Ponsonby and Grand Central again.

Alan Brown on keys last night.

Every other Thursday night at the Grand Central in Ponsonby there's a chance to hear some very talented musicians.  It's the Alan Brown Project with vocals by Cherie Mathieson.  Last night was really rather good fun and I think each member of the band was having a great time.

Light levels were quite low ... as is usually the case at the Grand Central ... so I set the camera to ISO5000 and the lens wide open at f1.4.  Focus wasn't the easiest, and at such a high ISO the shots are a little noisy, but perhaps that adds to the atmosphere?

The light was red ... oh I hate red lights at these venues!!  It really doesn't help me with colour shots at all, so quite a few of the shots I've converted to black and white.  I'll just post a few images of the band members in this post.  Maybe let me know what you think.  Perhaps let me know if you prefer colour or monochrome?

A monochrome treatment of Andy Smith 

Here's Andy having fun in colour

Junior Turua lurking in the shadows under the stairs!  VERY low light!!

I told you the light was red!!  Here's the gorgeous Cherie Mathieson.

Jono Sawyer at the back in the rhythm section!

Clevedon Jazz and Wine Festival

The Alan Brown Project on a somewhat "rural" stage.

After being somewhat challenged shooting Alan and the band at the Grand Central with very low light levels, a chance to take photographs during the day seemed like an opportunity not to be missed.  New challenges now though!  As you can see from the first image in this post, the stage setup was a little different to say the least.  Tractors, Ambulances as well as a very large rescue boat were background objects not normally found at a jazz performance.

Nathan Haines

A special treat for the listeners was the appearance of Mr. Nathan Haines performing along with the Alan Brown Project.  On vocals we were treated to the very lovely Cherie Mathieson.  So there you have it, a wonderful line-up, but something you can enjoy every other Thursday at the Grand Central in Ponsonby.  Maybe I'll see you there one day ;-)

Thankfully, unlike today, the weather was warm and sunny, with stalls providing plenty of food and drink to help make it a lovely afternoon.

I'll just leave you with a few more images of the band on stage and encourage you to take a look on my Facebook page where you can see some more photographs.  Perhaps you might "Like" what you see ;-)

Karika Turua

Andy Smith

Alan Brown

Cherie Mathieson

Cherie Mathieson

Jono Sawyer

Jono Sawyer

Alan Brown at the Grand Central, Ponsonby

Mr. Alan Brown

It seems like ages since I've updated my blog, but hopefully I'm back now with renewed vigour!

Last night I went down to Ponsonby to see the Alan Brown Quartet play at the Grand Central.  Usually there's Cherie Mathieson on vocals, but last night we were treated to Leza Corban.  Wow, this girl can sing!

The music was superb, but the light levels for taking photographs was somewhat low, and, to cap it all off, they were using red lights!  It's a couple of years ago now at The Ivory Lounge, Parnell that I discovered the unfortunate effect red lights have when you try to photograph people.  Often I find converting the image to monochrome seems to work the best, and, perhaps adds a little to the shot anyway.  The second image in this post is a monochrome treatment of Leza Corban.

Ms. Leza Corban

As for the other members of the band?  Outstanding!  Thanks to Yuli Quay for filling me in with the band member names.  I hope I spelt them all correctly guys ;-)

There's a few more shots on Facebook of Jono Sawyer, Leza Corban and Alan Brown if you fancy taking a squiz.

Jono Sawyer

Junior Turua

Andy Smith

Andy Smith

Jono Sawyer

Alan Brown