Andrew Bisdale | Photographer

The Bishop Visits Grace Church - Jan. 15 2012

2012-01-20T22:34:00.005-05:00

Photo Shoot for Keren Tayar

2011-08-06T22:08:00.000-04:00

Here are some shots from a shoot I had with my friend Keren. She goes to Berklee College of Music up in Boston, and she's got some chops! Keep an eye out for her in the future.

The New Jersey Jackals

2011-08-06T22:03:00.001-04:00

Another Storm, Another Flood

2011-06-26T15:24:00.000-04:00

Shen Wei Dance Arts at the Met - June 6, 2011

2011-06-14T22:53:00.003-04:00

ARTICLE COMING SOON - (From the Met's Website:)
"Shen Wei Dance Arts performed in the Charles Engelhard Court as part of the Concerts & Lectures department's Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Series. Shen Wei is an award-winning choreographer, painter, designer, and photographer known for his dramatic choreography of the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing."

Glen Hansard Plays the Met, 5.26.11

2011-05-28T23:29:00.004-04:00

The other night I had another amazing opportunity to take pictures for the Spectrum, a great program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art organized by Christopher Gorman and Morgan Holzer. I've previously taken pictures for their Guster and Duke Special concerts. This time it was songwriter, Academy Award-winner and costar of the movie "Once," Glen Hansard (the broken-hearted-Hoover fixer-suckin' guy himself!), more commonly known as one half of The Swell Season, who played a concert in the museum's Temple of Dendur exhibit.

The show began with a walk through the museum's Guitar Heroes exhibit, which featured guitars and other stringed instruments crafted by John D'Angelico, James D'Aquisto and John Monteleone. These were some beautiful instruments - works of art themselves.

The crowd then filed into the Temple of Dendur, an ancient Egyptian site that was moved to its own giant exhibit at the museum in 1967. The temple was amazing in itself, but it also made for a beautiful performance space. Once the crowd was settled, and had kicked back a few beers, Morgan Holzer and Christopher Gorman raffled off 25 hand-crafted gig posters designed by Hero Design Studio, a company from Buffalo run by Mark Brickey and his wife, Beth Manos Brickey.

Glen finally worked his way through the crowd, which by now was on its feet. He played an amazing solo acoustic set, giving off more energy with a single voice/guitar than I've seen from five-piece, so-called "rock" bands. At one point he invited a young kid named Donovan Dwyer onstage to play a song (Christopher Gorman asked him after the set if that was planned, and Glen replied that he didn't even know the kid - he just saw him next to the stage with a guitar and invited him on up). Unfortunately I was in the middle of changing vantage points while all this happened, so my pictures of Donovan are a little blurry/shaky, but the moment was too great; I had to include a few shots. Hansard finished up his set sharing the stage with Mark Geary for a song, and serenading the crowd a capella with an old Irish folk song.

Once again, I found myself incredibly lucky to bear witness to another night of amazing music, performed by amazing musicians, and put on by some pretty amazing people. Also, by some twist of fate, I was asked to share my photos with Brooklyn Vegan, a very cool live music photo website. It's nights like these that help me validate all the stress and early hours of working for a yearbook photo company (that and the steady paychecks), and inspires me to keep taking pictures. Many thanks to everyone involved for the opportunity!

Anyway, without further ado, here are my shots from the night, including a hefty amount of HDR images. Hope you all like!

Trying My Hand at HDR

2011-05-28T22:45:00.000-04:00

After several years of trying, I've finally figured out how to make an HDR image (and by "figured out," I mean "downloaded a program that cranks them out with the push of a button). Like a kid who can't put down his new toy, it's been hard to stop making HDR images. Below is a gallery of images I've made in the past week or so. I'm letting myself go a little nuts with these pictures now, trying to get the excitement out of my system before I make a bad habit of relying on HDR. As cool as these pictures look, and as excited as I am to finally make them myself, I think it's important to keep the foundation of my work strictly journalistic. Otherwise I'll start feeling more like Cary Elwes and his sell-out storm chasers with the fancy black SUV's than Bill Paxton and his ragtag bunch of purist storm chasers (thanks for the pop culture reference, Twister).

That being said, I am still very much a fan of HDR images, and I look forward to making more (in moderation) in the future. I'll keep updating this post as a sort of HDR portfolio. Hope you like - enjoy!

