Dan Brouillette Photography...and other stuff too!

No music tonight...

Well, the bad news is there is not much to post about lately and no tunes tonight because I am SWAMPED...the good news is that the bad news is about to end soon!  I have a top-secret assignment starting tomorrow that will result in a big update when I return from my trip!

Sunday Night Music...pt.2

Well, looks like it's that time of the week...  Tonight I have a decent mix of new and not-so-new to share.  I am just doing singles this week because I have not gotten any new full albums so here goes:

First off, we have the new single from one of my favorite bands, Death Cab for Cutie.  The song is called Cath and it is a good result from what sounds like an awkward situation.  On a side note, this whole CD is pretty good, but I am glad they chose this song as the second single as I feel it is the best on the whole album.  Take a listen and enjoy the vocals of Ben Gibbard.

 

Second up is the Chicago based hip-hop artist  Lupe Fiasco.  He brings less-commercialized, clean style but that is expected considering he is a project of Kanye's.  Anyways, the song is call Hip-Hop Saved my Life and it brings a good upbeat feel with a catchy beat...again not surprising considering its producer.

 

The Ting Tings  bring a new sound from the UK, but one you might have heard recently.  After their initial single was featured in the new iPod ad, the band took off and has just released it's second single titled Great DJ.  It brings an upbeat sound with catchy vocals with a definite UK vibe.  Just get the whole CD.

Ok, so maybe one full album...

Lil' Wayne is also a genius.  As many of you may know, this guy has released, or been featured on over 100 tracks in the past year.  Many of these were FREE leaks to his listeners resulting in his myspace page earning over 130million profile views and even more audio plays.  All this lead up to a delayed release of his latest album, Tha Carter III.  Although not for everyone(reads explicit) this album is like nothing else.  From the off-the-wall lyrics, that make sense and make you wonder, to the brilliant ordering of the tracks and a who's-who list of featured artists, Weezy may have etched his name into the rap hall of fame and secured a spot amongst the greats...and he has claimed that spot already.  If you are up for something out of the box, and enjoy rap at it's finest, then this is worth it's modest $9.99 itunes price tag.

HOPEFULLY, I will have some new stuff soon and if you are a model, and I mean a real model, and are willing to travel, or happen to live near the Omaha area, let me know as I am looking for some new portfolio material asap.  Thanks! - DB

Quick Quote

Earlier today, I was reading through a new book I purchased on Amazon titled Image Makers Image Takers.  It is a book of interviews with some of the world's top photographers, art buyers, photo editors, etc.  While reading the interview with David LaChapelle two lines stood out to me that sort of deal with the small novel I wrote below on creative process and style:

Q:  "Do you think you can learn a way of seeing?"
A:  "I think you either have it or you don't.  If you have it, you have to discipline yourself to prove it."

Q:  "What advice would you give to a budding photographer?"
A:  "My biggest advice would be to take the pictures you want to take.  Don't think about the marketplace, what sells, or what an editor might say... The key is to photograph your obsessions, whether that's old people's hands or skyscrapers.  Think of a blank canvas, because that's what you've got, and then think about what you want to see.  Not anyone else.  Make yourself happy, and other people will get it to."

That's what I'm talkin' about! - DB

Music to come tonight...

Dark Knight

So...about 20 minutes ago I walked back to the studio with a few friends of mine after seeing the new Batman movie.  Three words...Go See It!  I had high expectations between all the hype, the Heath Ledger thing, and the fact that most comic book movies do not impress me.  Well, consider me impressed for multiple reasons.  Reason one is that it was just a great action movie with simple, yet highly effective effects, a solid storyline, and the most crazy joker ever...and more one thing...it was filmed in Chicago!  Not only that, but much of it was filmed in spots that I have shot at so below is a random sampling images from the recognizable spots so when you get a chance, go check this show out and maybe you can recognize some of the places in shots below!  hint...most can be seen when the joker is chasing the cop truck with the semi-truck  - DB

A walk in the park...

Well, for anyone who has followed my work, especially my environmental photos, you know that I enjoy odd landscapes, rundown neighborhoods, and just old stuff with character.  Tonight was one of those nights that I had 45minutes to go out to a location I had previously scouted to shoot some new personal stuff.  The conditions were just right...cloudy and 80.  So, I hopped out of the car and walked about a mile or so through what has to be the oldest trailer park in town just enjoying the sights like only I can.  I saw soooo much potential for my camera, yet I only shot about 75 frames total...but don't worry...I will be back!  One funny note...about half the time I was there this little three-legged cat followed me around!  Anyways, shots below... - DB

 
 

Sunday Night Music...

