Blog Archives
Zappa Plays Zappa Photos by Seth Jacobson
Frank Zappa occupies a place that is singular and unique both in music and American culture in general. Whenever someone speaks so unabashedly from a place of freedom (as Frank did) it gives others the power to stand up and speak their truth as well. I am but one, in the crowded landscape of disenfranchised youth that discovered this incredible man, and found a bit of hope from the way he went about being unapologetically himself. Thank you for that gift Frank
I had the pleasure and honor of photographing the incredible Zappa Plays Zappa band at the historic Hampton Beach Casino Dweezil has done us all a huge favor by continuing to perform his father’s music live. A project he started about 10 years ago. I’ve seen every tour he has done so far and he continues to delight, inspire and surprise me. Special thanks to the incredible Kurt Morgan for bringing these photos to fruition. Kurt plays bass and sings with the ZPZ band. He was very generous with his time helping me to get connected with the group for this gig. The current tour is focused (for the 1st third of the show) on playing the entire One Size Fits All album. While wandering around the vast emptiness of the venue before the show with Kurt, we stumbled upon this Fat Maroonish Sofa, supported by boards of oak. We thought to ourselves, “Quite an attractive sofa, this sofa could be commercial” with a few margaritas and the right company…
Here are a quick set of portraits I created of Kurt before the show using the Fat Maroonish Sofa
Here are the photos of Sound Check before the show
The show that Zappa Plays Zappa puts on is second to none. I am continually blown away by the dedication to precision and accuracy all done with power and soul and tons of humor. Thanks Dweezil, Kurt, Ben, Chris, Sheila, and Ryan for a great show! Here are the photos
Portrait and Wedding photographer Seth Jacobson: self portraits with phone
My series of self portraits highlighting the disconnect that I see around me from the use of the little magic boxes we all carry with us. I am guilty of this myself from time to time. These images are meant to show me missing out on the beauty around me because I’m looking at my phone. To steal a quote from John Lennon, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans” I do love what my phone allows me to do. Please don’t mistake my intentions, I just need a reminder (as I believe many of us do) to put the phone down sometimes and take in the beauty around us
The Rhode Island Portrait Project: Bethany Geaber actress
I have another installment of my very exciting portrait project. I love my community and there are some amazing people making Rhode Island a wonderful place to live. I have decided to photograph the people who are really making “IT” happen here in my community in a (hopefully) creative and fun way that tells a story about who those people are and what they are doing for their little section of the world.
This is Bethany Geaber she is an actress. You can visit her website here We wanted to create a really unique portrait for Bethany. As an actress she has to transform herself into many different people to tell stories, and I really wanted to tell a short story with three characters. What do you think the story is? What just happened? What happens next? I am fascinated by these three ladies and by Bethany’s ability to change into different people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m77YrTvEyT4
The Rhode Island Portrait Project: John Ford
I have another installment of my very exciting portrait project. I love my community and there are some amazing people making Rhode Island a wonderful place to live. I have decided to photograph the people who are really making “IT” happen here in my community in a (hopefully) creative and fun way that tells a story about who those people are and what they are doing for their little section of the world.
This is John Ford he owns Manic Training John is a man who has helped me to change my body; I can now say with confidence that I am strong. I am turning 39 in a month, and all my life I have been very happy with the way that I looked and felt. I’m not one of those low self-esteem kind of people, but I have also known that I’m not a particularly physically strong person, either. So to reach middle age (oh my god really!!! middle age wow) and to have such a different view of myself is really a wonderful experience. This has come out of some really hard work. I owe that to John Ford and Manic Training. John is a patient teacher, the kind of trainer that will push you to the next level without being a jerk about it. Always attentive but never pushy. You can see by this photo that he takes his own health and well-being seriously. I am extremely proud of this portrait we created. If you have ever worked hard to achieve a goal, you know that there is struggle, determination and hope all mixed together. I feel that we got that across in this portrait.
Click on the photo to see it at its proper size and watch the video below to find out more about the project.
The Rhode Island Portrait Project Erich Manser Blind Triathlete
I have another installment of my very exciting portrait project. I love my community and there are some amazing people making Rhode Island a wonderful place to live. I have decided to photograph the people who are really making “IT” happen here in my community in a (hopefully) creative and fun way that tells a story about who those people are and what they are doing for their little section of the world.