From the Vault: Coldplay '08

2011-05-18T23:05:00.000-04:00

The other night I was digging around my hard drive for an old picture (I consider "old" any picture dating back to before my great Photoshop-to-Aperture transition of 2009), and I came across these pictures of Coldplay performing for the Today Show back in the summer of '08. This was right after I bought my first DSLR - before I had a website, or even a facebook page for my photography. I don't often go through my old pictures looking to republish or repost, but in this case I'm glad I did. I was able to polish up a few, and even include them in some portfolios.

Hanging Around the Met

2011-04-10T19:21:00.000-04:00

   The past few of months have been pretty interesting. On one hand, we had some nasty flooding, but on the other hand, I've had some amazing opportunities as an aspiring/up-and-coming/dude-with-a-camera photographer.
   It all started when I got tickets to see Guster perform at the Met with artist Jon Sarkin. Through a back-and-forth of emails with the co-chairs of Spectrum, I was able to attend the sound check and take pictures backstage. I had originally just wanted to bring my camera to the show, but now I got to meet the band, watch them rehearse, and eat their food! My pictures from the evening ended up getting posted on the Metropolitain Museum of Art's website, their flickr page and Jon Sarkin's website. Besides the obvious excitement about all this exposure, I feel incredibly lucky just to have had the chance to meet these incredible people -- some of whom just happen to be in one of my favorite bands ever.

   A few weeks later I was invited back to the Met to take pictures at a similar event. This time an irish musician named Duke Special was playing original songs inspired by photos from the Met's temporary exhibit, "Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand," which showcased the iconic photos of Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Paul Strand. The show consisted of Duke Special playing songs while the photos were displayed on several screens. Again, I found myself backstage with some more incredibly interesting people.

   Embarrassingly, I had never been to the Met just to look around and see the art. So finally, a few days ago, I hopped back over (rather, tunneled under) the Hudson River one day after work to check out the museum and take some pictures for their Get Closer contest. The point of the contest was to submit a picture of a complete piece of art as well as a close-up detail shot. I had a lot of fun with the assignment; here's the piece I ultimately submitted,

Chuck Close's "Lucas," 1986-87
Oil and pencil on canvas.

and here are some others that I almost submitted:

Andy Warhol's "Still Life," 1976
Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas.

Chuck Close's "Mark," 1978-79
Acrylic on canvas.

Georg Baselitz's "Adler im Fenster," 1982
Oil on canvas.

Jackson Pollock's "Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)," 1950
Enamel on canvas.

I'm currently waiting to hear back about the contest, but in any case I've finally been to the Met, and I've made some pretty cool diptychs!

That pretty much sums it up. The big highlights of 2011 so far: flood, Guster, Duke Special, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other than that I've just been working, living on the cheap and saving up for my long, expensive shopping list of out-of-date-equipment-in-need-of-replacing. Assuming you've read all the way to the bottom, thanks for reading!

Until next time!

If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise

2011-04-10T18:00:00.000-04:00

   Last month much of the Northeast US got hit with some really nasty floods. Major causes included heavy rains and a particularly high amount of snowmelt. In our neighborhood of Westwood, New Jersey we had an interesting additional factor.
   Many of the houses on my block, including mine, are situated in a flood zone. There is a creek running behind the houses that will often overflow with heavy rain. It's not unusual for one or several homes to get water in their backyards every once in a while. The real damage occurs when United Water, which operates the Woodcliff Lake reservoir, decides to open their flood gates to protect their facilities. The sudden surge of water will often, as was the case on March 7-8, send water flowing through yards and into houses.
   Usually homes in the affected areas will get a flood warning or a reverse 9-1-1 call when these situations are anticipated, but this evening there was little to no warning. Luckily I was still awake in my basement-level bedroom around 2:30am, when I noticed water coming under the doors. Had I been asleep at a reasonable hour I likely would have awoken to a nasty wet surprise.  I immediately began moving valuables upstairs and waking the rest of the family. From there we were racing against the continuously rising water to save anything salvageable. By the time the sun rose the water had finally begun to recede.
   One of my first instincts was to grab my camera and start taking pictures -- mostly for insurance purposes. But before long I realized there was a story unfolding as firefighters showed up on the scene to assist people trapped in houses, neighbors began helping each other, and reporters arrived with the sunlight to interview fatigued residents in their soaked pajamas. I decided to capture as much of the ordeal as possible while being very much part of the story myself.

I was glad I remembered this tip one of my photojournalism professors taught us for shooting in the rain: Wrap your camera in a zip-lock bag, cut a hole for the lens, and wrap everything in a rubber band. Thanks, Professor Lippincott!

