I just had the fortune to take some photos at an even for a company celebration. But this wasn't just a celebration of hard work, this was a celebration of the beginning of the new charitable arm of the company. The people were incredible and it was lovely to be around people who are doing something I am terrible at, business, and doing it with such a great purpose in mind and that is to help other people. Here are just a few pics from the evening!
Under 10 Consulting
This is a video I created with Steve Johnson the Founder of Under 10 Consulting. I have started working with business executives to make videos that help them explain how their company works. Under 10 Consulting is an incredible company and I was very honored that they chose to work with me. Looking for something similar? Contact me anytime and we can make it happen!
-Jon
New Born Photos
Here are a few selections from a New Born Shoot I did over last week. It was an absolute pleasure to work with the Mom and as you can see, Amelia was nothing short of a natural!
-Jon
Sick Days
Things have been busy over the last few weeks. So busy in fact, it made me come down with an illness. Sadly sometimes you just need to be sick. Nobody wants to be sick and when it happens it's the hardest thing to just sit down and be sick. That, however, was exactly what I needed to do. I sat it out for a couple of days.
Now that I'm back up and running, I am finishing up a video I created for a friend's company and should have that up on the site soon. Photos you say? Well it just so happens I had another event to photograph and edit. I am, unfortunately, not able to share those with you all, but they came out wonderful, trust me. And music isn't lost. I've been out in public trying out a few songs that will be appearing on the upcoming EP. It should be 5 or 6 songs (if one more comes out nicely) and I should have it out by the end of July. Can't wait to get it up cause some of the work has been stuff I've been waiting to release for a good couple of months.
Sometimes you just gotta be sick. It's not unproductive to heal.
-Jon
Song Posts
There has been a lot of writing of late, but no posts. Forgive my shy nature when it comes to sharing my work. I'm normally very excited to release my work and have people hear it, but I've just been a little bashful of late. More importantly, I haven't had the time to finish enough work to really get the ball rolling. BUT I'm close! Things have been dismal in the creative side of my brain for the last 10 to 12 months, but things are clearing up and I've been working on more projects than just music. Sometimes getting away from things really allows you get what you want out of the things you're no longer thinking about. This happens to be true for me, or at least it seems that way.
It will be Two EPs. That's what I'm going to release this year. Looking to have one done by summer and the next done for winter. I'm thinking month Six and Month Twelve. Let's see how it happens. My hope is to post AT LEAST one song over the next two months on this website and a BandCamp site. The EPs will be posted to BandCamp and iTunes as well. Here's to the future.
-Jon
Negative Energy
I read a very interesting article today about "Genericana". As you can imagine, it was about the resurgence of the fusion style of music including Americana, Folk, Bluegrass and so on. I read it for just a little while thinking that I might get some kind of information from it that was worth my time... Then I took a step back from it and noticed that it was nothing but a story telling me why I should or shouldn't like something.
I feel as though the world would have kept on turning if somebody didn't go out of their way to tell me Mumford and Sons is a gimmick band with no real substance behind them. If it's a fad that is a la mode, let it be just that. Like all good fads, they will fade without any real effort from the critics. I don't blame the person for writing the article. It is relevant to a music industry where it is more about selling an image and less about people making art, but it sure brought negative energy. If a band isn't worth talking about, why not just do that, not talk about them. Don't spend your time telling others why they shouldn't like them in the first place, or why they should feel bad about liking them currently. Instead write a piece about the greatest band you saw play live or heard on your stereo in the last month.
I guess what I'm saying is that we don't have to deal strictly in the positive, but rather we should concentrate less on the negative. I've heard it said a million times, good work will always find a way to be recognized. People will naturally find good art. All the other stuff that happens to be a fad or something that's just here to be a part of the band wagon can be left to be just that. Celebrate what's good and turn people on to the things that you find amazing. Just because somebody doesn't like something you think is incredible, doesn't make your love for it any less important. There are a million reasons why somebody might not like something that you find truly inspirational. I think promoting good work will do a lot more to the opinions of those around you than simply dismissing something as trite or meaningless. Love, actually is all around.
