This is the first entry into my blog which has been blank for over a year.  Up until now, I wasn't sure if I had anything interesting to say or not (and still don't), however, I'm just gonna write what's on my mind and see where it goes from here, so buckle up for the ride of your life or perhaps only yawn and move on to something much more interesting!  I'll try to keep you entertained with cunning wit, dry English humor and a healthy dose of sarcasm as much as humanly possible but I make no guarantees, nor issue refunds for wasted time reading this spiel.

Well as most of my friends and people who I associate with know, being a music lover, I shoot a lot of performance photography, you could easily call it my passion border line obsession.  When I go to a gig, I always have a camera whether it's authorized or not.  The few times that I haven't had one in tow, I felt naked without it.  I recently saw Chrissie Hynde do a in store acoustic performance at Criminal Records and it was posted with an over abundance of posted signs that photography/ video was FORBIDDEN!  That being the case, I respectfully complied.  And while I enjoyed the performance, I couldn't help feel somehow I was denied a chance to document this event.  I was easily two feet away from Chrissie almost looking directly eye to eye with her.  That would have been awkward (but photographically amazing), however, if they had allowed photography, i would have positioned myself to give the artist some respectful distance.  I'm very self conscience about not distracting the artist as well as bothering attendees who are just enjoying themselves for the moment.  The real problem stems with cell phones.  All this technology has really let the "genie out of the bottle."  Not everyone is a professional photographer and that's ok.  Yet we all take photos for different reasons, mostly because we want to document a special time and place.  It's a bookmark we want to turn back on in the future to reflect on or perhaps share with family and friends.  And I'm all for expressing oneself creatively.  The problem for me and increasingly for the artist, such as Chrissie Hyndes is that most people are very selfish when they whip out their phones at a show.  In the darkened venues and clubs, you see cell phones everywhere dangling in the air like a swarm of fire flies, usually blocking the view of the people directly behind them and distracting the artist, whether it's self conscience or not.  The worst of the offenders are those capturing video, and not very well I might add.  Holding their devices high above their heads, waving them back and forth, indifferent to the artist and attendees, and the people who have their "flash" mode turned on...  That really drives me nuts.  Such as life, there is a right way and a wrong way to do things.  

"Photographic etiquette" is something we all should observe if we decide to pull out a camera at an event or music show.  In fact, the phone companies should include it in their user manuals, not that anyone reads them.  Photographic etiquette is not to be confused with rules so much as it's seems like it should be common sense guidelines to observe when photographing.