Go ahead, look at the blog Hot Nerd Girl just posted today for HER birthday. That’s right, she gives away gifts to her fans (more than 5,300 of them on facebook) … so go on, take a look at her nerdalicious blog post and enjoy. She’s a blogger who doesn’t fake her nerdiness. Trust me on that one. Now get outta here! You’ve wasted too much time here already!

The other day I was filming my buddy Jonathan Jones for this thing I’m not going to get into just yet … and he happened to be wearing a bunch of clothes from a company called Peter Says Denim.  I liked it and so we ran outside to shoot a few photos before the day was over.

While you’re here, LIKE my page on Facebook and follow me on Instagram:  JonnyUps and Twitter: @JonnyUps123

BOOM! Kings Of Leon!  Shot these guys the day after I shot Green Day, only to learn that they sold MORE seats for MORE money than Green Day did the night before.  That fact alone, shows the popularity of this band.

Lighting was difficult, and I got some pretty great looks from Caleb (lead singer) and am pleased to share them with you here.  Please enjoy these photos!

Here is a set of portraits I did for professional drummer, Jordan Zacharias. He has taught over 5,000 drum lessons, numerous tours, countless shows, and tons of studio experience.  One thing he wasn’t used to was modeling.  That’s what made my job fun!  Enjoy, and hire this guy.

Jordan Zacharias  -  760.807.6963  -  or find him on Facebook … you already know how to do that.

When starting a business, or even just revamping an existing one, a great portrait is a MUST HAVE. Heather from All Things Sweet And Wonderful needed portraits for her website, competitions, facebook, etc.  Here’s what we ended up with:

What I love about Heather is that she understands that she has to be herself to her valued customers.  We couldn’t schedule a photoshoot until her bright pink chef’s coat was delivered!  That’s just who she is, and that’s perfectly awesome!  The day of our shoot, she was also in the process of making a cake for a mother of twins, who had just found out she was expecting a 2nd set of twins!  So in the rush of the day, I snapped a few shots of the creation process.

Though I didn’t get to stay for the final product, I did see some pictures of it.  And it looked amazing!  She has gained attention for making cakes for local celebrities, baby showers, weddings, birthdays, and everything else you can think of.  She makes cake pops, cookies, cupcakes, and would probably deliver some pretty amazing brownies if that’s what you were looking for.

Visit her facebook page or her website for more information!  Thanks Heather!

Hot. Nerd. Girl.  Three descriptive words that interest MANY men across the world.  In my case, I’ve known HNG since high school and was happy to reconnect for this photoshoot.  The story behind this outfit is simple, she asked her readers to vote.  She’s brave to put her outfit to public vote, but they’ve been nice to her so far.  So far.

So for me, this was a great chance to test out some newly purchased gear … and I had a blast!  HNG was fantastic to work with, a total pro, and patient with me as I worked through a slight learning curve.

Do yourself a huge favor and go check out HotNerdGirl.com for a bunch of photos that I haven’t posted here on my site.  And click on any of the photos to ‘like’ my page on facebook.  AND while I’m here, visit the other nerd in my life at ResLifeGeek.com … BOOM!  Happy Halloween!

Whew!  We made it!  7 full days of blogging.  Lots of Green Day photos.  This one, the last one for now, was after the photographers got kicked out.  You see, we get 3 songs (in this case, 2) to shoot, then we have to bring our cameras back to our cars and come back if we have a ticket.  For this show, I definitely had a ticket provided for me.  Being a Green Day fan, I was looking forward to this show, but I had seen them before.  One of the other photographers in the pit didn’t have a ticket, and she was a huge fan who had never seen them.  Needless to say, I didn’t watch the show that night.  Anyways, we were getting kicked out.  Done.  No more photos.  I snapped this one, because it was just too perfect.  Naturally, a giant security guard pulled me aside and said, “NO MORE.  Get it!?”  and sent me on my way.  Glad I took the risk.  I think that’s going to be an underlying theme here.  Just take a freaking risk.  Sometimes a small risk feels like a giant one.  But for the most part, the human race is very forgiving.  Trust me here, people.

Thanks for the last 7 days.  It was nice to share, a challenge to write, and eye-opening to see my photos in a whole new light.  Thank you.

Right after pulling a guy onstage, and then sending him back into the sea of people to crowd surf, Billie Joe whips around and heads back to the main part of the stage.  It’s a long walk …err, sprint from the end of the catwalk, to the microphone.  That moment, unintentionally exciting, captured forever.  The lights, the faces in the crowd, Billie Joe Armstrong with auto-pilot running fierce.  It was all there to be imperfectly perfect.  One of my favorite shots from the show because you can almost feel his heartbeat as the adrenaline hits.

For day #5, I’ve got a little surprise for you.  It’s Friday, it’s been a long week, you deserve a little treat.  So here it is, 2 photos for your viewing pleasure.  I couldn’t decide between these photos of bassist, Mike Dirnt, so you get them both!

And since it’s friday, I won’t bore you with words.  However, waste a few more minutes online with these links:
JonnyUps on Facebook

@JonnyUps123 on Twitter

…and because you’ll probably forget to come here tomorrow and Sunday for the last 2 photos, please Subscribe (or click the ‘follow’ button in the bottom right.)  Get outta here, and have a great weekend!

I promised you 2 things for today.  Billie Joe Armstrong.  And fire.  I might have kinda lied to you.  The fire, sadly, wasn’t real.  But it was giant.  Check out the shot below, and I’ll paint a word picture for you below.

Imagine this.  The lights go down, the crowd grows to a deafening scream in anticipation for what they know is going to happen next.  The intro to Song Of The Century plays under the roar.  Then it hits.  21st Century Breakdown comes in full force with lights, full band, everything.  Front and center stage, we have Billie Joe on guitar letting the whole arena get a good look at him.  He knows that before the song is over, he’ll have made his way down the catwalk stage to sing some more, and then out into the audience and all the way up the stands.  Why?  Because everybody in the room paid for an experience, and he wasn’t about to let them down.

Most bands allow photographers to shoot for 3 full songs.  This show only allowed 2 songs, which is no problem when the first song goes for 9 minutes.  Despite sharing the photo pit with 13 other photographers, I still had plenty of space to run around and do what I needed to do.  Very pleased with the atmosphere created by these guys.

And I know I’m not a literary Rembrandt, so my words can only take you so far.  Please check out Green Day – Awesome As F**K for the entire experience.  It is the exact show you’d expect from these guys.  Recorded well.  Performed well.  And it deserves a full listen at full volume.  Turn it to 11 if you need to.

See you tomorrow for Green Day A Day #5