-Jon
Spring...Fall Cleaning
So I feel as though I've disappeared from everything lately. Perhaps the one person reading this will agree. However, I must say that while I have been bumming around a bit, I've also been working hard on a couple different items in the world of Jon Lawlor.
A couple of photos have been taken via a camera and they have been posted for sale on Etsy.com under my shop name Lawlography. It has been really interesting to get my work up into a store setting. I've never had a lot of work that I would consider generic and art worthy enough until now. I usually photograph people. Most people aren't looking for that random person Jon Lawlor knows to hang on their wall. Check it out and tell your friends. I would be more than happy to have people own some of my work!
As for music, I've been working hard on writing as much as I possibly can. I created a video for one of the songs that will be on an eventual release, but it wasn't really up to snuff. Should I post it anyway? I think I will wait until I am closer to having a couple other tunes available to grab and listen to. I am up to Pre Pro Work number 22 in my own catalogue of songs I'm working on for the eventual album, or ep. A lot of my work over the last three days has been going over a lot of older stuff that I partly wrote over the summer looking for any gems worth working on. That is where the title of this blog post comes from. My goal is to have an EP or an LP done sometime in December and ready to consume. EP or LP comes from the fact that I will either have enough music to create a good LP or a GREAT EP. Whichever comes first and can be finished in December will be the winner.
In conclusion, I apologize for being gone and out of touch, but I promise things have been happening. Things just, sometimes, happen more slowly than we wish them to happen. There are some great pieces of music I'm working on right now and a great couple of photo shoots I have coming in the next two months so I will make sure to keep things in writing here on the site and on the Facebook as well. Until then.
-Jon
Baby Steps
Click to Enlarge
Over the weekend I was lucky enough to be asked to do a baby photo shoot for one of the most adorable babies in the world. As I am a fan of taking photos in a low stress environment I had a great idea for the theme. I wanted to do a Sunday Morning in Bed kind of vibe. Mom and Dad reading to their wee one and playing around in bed before ever getting up to start the day. It sounded like fun, and I thought it might yield something with a very positive mood.
The shoot went wonderfully, and everyone involved did a great job. We had a lot of fun and there was very little fussiness from the young gal. I took about 1,200 photos just to make sure that every moment was captured. It took a little while to go through them, but it was great to get to work in a situation where the customer just thinks the camera is the neatest thing!
A lot of families just want to have standard portraits of their new family, but it was truly exceptional to get to have a more theme-based session with a great group of people. I've posted one of the shots from the shoot with this post, but there will be a full set of them as soon as the family gives permission for the rest to be shared.
Lesson learned: kids can bring such a positive vibe to a photo session when they are in the mood to do so.
-Jon
Weather or Not?
Why use such a cliché headline? It seemed relevant considering how the last couple weeks have been. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I finished one of the songs that will be on my album and I wanted to put together a video to share with everyone. Well wouldn't you know it, choosing to make the video set outdoors was a really bad idea over the last month. If it isn't raining, it has just finished raining and the outside world is a soggy mess. Needless to say, I will get this video filmed and edited as soon as possible, but fighting the elements has been a losing battle.
While I've been feeling stifled by the weather I have been following some other folks lately and things have been very productive. If I haven't mentioned by now, I do pretty much all my recording at Alpine Red Studios in Gainesville VA where a couple different projects are always swirling about the air. I'm not one for dropping names, but I am one for advertising fellow artists so forgive me for being forward about this. Luke Brindlley has been creating and releasing a song a week since the start of 2013 and, while he is not finished yet, he will be putting together some of the songs from the year into an album that he will be releasing very soon. Do yourself the favor and check out the release show. (I've attached a link at the bottom)
Stephen Kellogg has also been working with the creative side of Alpine Red and, while he recorded his upcoming album in a different studio, Chip, Kelly, and I have all been a part, in some way or another, of seeing the completion of the project. From Chip working closely on the music side of the album, to Kelly Illustrating the Song Book that comes with a pre-order of the album, the whole process has been nothing but an inspiration to follow to the eventual release of the album.
