Rythmic recognition

This woman, surrounded by blue lights, not only is the drummer in her blues band, she is also a spirited vocalist. At the Blues Music Awards we do not see many women drummers – she was the only one in 2016 – and did a rockin’ good job.

I’m partial to drummers since my brother Hank is a drummer and a fine one. When photographing bands, the lead out-front instrumentalists and vocalists seem to be the photographic targets of choice and the drummers, relegated to the back of the bus so to speak, get the short photographic shrift. Not so this time. The drummers are the stars of this show.

Click on drummer to see more drummer pix at Corndancer dot-com.

The pictures for this post come from the 2016 Blues Music Awards in Memphis. Unfortunately for this one, I was unable to match names with the fine drummers in the pictures, so you can either make up names or ask around. If you get lucky, let me know.

Be sure and see additional Blues Music Awards drummers on the Photo of the Week Page at Corndancer dot-com. There’s cool lighting and good looks at the Blues Music Awards drummers which, to the best of my knowledge are available no where else – just like the ones on this page.

This drummer taps out the rhythmic base paying close attention to the other performers.

To get these shots, it is necessary to snake your way through an obstacle course of speakers and cords and place one’s self at the one of the back edges of the stage. For that reason, most drummers are not aware of the camera since they focus on what is in front of them. This dude was an exception and put on his best smile. See another shot of him on the Corndancer Photo of Week page.

These drummers have to be some of the best, because they rotate in and out of the same set of drums for each band versus their own personal arrangements to which they are accustomed – and they still rock!

This is a get lucky long lens shot from way back in the audience. There is so much visual interference from camera to subject when attempting these shots that they are rarely successful. This is the exception.

These views for the most part are not available to most viewers and require a photo pass to access the points to shoot, so hopefully you saw some imagery not seen elsewhere. And you joined in our salute to the not-s0-often-photographed drummers.

And as a side note, my multi-tasking brother has other talents than his musical skills. He is also a pilot and flight instructor with permits to fly dadgumnear anything.

Thanks for looking,

Joe Dempsey,
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind

http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

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