A Lovely Little Band Called The NRI's

As many of you know, my husband, Mike, is a musician.  And being married to a musician means I know several musicians.  It also means I get to photograph these musicians (yay!).  Enter: The NRI's! If you saw my blog post on We Were Pirates (my husbands band) then you'll likely recognize Mr. Gabe Fry in these band photos, as he's in The NRI's as well!  In fact, this shoot for their new CD came directly from his brain, as this amazing wall (the location of our shoot) is not far from his house!  I went against my better judgement and let Gabe talk me into doing these shots in crazy bright sunlight.  I understood he wanted everything to look bright and punchy, but I knew everyone would be Squinty McGee's!  But somehow, someway, we made it work and I think the photos turned out great.  The original idea was to make the spray painted "The" on the wall part of the band name "The NRI's," so in my head I was trying to create a composition where there was a little space for "NRI's" to go in the design of their CD/promotional materials.  In the end, the "The" got nixed, but I still think it turned out great due to Jesse's design skillz (Jesse being another band member).  Tonight is The NRI's CD release show at the Red Palace, and I cannot wait to see how this photo looks on their CD's and posters!  So if you don't have too much going on this evening, you can come out and hear them play awesome music and get to shake the hand of the photographer who took their photos.  ME!  Ha ha ha!  No, but really, you should come out to their show.  Doors open at 8:30 and show to follow at 9:30!

So, without further ado, meet Gabe, Nayan, Shawn, Jesse, Audrey and Melanie of The NRI's.  Here's the progression of the "winning photo!"

I asked Gabe to go get us a guitar from the car, and shot this little gem as he was running to go get it:

I loved how that looked, so we had him run with the guitar.  The rest of the band gave him high-fives occasionally:

Then we got the winning shot, just after the previous.  This is edited up to look super sassy:

And below is the shot all done up for promotion!  Isn't it pretty?  (Click to view a bit larger.)

This is the shot immediately after the winning one.  Just not as awesome:

And below are some out-takes.  Aren't they a lovely group?

Of course, we made Gabe run, so then I forced everyone to run too.  Ah, the powerful hand of the photographer!  Shots below...

They used some of these below shadows shots for promotional purposes too.  Whee!

I hope you enjoyed these and I hope to see everyone at the show tonight!  Yay!

Love,

Lisa

A Lovely Little Band Called We Were Pirates

I am a lucky gal to be married to frontman Mike Boggs of We Were Pirates.  Not only is he a strikingly handsome dude, but he plays and records honestly good music, of which I get to hear every so often (and by "every so often" I mean every day  *grin*).  Well, I'm blogging on this super talented guy and his bandmates that will be accompanying him this Sunday, February 13 for a show at the Black Cat!  The photos below are a good representation of just how attractive this team of former pirates is, so consider yourself lucky if you get to feast your eyes on this rock 'n' roll eye candy.  Enjoy the photos below (from their recent Rock N Roll Hotel show), and for deets on the show, scroll to the bottom! (Oh, and if you have a moment or so, vote for them at Artist of the Month for DC/Baltimore bands in the Deli Magazine contest!  Yay!)

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We Were Pirates....The Black Cat....Sunday February 13th....8:30pm....The Silver Liners....Time Travel....You....All Your Friends....$8....

We are going to play so much rock and roll music that everyone will lose their minds and cry. For those who cry, it will be embarrassing, but I think we will all grow emotionally....because of the rock.

http://www.blackcatdc.com/

Come and hang out with us and listen to the glorious rock and roll music.

http://www.wewerepiratesmusic.com/ http://www.facebook.com/wewerepirates http://www.twitter.com/wwpmusic

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Thanks for looking!

Lisa

Ellen and Steve’s Rockwood Manor, Potomac Maryland Wedding!

I recently had the honor of photographing Ellen and Steve's weddding at Rockwood Manor in Potomac, MD...and their wedding was nothing short of amazing! It had so many elements to it, that it's really hard to know where to begin! First off, Ellen was totally into the DIY mindset, especially because's a graphic designer and knows how to run with a theme. She incorporated lots of colorful patterns and fabric that were echoed in everything from her wedding tree poster to her cupcakes! They also added the element of music into the color scheme, which you'll see in the place cards that people had corresponding to different music equipment manufacturers (Gibson, Pearl, Steinway, etc.). Not only that, but they had a grooms cake that was a banjo! It was genius! And of course they had plenty of bands play at the reception (Steve included in one!), which really brought the whole night together.

My favorite part of the night was probably when the whole wedding was over and we went down to a bonfire that was on the grounds! All the guests got to bring their wedding favors, which were boxes with s'more ingredients inside! In the boxes were some super creative s'more recipes that I had never seen before (you know, I'm your typical plain Jane when it comes to s'mores), along with some unique candy and marshmallows...and people loved eating them at the bonfire! People also broke out cigars for the occasion, but the biggest surprise at the bonfire was...wait for it...fire breathers! *gasp!* I knoooooooooooow! Ellen's step-brothers are actual fire breathers, and one of the guests just so happened to get exactly what they needed in order to put on a little show for us. How cool is that?! You'll see in the shots below that it was pretty amazing. Especially when they pass the fire to one another (the three panel). Just incredible!

I could go on and on about how much I loved this wedding in terms of the people and the photographic opportunities, but I won't! I just want to say thank you to Ellen and Steve, their families, and all their friends who made the wedding so wonderful and such a pleasure to photograph. Also, many thanks to Anna and Anne of Graceful Weddings for keeping the day running smoothly for everyone. Enjoy the photos below!

Thanks for looking!

Love,

Lisa

Lisa Boggs Wins Accolade of Excellence in the 2010 WPPI 1st Half International Photography Competition

I'm not a person who typically enters competitions. In fact, I haven't entered a real competition since college, when I was competing with my peers in fine art. But, this year I thought I'd take a stab entering 2010 WPPI 1st Half International Photography Competition. I was pleased to find out recently that I received an Accolade of Excellence in the competition for a portrait I had taken! I entitled it "Laura B." and it's from the shoot I did of my cousin-in-law for her band, The Mynabirds. Here's the release from WPPI about the win: Lisa Boggs Wins Accolade of Excellence  in the 2010 WPPI 1st Half International Photography Competition

Lisa Boggs of Great Falls, VA, has received special honors in the WEDDING & PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS INTERNATIONAL 2010 WPPI 1st Half International Photography Competition.  Designed to recognize outstanding photographers, the judging was held in Culver City, CA on September, 2010.

"Laura B." received an Accolade of Excellence in the Individual category.

Boggs competed against an international field of photographers to win such honors.

The WPPI 1st Half International Photography Competition awards are presented each year at the largest trade show, educational platform and convention in the United States for professional photographers.  The 2010 competition included 2511 images in 17 different categories submitted by photographers from all over the world.

Aaaaaaaand here's the photo!

You can also view the blog post I did on Laura's photo shoot here and if you would like to explore her ridiculously awesome music (she's been on tour with David Bazan!), please go here.

Hurray! Thanks for reading!

Lisa