone and everyone (well maybe not younger kids). They brought on a great set of artists locally who did an amazing job, they had fun, and their covers are always a blast. Also, and wasn't expecting this, but Trip Shakespeare got back together for a few songs which was pretty fun to see as well.

So again, when it comes around next year I suggest to anyone that they get some tickets to this show, or listen to it when it's on the radio Christmas Eve and Day. 

A better review than I can write is here  -http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/blogs/234934471.html

Andrew 

www.andrewthomasevans.com | www.mplsfashion.com 

Smiling with your eyes, Squinching (by Peter Hurley), and other ways to pose for a headshot.

So, everyone always hears about how to pose, how to do expressions, how to move, and "smile with your eyes" has been around for a while. In fact, Peter Hurley did a video about it (which is long and I didn't make though most of it) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff7nltdBCHs - and a friend of mine commented on the video and the Model Mayhem thread "that must be a joke". I'm not going that far, as learning new expressions has advantages and it's own merits.

I get asked all kinds of stuff about expressions like that along with what to wear and all that sort of stuff. Thing of it is, I don't really have the answer, and doing odd (for you) expressions can and do look uncomfortable to a viewer. You don't want to walk into a interview for a job and have a half finished draft resume, likewise you wouldn't want to walk into a casting or meeting with a headshot that looks uncomfortable and forced.

My best advice to those getting headshots is to practice, learn how you want to present yourself, and look though your market and try to figure out what the person looking at your headshot wants to see. So if you're a model, are you going to do more commercial (as in everywhere but NYC and LA just about) or are you going for more of a fashion look. As a actor do you want more of a serious image, dark, light, funny, what do you think would fit into the roles you want to play? For a business person, what do your clients and consumers want to see, someone in a suit or more of a casual look?

I can help and give advice, believe me I can, but in the end it's really all about how you want to present yourself, who your viewer is, and what the market is like, and again, how you want to approach it. I can give direction, but the majority of choices are up to you and I'm here to help you get the best results you can.




Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com

Hurling, when you look it up, it's under "best sports ever" seriously!

I mean check it out!

These guys make our football players look like, well, I bet they could kick their butts!


Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com

Retouched on a iPhone?

So, I've been busy lately and my friend Jessica couldn't really wait to get images posted and ended up taking a few proofs and running them though her iPhone. This was a week or two ago, the shoot was a bit before that, and I'm still a bit busy to get to some of the fun shoots lately (snakes, dancers, fashion, oh my!) but honestly what she ended up doing was great.

I only wish they were higher resolution, maybe some day pushing a button can take the place of retouching (at least for common stuff). This isn't that bad of a thought actually, since a lot of us don't really do much "creative" with retouching, it's mostly cleaning things up a little and other minor stuff. Pushing a button would be great, and give me more time to put into shooting and my business.

Not saying these are the end all be all, and they will be replaced with ones I retouch sometime, but in the mean time they are pretty good.

Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com

Fitness photography meets fashion!

So the other week I had the pleasure to work with a great model, who is also in pretty good shape. I've wanted to try some fitness for a while but didn't have a chance to get around to it much this summer. I was either busy with clients, motorcycles, vacation, or it was way too hot to think about doing anything outdoors and outside of air conditioning.

This kind of shoot really doesn't take long, and I travel light enough that we were only at the location for maybe 30 min tops. It also helps that she is great to work with and we didn't really need to try much as far as poses to see what worked out and what didn't work out. Looking forward to setup a few shoots like this soon, then going after some more fitness style senior pictures or others who would need some more fitness style images.



Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com

Yes, this weather is bad - Yes we can still shoot portfolios in the studio!

The weather lately can go without really getting into details, but needless to say we haven't really had many great days to get outside and enjoy the start of summer - let alone do anything picture related. There is good news though, we can still do a lot in the studio and still set someone up with great images, and it's always swimsuit weather inside!



Andrew Thomas Evans
www.andrewthomasevans.com

New to modeling in Minneapolis Minnesota?

So, some may think that just because they are totally new to modeling that they won't get work or won't be successful. I just got word last week that a headshot client of mine a few months back, a gentleman in his late 40's to 50's was picked up by an agency here in town and got work. I think he did do some acting way back when, but nothing recently, and was pretty much new to it. This adds to what I keep saying, that a person only needs the desire to try more than anything else - and you never know what will happen unless you try.