I narrowed my pictures down to what I hope is a cohesive photo story, although I'm sure I missed some important shots while I was busy trying to save my Goosebumps books and guitar amps from flood water.

An Evening with Guster and Jon Sarkin

2011-02-28T04:12:00.001-05:00

Last Friday I had the amazing opportunity of shooting a sold out show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, featuring the music of Guster and the art of folk artist Jon Sarkin. I have been a huge Guster fan since the early 2000's, so this was a bit of a dream come true for me. While I was unfamiliar with Sarkin's work, throughout the evening I quickly became a fan of his as well. I also had the pleasure of meeting a number of interesting people, including Spectrum co-chairs Morgan Holzer and Chris Gorman; string players K Ishibashi and Dana Leong; and Amy Ellis Nutt, a writer for the Newark Star Ledger. All in all a pretty unforgettable evening - one I hope I was able to capture adequately in photos!

Below are some of my best shots from the night. (I'm using Flickr slideshows for the time being, until I can upgrade my Photoshelter account.)

Since I've Been Home:

2010-11-19T18:44:00.000-05:00

So I've been back home in Westwood, NJ since the end of August. I've started working at Davis Studio, a yearbook photo company that takes pictures for High Schools around the Tri-State area, as a traveling candid photographer. It's essentially a freelance position where I'll shoot football games, pep rallies, homecoming dances, etc. In the meantime, I've been taking my camera out on my own as much as possible; trying to come up with projects of my own, working on my technique and skills, and just taking pictures for the sake of taking pictures. So, here are some "What I've Been Up to Lately" galleries. Enjoy!

Miscellaneous
These are some random shots from here and there - some from around New York City, some from other spots in New Jersey, and one from my own front yard.

Your Sister's Canary, Fall 2010
My good friends from Your Sister's Canary have been playing shows around the Greater New York area all summer while I was in Boston, but I've finally been able to make it to some of their shows since I've been home. If you haven't already, I highly recommend Googling/Facebooking/Myspacing these guys.

Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear - Oct. 30, 2010
I'd been looking forward to The Rally to Restore Sanity and the March to Keep Fear Aliveever since Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert announced it back in September. I knew I wanted to approach the rally like a professional photojournalist, so when I realized it coincided with Halloween weekend, I had to think hard about how to look professional and still incorporate some sort of costume. In the end I was extremely happy with the result:

Peter Parker! Well...Peter-Parker-mid-costume-change-into-Spiderman. The costume was a hit at the rally, and I ended up posing for pictures with other rally-ers, and even struck up conversations with some other Marvel Universe heroes. At one point a student news group even interviewed me (as Peter Parker) on my thoughts on the rally. As for the rally itself, it was incredibly crowded, and although I got to the mall right next to the stage, I saw absolutely nothing on stage. There was plenty going on in the crowd though, so I ended up keeping my camera on the audience more than the stage:

New York City, Halloween 2010
After a sleepless weekend in Washington D.C. I took a bus back up to New York to get home. This happened to be on Halloween night, though, so I had to take advantage of the evening and document part of the evening. I ended up in the West Village to see Your Sister's Canary play at the Bitter End (see above), and saw some real colorful characters in the aftermath of the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade.

So that's what I've been up to since I've been home, as far as my photo-taking is concerned.

Until next time - Be well!
Andrew Bisdale

Press Pictures for Revival of ENTOMO

2010-10-18T02:08:00.004-04:00

Next January I'm taking part in a revival of a show called ENTOMO, which i took part in earlier this year. It was a senior thesis project of a few friends of mine, in which I acted and played bass guitar. The story is based on Euripides' The Bacchae, and is re-imagined as a modern-day musical featuring exclusively Beatles music.

Here are some promo illustrations I made for ENTOMO -- some are from the original production, and some have been re-worked for the revival:

Here are some production stills from the original show. These photos were taken by Sara Leopold and Alex Boyd.

More info on the show coming soon! Please feel free to send any questions or comments to entomoshow@gmail.com

NJ Photo Expo '10

2010-10-03T23:56:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures I took today at the New Jersey Photo Expo at the Park Ridge Marriott. This was my first Expo, which was put together by Bergen County Camera, and sponsored by Canon and Nikon. I personally went to seminars by Baron Wolman, the original Rolling Stone photographer; Bob Krist, a National Geographic travel photographer; and Ron Magill, a National Geographic wildlife photographer. The folks at BCC also had a great studio kit set up, where Models Lee Loo La and Isa Voros posed for any attendees who happened to have their cameras with them. All in all an amazing afternoon - thanks to everyone involved!

