Photography (Copy)

Where to Find:

Photos get published on Flickr and Instagram which you can check out below:

Instagram:

Dummy @ Teragram Ballroom, LA 2026. @notdummy is returning in full force with their 3rd LP and Polyvinyl debut, “do you love the color of the sky,” their most self-examined and fruitful work to date. With this new record, the band transcends their affinity for bygone-era record and genre reverence and fully commit to world-building on their own terms, taste, and philosophy.

Diles que no me maten @ Scribble, LA 2025. @no_me_maten are about to kick start a full North America tour nearly 2 months long to ring out the release of their 4th LP “Escrito en agua” from this summer. The quintet began as a band in 2017 and are currently based in and around CDMX, long championing the local indie and experimental scene by way of shows and output.

Balkans @ El Cid, Los Angeles, 2019. ATL’s HOTTEST act is back in LA tmo at the Lodge Room. @balkansbalkans dropped one of the best riff soaked guitar garage pop rock records of the decade back in 2011 and then dispersed. Their ST debut full of back to back hit after hit was repressed back in 2022 and they’ve enjoyed a string of “reunion” shows since 2019 and post lockdown. Fingers crossed for more tunes!

Shop Regulars @ Edinburgh Castle, SF 2024. Every so often a band comes along that are amazing as they are fascinating to pin point. @shopregulars are a band of spellbindigly rhythmic and subversive proportions, marching to the beat of their own drum as clamorous and commanding as can be equally live wire guitar work to boot. The Regulars hail from Portland, OR led by Matt Radosevich and an ever revolving cast of local heavy hitters on each of their several tapes and record released thus far. Their music is steeped with heavy notes of blues and art rock, quoted with having Bo Diddley as a North Star and seeming at times like a clash of Beefhart, Velvet Underground, Red Krayola and the Shaggs. Their melodies are strewn by overdriven guitar leads, averse to traditional harmony but electrifying in many ways that instills its presence heavy in your brain. Radosevich is a scene vet, having done time in local greats like Honey Bucket and Lox alongside some creative contributions to other acts in Portland’s music realm. Shop Regulars have kept quiet for the better part of the last year, following a heavy streak of releases, and will now be embarking on a four date tour from Portland down to the Bay and LA. Bay dates include stops at Redacted Fest in Oakland, a night at Makeout Room in SF and a jaunt at Scribble in LA. Chirpings of a new release too sometime in October or November so keep your third eye out.

Unity @ various shows Oakland 2019 + 2023. We’re soooo freakin back. Unity is the all encompassing banner of Jeffrey Cheung and Gabriel Ramirez’s creative output revolving around art, skateboarding, and music. Unity started as just a band first off when Gabe and Jeff began playing music as a duo in 2013, with a full band lineup adding Ayana, Ian, and Alex about a year later. Around this time, Jeff had served stints in bands like Urthdance, Meat Market alongside Alex and Ian, plus Sally Field with Ayana. Unity went on a streak of releasing tapes and demos consisting of heartfelt, pop flanged, lo-fi garagey guitar rock for the greater part of the mid 2010’s. They’d played countless shows just about anywhere in SF and Oakland between art galleries, dive bars, backyards, basements, living rooms, retail stores, you name it. The band eventually released their debut self titled LP in Digital Regress in Summer 2026. ‘Unity’ as the face for Jeff and Gabe’s art, skateboarding efforts, plus zine and print press would hit a meteoric rise around this time both at home and internationally and continues to do so to this day. ‘Unity’, the band, would eventually be put on the back burner, spaced with plenty of unreleased recordings and the occasional gig. With some recent time to recoup, Unity (the band) has now dropped their first public release in years - a double album called “Come Back To You / Was There Ever Unity?” on Smoking Room. This collection picks up where Unity last left off as magnificent as ever - making cheery, introspective and catchy rock by the same crew of artists and riffers. The first five tracks of ‘Come Back’ were recorded in studio by Jordan Pantalone in 2023 in Oakland, while the remaining tracks were recorded by Jeff between 2016-2019. The band in all its glory will celebrate the new record as apart of Unity fest with a show at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco Sept 16th and hopefully more shows to come!

Good Flying Birds @ the Attic, Chicago 2025. the Birds are FINALLY hitting the west coast this upcoming week. Only took them a Europe tour and endless midwest / east coast / south runs to get this point. Not peeved at all, promise. For those not in the know, GFB are the semi new kids on the block, inspired by annals of lo fi rock with more hooks and noodling than you can count fingers on your hands and toes. They’re based out of Indianapolis, central to the midwest and close to Chicago’s and Cincinnati’s burgeoning DIY scenes with whom they have plenty of friends. They’ve been on a meteoric rise playing countless gigs, capturing the ears and hearts of many since late 2024, trading in their self debut tape from early 2025 into a label kick off on Smoking Room and Carpark Records some odd months out. If you had to approximate their sound, it would probably be marked by a happy go lucky, love struck mix of 2010s Coneheads/DLIMC catchiness, 80s UK jangle and strokes of 90s K recs. Not to mention some wacky samples from Jesus and Mary Chain, Nintendo games, 90s sound effects, etc. They’re coasting down the PNW through So Cal with almost several local shows and fests, including Redacted Fest in Oakland on the 19th with Uranium Club, Eraser, Marbled Eye, and more. Maybe even another bay show the day after 👀👀👁️👄👁️ 🤔😶🤫?

