We all love music, that’s why we’re here… either at MAE or reading this blog/question as a fan…. Personally, music is good EVERYWHERE… in the car, at home in any room, in the sunshine, in the rain, morning, noon, or night… in the headphones at the gym, walking the streets of your favorite city…. and yes, at a LIVE event indoors, outdoors, track show or full band…. We are asking you today—
What’s your favorite way or place to listen to music? Do you get hooked at a concert then buy the album or is the other way around? Are you an internet streamer? Do you like the Radio? College Radio? Satellite Radio? What really does it for you? Please enlighten us by sharing your favorite music experience!
Courtney comes to Mass Appeal via Berklee College of Music…. A world renowned music school that encourages hands on learning and pushes their students to be the best they can be. Courtney brings to Mass Appeal an unparalleled enthusiasm both for what she is learning and experiencing as an MP & E major and for life in general. Courtney’s personality shines through in all that she does and if you ask her even about her last haircut, you’ll see even her stylist thought so! Courtney has been doing a great job covering the posts and updates from Mass Appeal Entertainment each Thursday and Friday. She is definitely pairing her love of music with her interest in the business of music. There’s no doubt that Courtney gives her all to what she loves and I am sure because of this, she will be happy and successful.
My favorite album of 2009 was: Bring Gary Go’s self-titled record = AMAZING.
The best concert I have ever been to is: MuteMath ft. As Tall as Lions (if you ever have a chance to see them live DO IT!)
On my iPod you will find: lots of R&B/Hip-Hop/Rock/Gospel/Soca/Dancehall/Regae…pretty much everything.
My guilty pleasure song: Ke$ha “Tik Tok”, Miley Cyrus “Party in the USA”, anything Taylor Swift….they’re so damn catchy!
I’m hoping this experience at MAE will: Give me more experience with New Media Marketing and mold me into a marketing machine!
My ringtone is currently: “Last Word” A.I. Music Group
My dream vacation would be: Escaping to a hut over the water in Fiji or Tahiti…I need the beach!
When I’m not interning at MAE you can find me: In the studio working with my production company, A.I. Music Group LLC! Chea!
My ideal job would be: Freelance Production and Engineering for high-profile clientele!
3 words that describe me are: confident, motivated, spontaneous
I am not a photographer, at least not by trade. However, I thoroughly enjoy documenting my life whether it’s my latest dinner creation, something I have ordered out, an interesting sign, an oddly large Adirondack chair in Key West, a sunset via progression shots, or family and friend filled memories. I have always had a great respect for awesome photographs consumed by nature or amazing city scenes and I suppose I love these shots because I simply love seeing the world. I love seeing the world through my own eyes and through those of others. My newest discovery is seeing the world in ultra vivid color with crazy details that most human eyes overlook. These new visions have come to me in the form of HDR Photography and I am in love. Therefore, I feel that the world, at least those who are unaware, need to become aware, and will then fall in love with HDR Photography too!!
I was first introduced to HDR Photography by my Uncle, Glenn Spiro. He has a 9-5 but enjoys photography in his free time- whether it being scenery or subjects. He sent me the link to a blog site called Stuck In Customs and since then I have been sending this link to everyone I know. My Uncle recently started dabbling with HDR methods himself and I am excited to watch his progress. His latest HDR Photo is from a local square in Boston and truly give this North End square a new life.
(Glenn Spiro: North End Boston, North End Sq, night. HDR toward the painterly effect. v1).
You’ve probably seen this type of photo 100 times, but never knew it had a name. Now you can search and find new screen savers, wall art, coffee table books, or start a new hobby. Please read on to understand the basics, see some of my favorite links, some of my favorite HDR Photographs, and some of the most talented Photographers that I have encountered on my mission to share my latest obsession and discovery with the world!
Thanks to Trey Ratcliff the talented photographer and writer behind Stuck In Customs, I have been able to learn more about HDR Photography, understand the process, and view daily posts that contain new and inspiring images. As taken from Trey’s Blog, HDR is an acronym for High Dynamic Range. It is a post-processing task of taking either one image or a series of images, combining them, and adjusting the contrast ratios to do things that are virtually impossible with a single aperture and shutter speed. Trey says that the HDR process helps the photos look more evocative… and I agree. Simply put, when you use a tripod, take multiple exposures of one scene, being sure to capture various levels of exposure from under to over exposed images, and merge them together, your HDR Photo will be the result after applying a tone mapping technique. Tone mapping reduces the dynamic range, or contrast ratio, of the entire image, while retaining localized contrast (between neighboring pixels). The best pixels from each of your individual photos will be displayed and the result is smooth contrast displayed with incredible detail in the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows.
An example of various exposure levels and the merged finished product (Taken from Wikipedia)
(Wikipedia) Some of my favorite HDR Photographs:
Here is the original, non-HDR version of the Golden Gate Bridge. (vgm8383 on Flickr)
Here is an HDR version of the Golden Gate Bridge during a break in a 3 day storm that hit San Francisco. (vgm8383 on Flickr)
This is a great blog which has awesome photos and the stories to go with them. Trey promotes contests, shares his interests, photos, and videos. He also has a Newsletter that I highly recommend you sign up for!