Wedding Portfolio

2010-09-15T18:54:00.001-04:00

Here is a portfolio I've put together from the two weddings I shot during the summer of 2009. I shot both weddings independently, including ceremonies, posed portraits and receptions. I used minimal equipment for each wedding, and used a journalistic approach of capturing moments rather than a conventional commercial approach. I found this provided unpredictable, but genuine and organic moments.

I chose photos that show my ability to capture the traditional wedding moments as well as the fun, unexpected candid ones. I am currently seeking employment involving photography in some form, so
if you like my portfolio, please consider me for your next event. I would also be interested in working with an established wedding/event photo company, or a photographer's assistant. Please contact me with any comments or inquiries!

Recent Portraits

2010-02-22T00:56:00.005-05:00

Here are some recent portraits I've taken, including some studio setups, events, headshots, candids and environmental portraits.

Recent Portraits - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Chinatown, 2.17.10

2010-02-22T00:53:00.003-05:00

Some features from an afternoon in Boston's Chinatown.

Chinatown - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Vermont

2010-02-22T00:43:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago I went to Bromley Mountain in Peru, Vermont for the weekend. Without enough money to rent skiis, I decided to snowshoe around the mountain and take pictures instead.

Vermont, 1.18.10 - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Portraits

2009-04-24T16:04:00.000-04:00

Portraits - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Boston Press Photographers Association 2008 College Contest Submissions

2009-04-23T22:00:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures I submitted to the Boston Press Photographer Association's 2008 College Photo Contest. I won first and third place in the Portrait category, and third place in the News category.
BPPA - Images by Andrew Bisdale

People

2009-04-23T21:45:00.000-04:00

Mostly candids.

People - Images by Andrew Bisdale

WTBU Goes to The Great Scott

2009-04-23T21:13:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures from the WTBU show at the Great Scott in Allston, MA.

WTBU Great Scott Show - Images by Andrew Bisdale

BU On Broadway Presents: Songs for a New World

2009-04-23T20:43:00.000-04:00

BU OB Songs for a New World - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Boston Comic Con - April 2009

2009-04-22T23:27:00.001-04:00

Boston Comic Con - Images by Andrew Bisdale

BU On Broadway Presents: HAIR

2009-04-22T23:27:00.000-04:00

This is a photo story I did following the production of BU On Broadway's Spring 2009 production of Hair.
BU OB Hair - Images by Andrew Bisdale

The Core Curriculum Presents: Hamlet

2009-04-22T23:26:00.000-04:00

This is a photo story I did following the production of the BU Core Curriculum's production of Hamlet. This is the Core's first student-run production. It was directed by Jessi McCarthy and Alexa Corriea, and featured both student and faculty actors.

Hamlet - Images by Andrew Bisdale

CODE: Motion

2009-04-22T23:25:00.000-04:00

CODE: Motion - Images by Andrew Bisdale

BU On Broadway Presents: Cabaret

2009-04-22T23:23:00.000-04:00

From the final dress rehearsal of BU On Broadway's fall 2008 production of Cabaret.
BU OB Cabaret - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Protest Against Proposition 8 - 11.15.08

2009-04-22T23:22:00.000-04:00

Protest at Government Center in Boston, demonstrating against the newly approved Proposition 8 which denied citizens of California gay marriage rights.

Protest Prop 8 - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Protest Against War in Iraq - 10.11.08

2009-04-22T23:21:00.000-04:00

Protest in Back Bay against the war in Iraq - held on Oct. 11, the anniversary of the Congressional approval of the "Iraq War Resolution," which granted the Bush administration the authority to invade Iraq.

Protest Iraq War - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Some Film Pictures

2009-04-22T23:20:00.000-04:00

This is an assorted collection of film pictures I've taken since last winter. Some are better than others.

Film - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Summer 2008

2009-04-22T23:10:00.000-04:00

These are some assorted pictures from last summer. They're from Boston, New York City and New Jersey.

Summer 2008 - Images by Andrew Bisdale

New York City

2009-04-22T22:19:00.000-04:00

Some of the oldest pictures that I still have.
Old NYC - Images by Andrew Bisdale

Colorado

2009-04-22T22:17:00.000-04:00

Pictures from various trips to Colorado. These are rather old, and all taken with a point-and-shoot digital camera of some sort.
Colorado - Images by Andrew Bisdale