R. Chase Tralka Photography » Penn State

5 Cherry Lewis

Chase — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 07:15:00 +0000

A week after shooting Some Downtown Avenue at the Darkhorse, I found myself back in the bar, again with my camera. This time I was photographing 5 Cherry Lewis, an up and coming bar band in State College. My fraternity brother, Pete Macartney, is the lead guitarist, and former Blue Bander Isaiah Thomas (no relation to the Knicks GM/Clown) was on the drum kit.

I had yet another enjoyable experience at the Darkhorse, and finally got to meet the owner, who at first yelled at me for taking “crowd shots” (I wasn’t), but then lightened up when I told him I would send him some pics. He ended up being a pretty cool guy, so no harm no foul.

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Some Downtown Avenue

Chase — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 08:22:40 +0000

The night after homecoming, the ska band Some Downtown Avenue reunited for a homecoming reunion show at the Darkhorse Tavern on Calder Way for one last show (that’s been said before about this band). Composed of some of my friends from Blue Band years gone by, the dynamic group played hits by Reel Big Fish and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones as well as a few originals. The bar was more packed than a had ever seen it, probably due to the fact that it was Saturday night of Homecoming Weekend, but regardless of why there were there, the crowd was having some good fun.

I wasn’t the only photographer there; friend, mentor, colleague, and sometime gear-rental dude, Andy Colwell was there too. His pictures are probably lying in the proverbial pile behind all of his paid gigs, but maybe they’ll see the light of day.

Anyway, here are the rest of the shots.

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Boys Like Girls

Chase — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 07:53:07 +0000

As a kickoff to Homecoming week, the Student Programming Association (SPA) at Penn State brought in pop-punk band Boys Like Girls to Rec Hall. The concert turned out to be excellent. I was surprised by how much “heavier” Boys Like Girls had gotten since I last listened to them (it had been a few years), but they pulled it off pretty well. The lead singer had nice interaction with the audience, crowd surfing at one point. I was also quite happy with my shooting, especially the shot that you see above, which made it into the Concerts Portfolio section of my site.

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SportsNation at Penn State

Chase — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:20:44 +0000

First the first time in months, I’m back! It’s been a while, and I’ve missed you all.

This past Thursday ESPN’s SportsNation television show broadcasted from Penn State’s campus. Parked outside the Bryce Jordan Center, the show brings together sports and social networking, utilizing polls and tweets to discuss sports and current events. Thousands of students showed up for the broadcast, as well as the cheerleaders, dance team, Nittany Lion mascot, and the Blue Band. All in all it was a ton of fun, and a great event to get back into some serious event photography. I’ve never shot during a live broadcast before, so moving around the set while trying to avoid both walking into cameras and appearing on screen was an interesting challenge, but I believe that I ended up succeeding in that endeavor. But as always, you’re more interested in the pictures, so here are the rest…

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Melanie

Chase — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:01:06 +0000

Yesterday afternoon I went up to the Penn State Arboretum to help out my friend and fellow Onward Stater Melanie with some headshots. Melanie is Onward State’s photography editor, so it was a little weird for her to be on the other side of the lens (don’t worry Mel, I feel the same way). Melanie’s a heck of a portrait and concert photographer herself, so it was fun to work with her. We had a good time and got some nice shots. This one was my favorite, so I’m sharing it with you.

This will most likely be my last photo from Penn State for a while. I’m headed back to New Jersey this afternoon and then down to D.C. for the summer (with stops in Nantucket and NYC in between). So look forward to some things from there!