So far this blog has been a mix of my family portrait photography, a handful of wedding, personal + travel, and live music. I realize that this is a little ridiculous and it’s kind of confusing to scroll through the fun+upbeat+happy+colorful portraits and then be slapped in the face with mostly black+white+moody live music moments. It’s such a weird thing trying to compartmentalize all of these things that I love so much, but I’m working on it and have decided that it does make sense to create different sites for different things.

Here’s how it’s going down!

This blog, saramontour.com/blog, is still going to be the main little hub, but most of the posts are going to be of my awesome family portrait clients. I’ll also post the handful of weddings I take on each year and personal posts of the ridiculous things Scott and I get in to. This will include some travel photos, but most of those will end up on The Vagabond Bond.

I’ve reactivated my live music website, saramontourlovesmusic.com (YAY!), and I’ve made a brand new tumblr blog, saralovesmusic.tumblr.com, where I’ll post all of the concerts that I shoot. I’ve imported the shows from the past couple of months, and I’ll post more from the archives as new posts.

I’m also going to try to make one post a week on this blog that has a wrap up of everything I’ve posted around the web.

I know this is all crazy and probably confusing. I ALSO know that I’m probably the only one that is really concerned with The State Of My Blogs, but… there you have it.

Check it:

Andrew Bird with Konono Nº1

Kinnie Starr

Kinnie Starr

Sonny Landreth

(If you’re viewing this in facebook, head to the blog to see the full size images.)

Not so much. Album Leaf set up and I saw all of these LED light strips attached to their microphone stands. I figured this could either be really good for shooting or REALLY BAD. Turns out it was the latter. Kind of. The entire set, except for the last song, was lit solely with those LED strips and a projector pointed towards the band. SUPER dark. SUPER inconsistent. SUPER tricky.

This is where I think you have one of two options. You can either freak out and tell your editor that it was almost impossible to shoot because there was no light, which was actually pretty valid, or you can expand your default and jump out of your comfort zone. I got nervous for about 4 seconds, and then I got SO EXCITED.

Life is a lesson.

Photographers note . the venue was pretty dark for this show and most of the lights were red (our favorite, right?). I shot mostly in black+white straight out of the camera and stayed between 2500-3200 ISO all night. Minneapolis photographers: think old Turf Club red with Entry dark.

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The Classic Crime spent some time in Haiti a few months before the earthquake and it’s apparent how much that trip affected them. They played a great video at the benefit highlighting their time in Haiti, which you can see on their facebook page. They’re also releasing an album in April, but they’re taking preorders right now, and all of the profits from the preorders are going directly to Haiti. You can preorder at Tooth ‘N’ Nail.