Keith Jarrett solo - Time on My Hands

Absolutely sublime.. at the Carnegie Hall, September 2005.

The Man in the Mirror, The Boy in his dreams

Picture Courtesy Sony Records

June 25, 2009 is the day Michael Jackson, 50, died. He has influenced modern music with his style of songs, dance moves, theatrical performances, and music videos. Dubbed the King of Pop, he brought us the Moonwalk and Crotch-grabbing dance moves, white gloves and hat, Billie Jean, Ben, Earth Song, Thriller, Bad, plastic surgery, Neverland, and a whole lot more. Surely his music will always be with us.

Estrella - Stay

Just came across a local indie pop group called Estrella over at Susan Loone's blog, and watched the video of their current single, Stay which I think deserves some recognition! Will check out their first album when I get back to Malaysia.

Its Carnival Time!

Every bank holiday weekend in August since 1966, the streets in Notting Hill in West London play host to Europe's largest street party, The Notting Hill Carnival, (the second largest party in the world after Rio's).

With over 1 million people over the 2 days, many visitors, locals and tourists alike brave the sardine-packed streets to experience the mega sound systems, the colourful costumes, floats, Samba dancers, drummers, Chinese acrobats and of course the food the drink ala Caribbean-style.

Rum punch, brandy shots and jerk chicken with rice and peas, fried plantain, and lots and lots of beer thrown in or up, whichever suits your fancy.

I arrived early and walked the back streets and prep areas before the actual float parade started at noon. I usually prefer this routine than to come later and get stuck at the many bottle-necked entry points the police have set up to control the flow of people.

This way I get to photograph the performers getting ready and just chilling out in anticipation of their street performance for the rest of the day.

I intended to focus on faces and got a few that I like, just carrying my favourite portrait lens, the 85mm f1.8. Setting the aperture to f2.0 and getting up close would create a nice background blur to isolate the face from the often distracting background of street furniture and buildings. I also brought along my small Ricoh GRD2 to capture the wider scenes of the days, which was invaluable as i can often get real close to the scene without attracting attention.

Mind you, almost everyone had cameras, so the performers weren't camera shy. That made it easier to photograph complete strangers close up.

Here In My Home - Malaysian Artistes For Unity

Well done guys! Check this video out...

STEVEN TERMINI : Featured Artist Series

This is my first FEATURED ARTIST post in this blog, to share with my readers, of friends and acquaintances whose natural artistic talents have astounded and impressed me. Photography and the performing arts, be it poetry, drama, dance, or music can influence each other, and quite often, these disciplines intertwine indirectly and have been doing so over the centuries.

I have known Steven Termini for close to 10 years now.

Truly, this man's a genius.

A master of the piano, a composer, a classicist musician, jazz artist and an improviser.

Steve, as I call him hails from Texas, USA and studied with Tatiane Sarkissova at the Royal Academy of Music, in London. He is an unassuming person, eccentric at times and terribly focussed in his convictions but tremendously good fun to be with, and you can't help but laugh at his Southern drool, but he admits he loves London, and England. Not surprising, since he was practically living the life of a perpetual student over here!

It was Steve who introduced me to the works of jazz maestro, improviser-supremo Keith Jarrett, who became a personal influence to his own music, and the subject of his research in his Masters degree.

I have always loved jazz music, the mainstream kind which one buys in compilation CDs like Jazz Greats, Greatest Jazz songs etc but with Keith Jarrett, you have to grow to appreciate his genius on the piano.

Like, the joy of skiing, once it hits you, you'll be blown away! I promise.

Steve just launched his website, www.steventermini.com and there are some audio works and videos you can sample and download. I photographed a few of his publicity images several years ago which have been included. I was then still pre-digital, so I think I used a Konica Hexar with Fuji Neopan 400, my favourite black and white film. All of the photos were taken at the Academy in available natural light, and that included a practice session with Korean Sun Roh, another brilliant violinist, whom Steve had performed with on several occasions internationally.

The sight of Sun and Steve performing on stage is mesmerising. One does not require much knowledge in classical music to appreciate the passion and raw talent that emanates from the hearts, minds and hands of these two musicians.

I urge you to watch this video in its entirety (10:49s), to understand but only a little, of what drives Steve to pursue his dream and what motivates his song-writing. He has certainly influenced me in my own work, and that is to be passionate but spontaneous about it and persevere, even through the darkest and loneliest of times.

© IceWater Productions

I hope Steven Termini will also inspire you in your own quest. Photography and music, both are disciplines which require foresight and practice, and both requiring the mastery of tools. We often hear that 'practice makes perfect'. The quest for perfection at least for me, is unattainable, but to a pianist like Steve it is imperative. His improvisational scores requires it, and anything less would be classed as failure.