The HDR Spotting Gallery is one to get lost in. Every image that you look at seems better and better from the last. HDR Spotting offers Tutorials, Software, and most importantly, their gallery.
HDR Spotting is designed to be a next-generation gallery for an emerging group of photographers. This site was started because long-time friends and photographers Trey Ratcliff (for more on Trey visit www.stuckincustoms.com) and Denis Khoo saw an intense desire on behalf of HDR Photographers to get their work noticed and to drive more traffic to their sites.
Their mission is to create an environment that allows HDR Photographers to share their best work and drive people to their respective websites. HDR Spotting is designed to:
Make it easy and beautiful to scan many HDR Photos at once
Provide an environment that encourages readers to go visit the blogs, portfolios, etc of the photographers that contribute
Provide a fun community that can be focused and provide feedback via views and comments
HDR Spotting is a basic free service. The site generates income from advertising, which they want to make as unobtrusive and pertinent as possible.
Contributing is easy! Simply enter your information. You maintain the rights to everything… If your photo is good enough, people will click on it to find out more and maybe jump right over to your blog, portfolio, or wherever you wish. HDR Spotting has a human-team (not AI) that will look through the submissions to make sure no one is posting crass ads or porn or anything.
Cambridge in Colour was started in 2005, and has since grown substantially both in content and in the number of visitors it attracts. On any given day this site has well over 10,000 different people learning about photography, viewing the gallery and contributing to the forums
This HDR Post on this site makes the HDR process seem really easy and it also has a great tutorial. I would recommend visiting this site if you are looking to further understand HDR Photography or want to try it out yourself. They have some helpful screenshots, links, and a place for discussion.
This Blog was sent to me by David Santos. 2 Experts Design is a creative and graphic design resources blog that aims to provide readers to wide variety of resources such as graphic design, logo design, web design, advertising, branding, typography, other graphic and web designer portfolio, blogging in general, resourceful material, useful tips, tutorials, photography, colour, marketing and much more. The HDR post has a great example of before photos and the after result. Please see below:
This Blog was also sent to me by David Santos. As a web designer he loves Smashing Magazine because “they always have great tutorials, free information, and tools for designers to use in their work like brushes, patterns, icons, etc.”
Smashing Magazine was founded in September 2006 and it delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers. Their aim is to inform their readers about the latest trends and techniques in Web development. They try to convince you not with the quantity but with the quality of the information we present.
Nourished by the gratitude of its benefactors and powered by the reach of social networking, this community has produced a wide variety of high-quality articles, resources and tools, available to everybody. Every single contribution supports the entire community, and the community supports these contributors with traffic and word-of-mouth advertising: the networking effect at its best.
The HDR post utilized from Smashing Magazine displays 35 extremely beautiful and perfectly executed HDR-pictures. Some of them might look surreal, too colorful, even magic or fake, but they are not — keep in mind that they’ve all been developed out of usual photos, and not a single image is an illustration.
You see this sweet innocent girl and would never think she fits into the ‘Metal’ world… but the reality is, packed into her petite self is an intense passion for various music and definite dedication to an abundant life!! Ashley plays the guitar, has taught the guitar and is active with Tastemakers Music Magazine and MEISA at Northeastern University. Ashley hates being with us just once a week and cannot wait until the Summer when she can take her MAE foundation to the next level 😉 ! We are definitely looking forward to this and hope Ashley will too! Be on the lookout for Ashley’s updates in the coming weeks!
My favorite album of 2009 was: Bring Me the Horizon – Suicide Season
The best concert I have ever been to is: Ozzfest ‘07
On my iPod you will find: Everything from Bright Eyes to Necrophagist
My guilty pleasure song: I Wish (the Little Mermaid Remix) – Skee Lo
I’m hoping this experience at MAE will: Help me learn more about the music industry and the way an independent record label works.
My ringtone is currently: Things That Rhyme With Orange, I Set My Friends on Fire.
My dream vacation would be: Somewhere warm, with a beach!
When I’m not interning at MAE you can find me: Collecting cookies from Stetson East.
My ideal job would be: Something that I love and enjoy doing.
3 words that describe me are: Motivated, committed, fun
Veronica joins MAE from Emmanuel College and is in the home stretch of her Senior year. Veronica is happily working towards her Bachelor of Arts in Management and I am sure will reach passionately for success once this major goal is accomplished! Veronica is active at school both with her classes and in her extracurricular activities where she is a Founder and Vice President of the Cape Verdean Student Association Club. She is rightfully proud of her culture and how her culture affects the world through music, art, fashion, etc. It is certainly nice to have and observe a real fan like Veronica working with a project where she feels a personal connection to the tasks, and we are very happy Veronica is with us to increase the awareness and exposure for Suzanna Lubrano!
The first CD I ever bought was: LL Cool J
The artist I admire the most is:Mary J Blige
I’m hoping this experience at MAE will: be a learning experience and a fun one.
My dream vacation would be: Relaxing on the beach in Fiji
One album I could listen to constantly is: Trey Songz “Ready”
On my iPod you will find: A little bit of everything, literally ☺
My ideal job would be: Becoming a business lawyer
When I’m not interning at MAE you can find me: Working, in school or shopping
My guilty pleasure song is: What is Love
3 words that describe me are: Independent, Focused, Fun
Massive Appeal:BTS at Mass Appeal Entertainment 