...dim lights...

A patron pays the five dollar entrance fee at "A Mic and Dim Lights," a weekly open mic event, held on Thursday, February 18, 2011 at the Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center in Pomona.

moments ago, my father came into my room, newspaper in hand, telling me i need to call someone at the paper to complain about how bad my photo looked. when he opened the paper to the photo, i laughed because i knew exactly what he meant. what my dad didn't know, however, was that the photo was suppose to look that way (although i would've brightened it up if i knew it would've printed so dark).

the story was about a weekly spoken word event that takes place in pomona. it's called "a mic and dim lights" because they supply a microphone and, to add to the ambiance of the room, have a few dim lights on. when they began the event, and i relalized there was virtually zero light for me to shoot in, i got worried. i sent a text to my editor explaining the situation and asked if i should "try for something artsy with a slow shutter speed?" he said sure, but also suggested i try some flash. i did end up trying a few shots with flash, but immediately hated the look. it's not how the room looked, and it wasn't fitting to the vibe of the event. so i chose to play with shutter speeds. the only problem was that it was making the people look like awkward monsters.

eventually, though, i got one shot that i liked right away. i could clearly see that there was a man with a mic in hand, and i could tell the room was dimly lit, and i also liked how a few small lights from the dj's table created neat things in the frame. it wasn't perfect, but by the end of the night, the image below was still my favourite, so that's what i turned in as my first pick to go with the story.

it printed a bit darker in the paper, so i can see how it was confusing to my dad, but i feel pretty confident that everyone that was at the venue would understand the photo. either way, out of all the photos i shot that night, this was what i felt best represented the atmosphere of what i found to be a really incredible event. having confidence in making those kind of photos (something that represents the event, shot in my style) is a big focus for me this year. for the future, though, i hope most of those photos will be made in better, more ideally lit situations.