Ok...in order for me to blog on a consistent basis as I want to, I need to have some structure to this whole thing.  So, from now on, Sunday night, if nothing else, is new music night.  What does this mean?  Well, I don't know, but I guess I will just post up some uneducated gut-feeling reviews of new music I like and hope you like it too.  I will just start with a few overall albums and a few single songs and see how it goes!  If you have suggestions...you know where to put 'em! - DB

First off is an obvious one...Coldplay - Viva la Vida. MySpace.  I itunes'ed(new verb) this whole "CD" last week the second it came out and I must say, at first I was unsure, but after playing the whole thing on repeat over the last few days while editing, I love it.  They did an excellent job of track order and also saying screw what everyone expects, and just doing what they want...hmmm, sounds familiar.  Anyways, now that I have listened to it about 20 times, my favorite tracks, in no particular order, go as follow: 

Lost!/?(#3,11) - The more down tempo version of the two version on the CD is #11 with a piano rendition and smooth soft vocals.  #3 is the same track, but with added percussion and a little organ to keep it going.  Solid.

Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love(#5) - Just a great mix that gets off to a fast start and almost transitions into a completely new track once Reign of Loves kicks in...I smell movie soundtrack.

Strawberry Swing(#9) -  A nice upbeat track that is pretty simple, but solid and bound to put you in a good mood or just get stuck in your head from all the repetition...not a bad thing.

Moving on...MGMT - Oracula Spectacular. MySpace.  After driving around Ames, IA several months ago, I heard to terribly catchy beat known as Time to Pretend and became a little upset when the DJ failed to let me know who was responsible...well, after getting lucky the next day, I heard it again and pulled the old fashion "text myself the lyrics while driving" trick and google'd (fyi, this term should be spell check approved by now!) to find myself a little link to the MGMT MySpace page.  Well...talk about a funky duo....these guys looks match their sound and I must say that although I normally find myself diggin' low key, mellow tunes, I really like their mix of electro, vocals, and whatever else they threw in.  Another thing I noticed is that if you hopped in time machine and then got out without knowing which year you were in and the song Electric Feel was playing, you might actually think it was 30 years ago...no kidding.  On top of Time to Pretend and Electric Feel, below are a couple other tracks that made my first cut:

Kids - To be honest...I am not good at describing this type of music so I will save you the reading time and just list the next couple tracks and you can check them out for yourself.

Pieces of What - just listen already!

Ok...enough full albums for this week...here are a few singles that I have stumbled across either on XM or in my random myspace searches...

The Black Kids - "I'm not gonna to teach your boyfriend how to dance with you" Similar in sound to MGMT, this is another "fun" track with an upbeat tempo that makes for a good listen and good time.

The Envy Corps - "Wires and Wool"  This is a somewhat local band for me but they definitely have a big city sound to them.  They have also hopped on board the UK indie label Vertigo with other bands(the Killers) and just finished a nice little tour. Enough chat...check out their single on itunes and hopefully they will have the entire new album on there soon.

Taylor Swift - "Should've Said No" Just listen to Taylor rock out once again as she makes another former boyfriend look like a fool...not to mention, this song is guaranteed to get jammed into your head for days.  Bonus info!  She has a whole new CD coming out this fall...4 million copies sold anyone?  I think so.  Also...cool image below from friend/photographer Jeremy Cowart...must've been hard to make her look good huh Jeremy? 

Taylor Swift is a genius

Two nights ago(Sunday) my youngest brother, Eric, my girlfriend, Liz, and myself all went to the Taylor Swift concert here in Iowa.  I am not embarrassed to admit that I was one of the few guys in the crowd of 10,000 and I even had floor seats 15 rows back in the center section!  It was a great time and besides the music, which is very catchy, Taylor showed why she is burning up the charts and also promoting herself in all the right ways to all the right people.  Many musicians nowadays like to claim they were "in" before the internet/myspace era...not Taylor.  She has used that to full potential and last time I looked, she has over 785,000 friends and get this....over 50,000,000 song plays!!!  Guess how much that cost her...yup, that's right...$0.  Thats $120 less than what I paid for two tickets!

On another note, anyone who is wavering over a decision about diving into what they really want to do in life, or worried about being rejected, just check out one of Taylor's shows and you will be in awe of what the 18-year old is doing, how she presents herself, and also, her persistence to make things happen.  Basically, she was 11, talked her mom into driving her to Nashville on vacation and over the course of a couple days, she would walk into the major labels and say her name, age, then drop them a mix-tape and tell them she wanted a record deal...and guess what??  A few years later it happened and a few years after that she is 18years old winning every major award she can while still remaining the only female country star to write every song on her first album...did I mention she was like 14-16 when she wrote most of the songs? 

So...on that note, if she happens to be in your town, check her out and you won't be disappointed and if you can't do that, then just follow her lead and do what you want to do and get your name out there!  Maybe this could be another branding idea... : )  - DB