Malaphor @ LA, 2025. @mala_phor is a trio out of Oakland featuring members of Turquoiz Noiz, Violence Creeps, Free Key Choir, plus many to count. They’re a honky tonk blend of jazz, lounge, some glam and more backed by keys, drums and bass live in addition to some sax and vocal harmonies on record. Malaphor is a bit all over the place style wise in a rich pureé that’s Beach Boys at times on a real calm or upbeat note resulting in pretty idiosyncratic pop. They have a recent 7” on Related Records and will be cruising down with Free Key Choir with a date at Scribble with Coleco Club and fr0gluv on August 28th.

Free Key Choir, LA + Oakland 2024. @Freekeychoir is a secular / nonreligious performing choir group based out of Oakland featuring a revolving door of local bay area indie musicians and artists. They spend a couple seasons a year performing a repertoire of their featured musicians original songs with a growing ensemble each and every turn. They’ve graced local stages like First Congressional in Oakland, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Oakland Coliseum, and even some massive tour stops to LA, Portland and Seattle. They’re due up for their first studio album soon and a one night only date in Los Angeles August 29th at the First Congressional Church of Los Angeles.

Young Lovers, LA 2024-2026. Love, heartbreak, tragedy, grief. Adversities common to all and the subjects of heavy ponderings to Los Angeles quartet @youngloversla with their sophomore album “The Circle’s End”, a piece of several years in the making. Only a band like YL could take painstaking attention to detail to craft an emotional tapestry deft with textures, crescendos, melodies, and croons easily imagined on an impressionistic canvas to music by a rock and string ensemble through an hour and 20 minutes (or 48 depending on the version). The Lovers comes from a breadth of indie music by way of shoegaze, emo, post-rock, chamber music, country, and more - crafting longform tunes chock full of grooves with no fluff. “The Circle’s End” stops not just to recognize the pangs of sorrow from relationships and misfortune but to soul-search and find a true sense of self-discovery and growth - regardless if that path is linear. Young Lovers made sure to emphasize these emotions by world-building with no ceiling in sight, making a cinematic experience of sorts with nods to video games like Final Fantasy and romance films like Linklater’s Before series. After nearly a couple of months of release, Young Lovers will be co-presenting a double record release night with MyVeronica and special guest Draag to open on Friday August 21st at @2220arts. The Lovers will also hit the West Coast with a tour in the fall, dates to come!

Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/190601298@N05/albums

As it stands, all photos from 2018-2021 are published through Flickr. 2022-2024 are still a work in progress with editing and organizing, but if you’re a band or someone interested in getting photos let me know by getting in contact!

Equipment:

My photography is split across 35mm film and digital. 2018-2021 was strictly on film and 2022 onwards features digital photos off Fuji cameras and mostly film photos on Nikon cameras

35mm
Nikon F3 (body)
Nikon N90S (body)
Nikon 50mm f/1.2 NIKKOR AIS (lens)
Canon EOS Rebel X S (body)
Canon Zoom Lens EF 22-55mm f/4-5.6 (lens)
Cannonet QL17 (body)
Pre-lockdown:
Various Olympus Zoom Point and Shoots
Canon AE-1 Program

Digital
Fuji X-Pro 2 (body / Jan 2022-Dec 2023)
Fuji X-T5 (body / Dec 2023-)
Fujifilm XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR (lens)
Fujinon XF 23mm F1.4 R LM WR (lens)
Fujinon XF16mmF1.4 R WR (lens)

Lens filters:
Assorted glassware from Spektrem Effects and Prism Lens FX

Process:

I currently approach live show photography with as much low-light as much as possible. Meaning no flash whatsoever, which is where digital comes in handy. Pre-lockdown I almost always used flash on Olympus point and shoot cameras.

On digital I typically shoot between 3200-8000 ISO covering speeds between 1/60-1/250 on f/1.4 to f/4 apertures. All digital is done on Fuji’s X series of cameras which do a really cool job with feeling like a film camera with manual settings.

On film I typically alternate between Porta 800 and Cinestill 800 shot at 800 ISO and typically shoot between f/1.4 to f/2.8 apertures and 1/60-1/180 speeds. I push my film sometimes at development but not often.

All my editing is done through Adobe Lightroom which is a huge help for organizing and editing. I only do non-destructive editing by ways of raising brightness/exposure, adjusting white balance, changing some contrast, making things a lil more sharper/dehazed and also taking out color casts from film (like Porta 800’s green cast on shadows).