Sorry for the lack of updates concerning the New Face of Vinyl. Owen and I have been particularly busy with the first month back at University and with planning out the trip to the west coast. It’s coming soon, I promise.

In the meantime, I’ve been prepping for a regional production of Spring Awakening. I’m playing bass in the band, as well as photographing the show. It’s one of my favorite musical theatre productions, mostly because of the grit and agressive nature of the show which isn’t common for music theatre. Shooting the rehearsal was quite tricky, as there was hardly any light at all. I had the ISO cranked to 6400 on my 5D, and it was at times a bit too dark still. But lightroom’s noise reduction is getting pretty darn good, so I was able to get some usable shots at any rate.

As well as spending most hours of my day rehearsing my parts for SA, I’ve been catching up on publicity photos for the college. Mr. Marmalade is in the final stages of rehearsal over at the theatre department and I shot some images for it earlier in the week. The story is about a young girl with a surprisingly adult mindscape, who conjurs up an imaginary friend with a penchant for cocaine and abuse. Pictured below is young Lucy with her imaginary friend Mr. Marmalade’s personal assistant, also imaginary.

Finally, this week snow came to Cleveland, in what seems like the mildest winter in years, and I was out in it shooting headshots with Zach. We braved the weather and got some great shots. Look for pictures next week from the dress rehearsal of Spring Awakening!

Brandon had just won a concerto competition and needed some promo pics pronto!

I had the pleasure last weekend of driving to Boston to work with quite a few percussionists. The fact that my good friend Dane goes to graduate school out there did not have any sway on my decision to go out there for a few days. While I was there, I photographed more marimbists than I knew existed (kidding). Marimba is becoming one of my signature things to photograph, and let me say it is damn tricky. All that reflective wood does not play nice with flash. At any rate, I met a lot of great people who were all supremely talented and I fully expect to see them as the stars of the classical contemporary world in a few years. A few of my favorite pictures to follow:

Standy was a really cool guy, with an interesting name he picked when he came to the states from Taiwan. He liked the names Stan and Andy and combined them to become Standy.

The talented Brandon and Rainice

The picture that started the project. Yikes, could have picked a better subject.

This time last year I was sitting around on new years day, bored out of my mind. Bored enough to take a self-portrait (yikes). I ended up taking a picture of myself with my record collection, and that got my brain whirring. I decided it would be neat to create portraits of other people my age with their record players. I had a few friends who loved vinyl and I was sure there were more. A week later I photographed Owen and then I took a break from the project for a while.

A few months later, I heard about Kickstarter and showed the site to Owen. We decided to start the project, both of us fairly confident that we would not reach the funding goal. We reached our funding goal with days to spare, after a lengthy PR campaign. Many thanks to Steve Guttenberg at CNET and Michael Fremer of MusicAngle for their support of our project.

Now, exactly a year to the date that I started this project on a whim, Owen and I leave for NYC and Chicago to start interviewing people and stores. We head to the west coast in March to do more of the same. Then the hard bit of writing a book starts.

I’m beyond grateful for everyone’s support and cannot wait to get started! I’m going to attempt to do a video blog/written post every day of the trip, so check back here, the tumblr, and the Facebook page for more!

-Ben

The above image is my first record player, which I earned by cutting my neighbors lawn for an entire summer. It was the flame that lit my burning passion for music, vinyl, and this entire adventure.

The New Face of Vinyl: Youth’s Digital Devolution is a book that which explores more than just a new “fad” sweeping across the world. Young people everywhere have picked up a once outdated format: a reaction to the disconnect listening experience this generation has been forced to gow up with.

Follow us on Twitter (@newfaceofvinyl) to keep up to speed. You can find out more information about the project via our former Kickstarter page (http://kck.st/newfaceofvinyl) which features a video Ben and I put together. Although our Kickstarter site is closed for donations, you can still receive a thank you gift (which if you donate $165 or more will get you a hard cover, full color 180+ page, limited edition, signed copy of the book) by donating via Paypal on our website:http://www.BenMeadors.com/vinyl

Thank you for your support, and thank you for keeping this wonderful format alive.

Owen M. McCafferty II

co-Author/Creator

my three favorite bags - chrome messenger bag, thinktank airport security and my trusty samsonite

I love a good bag. Seriously. My one qualifying factor for a bag is how long it will last. I used to have a leather messenger bag before I switched to my Chrome bag. That thing has lasted about 5 years and still looks brand new. I’m in love with it. But my new favorite bag? ThinkTank’s Airport Security. This bag literally changed how I work. I bought it in August for a gig where I had to fly to St. Louis. I was so worried about getting my gear there, but this dang bag made it so easy that now I’d rather fly than drive. It’s been in the wind, rain, snow, sand, fell out of my car, kicked, and it still looks brand new. Wow. My favorite trick so far is using the bag as a counterweight for a lightstand by wrapping the backpack straps around the base of the light. The bag is going to get a lot of milage coming up when Owen and I travel to NYC, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco and LA for the The New Face of Vinyl project.

What’s in the bag in the picture?

Gaff tape
canon 5d mk ii
justin clamp with a frio
lumiquest 80/20 and softbox
2 umbrella adaptors
3 stofen diffusors
lumiquest straps
canon 24-70
canon 70-200
honl grids
orbis ringflash (never leave home without it)
3 speedlights
pack of batteries
gels, memory cards, pens
a 50mm 1.8

When I switch to video work, I also cram a Lowel tota-light, Zoom H4n, some microphones and other video gear into the bag as well. It’s a workhorse and can take quite the beating.

Perhaps my favorite from the evening. I used a reflector to make his eyes pop even though he is wearing glasses.

If you follow my blog at all, you know that Owen and I are good friends and business partners. We are embarking soon to work on the The Face Of Vinyl project. Owen is a writer, a gin enthusiast, and enjoys the occasional cigarette (although I hear rumor he’s gonna kick the habit). Besides his vast record collection (featured in the very first post on New Face of Vinyl) he also owns numerous typewriters and is notorious for giving them as gifts. I can’t stand the sound of them. He writes most of his drafts on the damned things and I cringe at the cacophony of metal keys then proceed to mock his Victorian tendencies. These sort of things are typical of our working relationship and it’s probably one of the reasons we work so well together.

The two bottles of gin is typical.

Technically I used a 60″ softliter as the key light, and I have to say that thing is just gorgeous. It’s the closest you can get to an octabank without shelling out the money for one.