The Orchid Highway photos, interview Monday, August 17, 2009

Last night I photographed and interviewed The Orchid Highway at the East End when they were in Portland for the International Pop Overthrow festival.

This was just my second visit to the East End. Almost exactly a year ago I went there to interview The Pack A.D. (listen to that here).

The basement bar is small and dark—which is cool for a bar, but hellish if you're trying to take pictures. Think 1/25 at ISO6400 (f/2.8) on the brightest part of the stage. Way less on Derek and Jamie MacDonald (keyboards and guitar, respectively) at the edges of the stage. So the pictures have lots of grain and quite a bit of motion blur, but I think they look pretty cool, especially in black and white.

After the concert, I interviewed Derek and Rory MacDonald (they and Jamie are brothers) outside the bar. We did a portrait shoot on the sidewalk, and they also wanted to do something with this photo booth inside the bar. Without some major preparations (and more gear than I had on hand) it was impossible to light properly, especially since the bar was so crowded, so I just stuck the flash on camera and hoped for the best. The mirror and a tired patron turned something bleh into something much more interesting.

Look for the interview and more photos on Northwest CanCon in a week or two.