This most recent portrait is of Erich Manser. Erich is an extra-ordinary individual. Not only is he a world-class athlete, but he is legally blind. When I 1st saw Erich in the “Firm Man” triathlon I was mystified 1st at how incredibly fast he was moving but also my mind spun thinking about the difficulty of what he was doing (swimming 1.2 miles in open ocean, running 13.1 miles and biking 56 miles) with out the sight that you and I enjoy and use to navigate the world. He has a limited vision and describes what he can see as looking through a pair of toilet paper rolls with wax paper covering the ends, and he is loosing his eyesight more with every passing day.He is guided through these races by another racer of equal or better athletic ability, they tie a rope to each other for the swim and he runs with his hand on the guides shoulder, and then they ride a tandem bike.
I really wanted to honor Erich with this portrait. We met to talk about the concept and he explained that before he has starting loosing his eyesight he had been a swimmer and now swimming is his strongest section of the race for him. So we decided to create this portrait in the water. We got up in the dark and went down to the Ocean and waited for the sun light to emerge. So the portrait was actually created before the sunrise in the pre-dawn light.
Here is a link to Erich’s Blog and some more info on his inspirational story.
Dig his tag line, “You don’t need eyesight to have vision” I can only hope my vision does justice to this great man.
Click on the photo to see it at its proper size and watch the video below to find out more about the project.
Tarbox Toyota Grand Opening Event!
I was proud to photograph the grand opening event for Tarbox Toyota in North Kingstown RI.
Ed Tarbox is a wonderful man who is making “IT” happen here in our beautiful state of Rhode Island. He recently built this beautiful building and put on a wonderful grand opening event. Here are some of the images I made from this great event!
Wedding Photos of Cranston Country Club
Taking advantage of the beautiful fog rolling in after a pretty overcast day, I created these two beautiful photos at Cranston CC tonight while second shooting for Kelly Meyer of KM photography We worked with the very fun Daylight Production Video company check out there website!
Which one do you like better? I can’t decide…
The Officers Club Newport Naval Base Wedding photo
I get to visit some of the most beautiful places on the planet with my job! This is the Newport Bridge viewed from the Officers Club on the Newport Naval base. I took this while at a wedding the night before Hurricane Irene stuck us what a wonderful job I have!!!
School Lantern Festival
Last week I joined the ranks of all the other parents in the world that have been to school functions for their children. This was the 1st of all of these types of events for me and it was pretty nice. The Waldorf School where my daughter goes here in beautiful RI has a lantern festival every year starting with a puppet show for the kids and then ends with everyone walking in the dark with lanterns and singing songs. It was very nice and here are the photos!
Karen and Phil wedding at the Towers in Narragansett
It was a very stormy day for Karen and Phil on their wedding day in Narragansett. But while the skies were dark the spirits were bright! And despite the weather we had a wonderful day and this beautiful couple ended the day as a married couple! The wedding ceremony was supposed to take place outside but that soon became clear that it simply wasn’t an option…
But we adjusted and moved it inside the Towers, no problem. It was a great day hosted at the Towers in Narragansett RI
The Flowers were by Weedweavers from Wakefield RI Beautiful as always Elaine!
Catering by Westbay Gourmet who ran the day flawlessly under difficult circumstances. Great job KC!
The music and entertainment was done by Jason from Music mixers and he never fails to get them up and dancing another slam dunk!!!
And here is a preview of some of the photos! Hope you like them as much as I do!!!
Aunt Carrie’s in Narragansett
I just had a wonderful Lobster sandwich from Aunt Carrie’s in Narragansett! If you don’t know about Aunt Carrie’s then you obviously aren’t a Rhode Islander…
The folks down there asked me to make a few post cards of some of my Rhode Island Images and put up some photos as well. I was very excited and honored to do this. I just dropped off a beautiful photo of the Towers in Narragansett and am making another of the Newport Bridge as we speak. Here is the photo I put up, go down to the New Aunt Carries Icecream shop and see it there!
Mike and Elisa
Mike and Elisa are a couple that just feels good when you meet them. You know what I mean. I am aware of the marriage stats and they aren’t good… But I have no worries when it comes to Mike and Elisa they are in love and it shows! We have been meeting for over a year now and now that the wedding has come and gone in a funny way I am a little sad because now it’s over. But I plan on being in their life for a long time to come, I hope! Mike is actually a great photographer himself and you can see his photos here I have had such a fun time talking shop with Mike every time we get together we “geek out” and put poor Elisa to sleep chatting about Photoshop/lightroom and apertures/shutter speed type stuff… Anyway we had the wedding yesterday at Aster’s Beechwood Mansion in Newport RI, and what an amazing day we had!!!
Ferns and Flowers provided the over the top beautiful flowers here is their website
Blackstone Caterers provided the food and as always very nice! Here is their website
Nancy Palino and the Black Tie band ROCKED the house I LOVE them!!! Here is their website