I knew that the first annual Santa Cruz NEXT award ceremony, aka the NEXTies, would be a big, fun party. But I wasn’t expecting the venue to be quite so fabulously decked out. Walking into that room felt like boarding some kind of super-hip spaceship, and I was astounded by what they were able to create from blank industrial space. I don’t think my photos really do it justice, but you’ll get the idea. All of this amazing design work was done by Nielsen Architects, a talented Santa Cruz group that includes Timerie Gordon, who blogged about preparing for this event with no budget and a lot of hard labor. The light fixtures were made from wine barrels and were constructed by artist Maurice Connolly. And the projected light installations were crafted by people from Digital Arts and New Media (DANM) at UCSC.

I shot this event alone, as Patrick was working late hours preparing for our appearance at the rapidly approaching Santa Cruz Bridal Expo. Usually at an event like this, one of us will use a flash and the other one will shoot with available light only. As the sole photographer, I came prepared to switch back and forth between those two modes of shooting. But when I saw how creative the venue lighting was, and how successfully the right mood had been conjured by the designers, I couldn’t bear to ruin it with bright flashes. I used available light only for most of the night, which meant shooting at maximum ISO and letting the shutter drag for the wide-angle shots.

Since that night, I’ve learned a few new techniques that will allow me to use a flash without destroying the ambiance of a room. I’m still working on those techniques. I have a very strong natural inclination towards sticking with available light because I love the sense of reality it lends to a photograph. But there were plenty of things I couldn’t get good photos of with the light that was there, such as the delicious food offered by various local gourmet vendors. (Of which I only sampled a tiny bit, because of the danger of leaving greasy fingerprints on my lens. However, I couldn’t turn down the dessert that involved bacon tucked into strawberries.)

The award ceremony itself was easier to shoot because the winners were on stage, under spotlights. The winners (click their names to view their sites): Marina Sousa, Reyna Ruiz, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, and Danny Keith. If you want to read more about who they are and why they won, this Good Times article has great profiles and photos of the four winners. The ceremony featured video profiles of the winners created by SoWat TV, and you can view those videos in this Santa Cruz NEXT blog post.

A band called Persephone’s Bees took over after the ceremony, and they rocked. I had to leave during the break between their sets, to go home and get some sleep before the next few days of Bridal Expo prep. But what I saw and heard of Persephone’s Bees was impressive and the party seemed to be just getting started when I walked out the door.

A belated congratulations to everyone who was a part of creating this event!

On a side note, no party is really ever complete without Jeffrey Kongslie, which is why he appears at least three times in the photos below.

Seen in some shop windows in downtown Santa Cruz:

The Red Bats are pleased to announce that we have had our very first gallery showing! This past Friday was the opening of a show with the theme of “Art Inspired by Music and Music-Inspiring Art” at the Mill Gallery here in lovely Santa Cruz. We have managed to photograph some wonderful musicians in the year and change that we’ve been in business, and this show gave us a chance to highlight some of our favorite photos.

The artist we primarily focused on for this show is our pal Hod Hulphers, and we were lucky enough to place many photos of Hod on a column smack-dab in the middle of the entry to the gallery. If you stop by, you can’t miss it. It’s The Tower of Hod.

We’ve mentioned Hod a few times, so regular readers will be familiar with him, but – and I hope you’ll indulge me as I put on my Artiste Hat here – Hod is much more than a musician. Hod is an enigma. A chimera, if you will. We’ve photographed Hod doing a wide variety of odd things…Hod singing and playing his guitar in a tree, Hod suggestively eyeing a panty-clad stump, even Hod setting his lawn on fire. In short, Hod is pretty awesome. We hope you think so, too.

You can hear some of Hod’s songs here, from his album 1/2 Odar.

We also included some photos from a show by Birds Fled From Me, who made a big impression on Rebecca back in April.

For interested locals, our photos will be on display at the Mill Gallery for at least another week or two, or whenever they decide to switch them out. Come and see our work, and bow before the Tower of Hod!