My Yellow Light District Birthday Gifts from the Universe

Stand By Me — Playing For Change (PFC)

Playing For Change (PFC) was founded in 2002 by Mark Johnson and Whitney Kroenke. Mark Johnson was walking in Santa Monica, California, when he heard the voice of Roger Ridley (deceased in 2005) singing “Stand By Me”; it was this experience that sent Playing For Change on its mission to connect the world through music.

Travelling the world with a small film and recording team, producers Johnson and Enzo Buono developed a mobile recording studio (originally powered by golf cart batteries) for recording and filming musicians live outdoors, and progressively editing all the separate artists, blending all into one performance as PFC travelled from artist to artist, country to country. Starting with a studio made demo in the right key and tempo, “we would deconstruct [the track]” as each recorded musician or singer could listen with headphones to what had been recorded before them, and playing the same song, adding into the mix their own style. For the project, Johnson has recorded and filmed music in more than 1000 performers in 50 countries across the world.

More than 150 — mostly street — musicians, groups, and choirs from 50 countries have combined their talents to create a global phenomenon with millions of followers across the world. Artists participating or openly involved in the project are Mermans Mosengo, Marcus King, Lukas Nelson, Char, Orbe Ortiz, Paulo Heman, Peter Bunetta, Roberto Luti, Titi Tsira, Jason Tamba, Keiko Komaki, Vusi Mahlasela, Louis Mhlanga, Clarence Bekker, David Guido Pietroni, Tal Ben Ari (Tula), Bono, Keb’ Mo’, David Broza, Manu Chao, Grandpa Elliott, Keith Richards, The Pocket Queen, Toots Hibbert from Toots & the Maytals, Taj Mahal and Stephen Marley. This resulted in the documentary A Cinematic Discovery of Street Musicians that won the Audience Award at the Woodstock Film Festival in September 2008.

In April 2009, the first album was released with ”Songs around the world” a collection of the first years of the multimedia project, debuted at number 10 on Billboard’s Pop Chart.[6][8] The band’s version of the Ben E. King classic — which interwove the performances of 18 street musicians, including a South African choir — in 2012 had more than 40 million views on YouTube alone.[8] The Playing for Change Band an international touring band that brings artists of all backgrounds together, raising money and awareness for the foundation, features individual musicians from across the globe that the multimedia project has met through the years of travelling, recording and filming, and is regularly touring the world to spread the word of the basis of the Playing For Change foundation

Enrich Your Life

“The Weight,” features Ringo Starr and The Band’s original member Robbie Robertson, along with musicians across 5 continents. Great songs can travel everywhere bridging what divides us and inspiring us to see how easily we all get along when the music plays.

Captivated by the music and the videos, I spent many hours on Wednesday afternoon and evening listening (and watching!) Playing For Change/Song Around The World. While the music is great, the videos are absolutely captivating. In combination PFC is magical and addictive; you will not only want to listen, you will want to watch.

Playing For Change is a movement created to inspire and connect the world through music, born from the shared belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. Their primary focus is to record and film musicians performing in their natural environments and combine their talents and cultural power in innovative videos they call Songs Around the World. Creating these videos motivated them to form the Playing For Change Band -— a tangible, traveling representation of our mission featuring musicians met along their journey; and establish the Playing For Change Foundation—a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to building music and art schools for children around the world. Through these efforts, they aim to create hope and inspiration for the future of our planet. Learn more and/or donate here. While there is tons of free PFC music and videos on YouTube, I opted to support their work with a $54 annual subscription. A birthday present to myself.

This image was created on 14 June 2023 at Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Beach, Long Island, NY on an In-the-Field morning with Bruce Dudek of Albany, NY. Seated on damp, working behind the lowered Robus RC-5558-3 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod topped by the Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro, I used the Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. Exposure was determined with Zebra technology: ISO 1600: 1/800 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was determined to be dead solid perfect plus a bit as I like to over-expose the rim light in these situations to maximize detail on the shadowed side of the bird. AWB at 5:42:12am, 19 minutes after sunrise on a clear morning with some fog low in the east. Tracking: Zone with Bird Face/Eye detection enabled performed just fine thank you. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1: Black Skimmer in yellow light

The Yellow Light District

This situation was a birthday gift from the universe for me. Bruce Dudek had been planning to drive down on Wednesday or Thursday but after checking the weather forecast on Monday, I told him to start packing and head for Long Island on Tuesday. He did, and enjoyed two productive and amazing In-the-Field sessions, learned an absolute ton, and made some great images. I will be sharing some of those with you here soon.

Join me on an In-the-Field session at Nickerson Beach between now and 28 June to learn to create the Yellow (or Red) Light District images. And tons more. I have three new un-banded American Oystercatcher chicks, several oystercatchers on eggs, Black Skimmer courtship and mating, and on Wednesday morning, three Piping Plover chicks less than a week old. And I almost forgot, more Common Tern chicks are hatching every day.

Nickerson Beach June 2023 Common Tern/American Oystercatcher/Black Skimmer In-the-Field Sessions

I am offering both morning and afternoon sessions from now through the end of this month. If you would like to become a better bird photographer, shoot me an e-mail to learn the details. Scheduling for these sessions can be arranged on short notice by checking the weather. A better option is to join me on the IPT. As I have nobody signed up, I can tailor the dates for the first one who does.

IPT veterans and couples or friends signing up together are invited to e-mail for discount information.

The Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripods

For reasons that I do not understand, the prices of both the 3-leg section Robus RC-5558-3 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber tripod and the 4-leg section Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber tripod have been drastically reduced. They are available only from B&H and are currently priced at a ridiculously low $399.95, about 1/3 the price of a comparable Really Wrong Stuff (RWS) tripod. Right now, the 3-leg section version is my go-to tripod.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.