
Dude, I used to love concert photography. Back in the day when I worked as an editor at Creative Loafing Atlanta (RIP), I used to go photograph shows weekly, sometimes more. It wasn’t really in my job description as “Digital Editor” or whatever, and I made salary so they didn’t really pay me to do it, but I got to see a lot of really cool shows for free and got to meet and hang with some pretty cool people.
That’s one of my biggest peeves about now living at the end of the road in Alaska — there’s not very many touring bands coming through. Probably because there is no “touring through.” You get to Homer, and you either stay or you turn around. I prefer to stay.

So I was super stoked to hear Days N’ Daze from Houston, TX were going to blow through Homer, Alaska ahead of their show at this weekend’s Salmonfest in Ninilchik.
I was also kind of dreading it.
They played at Alice’s Champagne Palace in Homer on July 30, right in the heart of our super busy charter fishing season (I captain a six-person charter boat for Homer Ocean Charters). This time of year I am working about 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and I am fucking exhausted. Even before the concert I was running on fumes. But like most of us do, I sucked it up, napped a few hours before the show, pounded some espresso, and stayed out late for a change.

The opening bands didn’t start until 9pm, which is about half an hour past my bedtime. But once the tunes started pumping from locals staples the Kurmudgeon Band and the Discopians, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and felt energy rise that I’d long been missing.
It’s 3 days later now, and I’m still pretty spent. But we’re here, and here are some photos to prove I actually did these things.
Funny thing is, when I used to shoot concerts for Creative Loafing, the toughest part was shooting in low light with the old digital camera I had. Nowadays, for some reason, I shoot with even older gear and primarily on 35mm film. It presents a whole new set of challenges. All of these photos were taken with my 1980’s-era Olympus OM-1n on Ilford HP5 film rated at 1600, developed in Kodak D76 1:1. It’s my first time really pushing this film, and I’ll admit that I made a few mistakes. However, I’m pretty happy with the results, and I can’t wait to keep pushing my film and my knowledge in the darkroom.
…maybe after fishing ends in September.













