Hold The Eye Images: June 2014

I did some photography at the Bottle Rock Music Festival last weekend in Napa. This is the second year of the festival and last year's terrific lineup fell a bit short this year. One of the dominating reasons I suspect was the bankruptcy of last year's management. The gossip is that none of the acts were paid last year, a scandal developed and this year the bands were paid upfront. Whatever the truth, I didn't think the event was great, not bad, but just OK. The food was the best I have seen at an event of this type, the people likewise were interesting, the bands so so. Now to be fair, my so so might be someone else's great. Most of the music was pop, so I like a better mix may be a more accurate statement. The parking was terrible, I had a VIP pass and I walked 20 minutes from my parking space to the event? The VIP pass was totally not worth it, you really received nothing of real value for the price. Certainly nothing free, no food, nothing to drink, no parking which all was implied in the package.

I did find some interesting subject to photograph. The cutest little girl at Farmstead in St. Helena, while eating dinner the first night. Leica M, Noctilux 50mm lens.

Now to the festival, the highlight were the attendees!

Yep, the guy above is getting a haircut at the event! At one point it crossed my mind for a chair and some shade.

Hoola hoops seem to be popular? They were definitely fun to watch.

And some people wore tee shirts that fit so nicely, made we want to jump up and scream "YES".

No words necessary for the picture above. And below, some couples just seem to go together.

I almost missed the shot below, it was pointed out to me and I thought wow, that hair weighs a ton and what trouble to wash.

I love people who dress up for events, making the whole experience more interesting.

Finally, this group of diverse headwear just had to be photographed.

You might ask about the guy above, well a hat and no shirt is an odd combination, or maybe no hair?

Now for some music photos. First Third Eye Blind in action.

Cracker

Graveyard Boots

The Deadlies, he looked like the 60's70's back again.

Smash Mouth

And for the most part, folks seemed to be having a great time to the music.

The crowds were big and got larger as the weekend progressed. The easiest day was Friday

My favorite band name was "Hurray for the Riff Raff"!

And they had smaller venues where locals played- Sielle

Rober Earl Keen in his white suit.

And every once in a while it seemed like head dress heaven..............what a photo spectacle.

The fans loved everybody, Robert Earl Keen leaves the stage as he concludes his set.

The fans were a photographers dream..................

Now for the good stuff; Gear!

I had two cameras with me, Leica M and a Nikon D800E. I carried each on separate days. For people photography I carried the Leica M with a 50mm Noctilux with a .9ND filter to cut down the sunlight. Shooting the bands, I used the Nikon D800E and an 80-400mm lens which worked terrifically. I also had a Nikon 24/1.4 with the Nikon kit for the people stuff if I happen to need it. I tried to stay close to the action. There were tons of professional and other photographers, here's a pick at the back of the stage for Smash Mouth.