So it seems that sometimes your own projects can get battered down by life and the elements, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the rest of what's going on around you. I hope to get the video shot and edited before too long and I can't wait to share it.
-Jon
Alpine Red Studio Sessions
Over the last week I shot a performance of "Second Reunion" by Chip Johnson, of This Winter Room, at Alpine Red Studios. We cut together the live audio and a few additional shots. This will be the first of many other artists who stop by Alpine Red Studios. Enjoy!
-Jon
What the Hell is that song about?
Lyrics are a strange thing. Ask anybody if they are a music person or a lyric person and you will get a pretty even split. Some people just prefer to listen to the music and the lyrics are simply bonus points if they are even halfway decent. Other people will be turned off of a nationwide hit just because they have deemed the lyrics "lame" or "meaningless". No matter you're take on the topic, the one thing I've noticed seems to be a constant. One of the first things people will ask any musician is what the lyrics mean or who/what they are about. Never fails. The moment some one brings up your song, whether it's at a show, or simply running into you, they want to know what it's about.
So what are my songs about? Ask me on any given day and I might give you a slightly different answer. I've always been a big fan of songs that have lyrics that speak to something timeless. I love lyrics that are just as relevant today as they were 20 years ago, and will be 20 years from now. I usually stick to things that will speak to the listener and make them think of their own life. My life is only one moment of a much larger picture. I think the way we feel is more universal than what happens to us. Sure I run across a story or two in my life that seems worthy of telling by way of song, but personally I find that happens less than I would think.
Every musician is just as different as the listeners of the music they make. This post doesn't really clear up the story or meaning behind any of my past or future songs, but I thought it would be nice to address a topic that seems to be on people's minds when we start talking about music. What are my songs about? You tell me.
-Jon
Moments in Black and White
Taking just a short break from song writing last week, I was thinking about photography and I thought I might share some of my favorite Photographers. Now I don't know as much as most photographers when it comes to famous photographers, so I'm not going to pretend that I do. I did want to mention, however, a couple of people that I have run into over the years that had work that really caught my eye. All artists that you can find books of in most, but not all, Barns and Noble book stores. I'm not going in any order so don't take my list as top picks, just people I've been thinking of, that happen to have work in black and white that I love.
Nick Brandt has a book called "On This Earth". If you are interested in Black and White Photography, animals, and being extremely confounded by how somebody was where he was when he was, this is something you should check out. Fellow went to Africa and took some of the most interesting shots I've ever seen. His website also displays some more great work that he did before, and after he put out a book of his work.
The next person has a lot of different work, but what he does best is people. Put your seatbelt on conservative folks, most of the people he takes photos of are what photographers would call, "nude". I would call it "all sorts of naked". His name is Stefan May and he has a whole lot of work you can look at, but the stuff that pops up if you happen to google image search him will definitely be the exciting stuff. So I don't just like him because nakedness is awesome, if that's what you're thinking, Stefan May has a great way of capturing people in a way that the image itself makes you feel what's going on in the photo. Sometimes photos are pretty. His stuff is emotional.
The last person whose photographs have been on my mind lately is somebody so incredibly famous, it's hard to imagine anyone hasn't seen one of his images. Albert Watson easily has one of the most impressive portfolios of all time. Most of his famous work is in Black and White, like the photo that graces the cover of the Steve Jobs' Biography, but you will find there is a lot of color in his work too. If you search for his images you will be blown away by all the photos you know that were created by him in the last couple decades. If you have a minute, check him out, you will not be disappointed.
Below are some links. Enjoy!
-Jon
One song down, the rest of a record to go.
About two weeks ago, I began the recording process at Alpine Red Studios. My intention was to begin with one song that I would release as a single and then move on from there to record the rest of the album. The first song has progressed very well and and I'm very excited to bring it to folks both by digital download AND by way of the eyeball food we call youtube video.
I want to release both at the same time, so we should be shooting a video over the next couple of weeks. The concept is ready, and the song is relatively finished. In a few weeks I hope to be promoting the single on the Facebook, the Youtube and so on. My hope is that people will enjoy it enough to share it with friends or perhaps contact me with any thoughts, questions, or comments. Hopefully people will keep those to a constructive or positive nature, cause I cry easily. I'm joking of course... I never cry. What would Chuck Norris think?
The point of this blog post? Just to keep you up to date with what should be out soon on this site and others that I post to around the web. It's been a busy couple of days finishing up the first song and I can't wait to continue the process for the rest of the record.
-Jon
A Couch, a Guitar, and an iPhone
I spoke with somebody today that was interested in recording an interview into an iPad mini and it got me to thinking. I have been recording almost every demo I have been working on for the upcoming album strictly with my iPhone using Garageband. I never thought anything of it, other than it was convenient for me, until this gentleman mentioned he was interested in knowing if it could be done.
I don't know how many musicians are doing this right now, but I got an Apogee Jam for iOS devices for the sole purpose of using my iPhone as an idea generator. It's been so much more productive to sit in a well lit, comfortable room than feeling chained to my desk working on the entire computer. I will admit, there are severe limitations to recording onto something like an iPhone, but for getting the good ideas down right when they pop into my head, nothing beats it. It makes it possible to be watching a television show on Hulu, have a bit of a brain lightning strike, pause the TV and make something to work on later. I love the freedom!
When all is said and done, I am willing to bet that more than half of the songs that show up on the record will have been demoed on my iPhone before I put them down in the studio. Technology can be addictive, annoying, and an overall waste of time. But it can also be just the thing you need to capture those short moments in your life that always seemed to be a foggy memory when you need to recall them most.
-Jon
Time Laps Anyone?
A view from above. Scored by Jon Lawlor.
Enjoy!
-Jon
The First Single
So the work has begun on the new record. I spent the better part of a day working on a song that I pre-proed in garageband on my iPhone. Not to knock what the mic on my phone can capture, but things always sound better when they are run through actual condenser mics and scrumptious outboard gear!
We started off just getting the draft version of the song into Pro Tools, and then went about talking about the song and it's structure. Chip Johnson has a knack for looking at a song and understanding immediately what it needs and what it might benefit from. After a little bit of work we cut ourselves a 4 minute "yeah, i just kept things going till I got board" song, into a 3 minute ditty that has a great curve. After that, we started tracking new versions of guitar and bass until we had a good foundation. A very productive day.
I will be working this week on getting the rest of the song tracked and then it will be on to cooking up some kind of video to go with it. Nothing crazy, but some ideas that have been running through my head for a good while that I would like to make into a little visual piece to go with this song. I'm hoping to get both the song, and the video up in the next 2 weeks.
What to write when you've only just begun.
What is In the works...
For anybody who has come to this page because they were fans of The B-Film Extras, first and for most I am working on an album. I have been writing quite a bit over the last 4 months after about a year of writers block. There are a good couple songs in the works and I plan to release a single before too long. I'm looking forward to starting small. A couple of open mics and a short opening set sounds good to begin with. I've met and have had the honor of working with some great musicians over the last couple of years and it's, admittedly, hard to think about all the great places people are going, and me just getting things off the ground again. But no worries! It's exciting for me to begin a conversation with people again and try new things at shows and in recordings and videos.
I will definitely be writing about shows I've seen, records I've heard, and bands in the local, and not so local, areas to check out if you have the chance. I may not have a lot to say about what I'm currently up to, but there is a large music scene happening at all times. I will also probably throw out a favorite photo or two that I've been working on and invite you to visit the facebook page to see the whole album. Nothing is on my photo plate at the moment, but that changes quickly and I can't wait to bring some images to life.
Lastly, I am getting used to some of this new website layout and if you happen to comment on something and I don't respond, it's just because I haven't seen the comment. I'm not trying to purposely snub anyone. Bare with me while I get things together. And may I also say, thank you very much for stoping by the website and seeing what I'm up to.
-Jon