Photos about live music aren’t just about live music. In April 2017 I was in Austin for a birthday trip, seeing many of my favorite bands and musicians. This night at C-Boy’s, the band was getting ready to take the stage. Most of the musicians were hovering nearby, waiting for show time. I took a few snapshots but, when the band’s front man noticed and looked at me — that was when I took a photograph.

There are a lot of little things that pull this photo together, I think. The leading line of the ventilator on the ceiling pulling our eye to the band. The red light to the ventilator’s left balanced by the light over the piano on the right. Similarly, the blown-out highlight of the daylight coming from the door and the shadow that bisects the glare. The contrast of the yellow tie on the black shirt. The disco ball reflecting nearby lights to look like a cross. And of course, that bright amber sparkly, spangly curtain. Finally, those barstools don’t even really get noticed, but at the edge of our eye, we can see they’re different. It’s a few lucky accidents that fell into place to make this cell phone photo overachieve.

April 9, 2017. Motorola Moto X Pure Edition cell phone, 3.8mm focal length (35mm equivalent: 28mm), f/2, 1/15, ISO 800.

It was the first hot day of the year, right in mid-April. I was at my favorite nature preserve, and a great blue heron was preening — I imagine discarding old feathers not only for new growth but also appreciating the extra ventilation — and sticking close to the pond’s edge. Here and there, he’d splash around a bit. Those got me some fun photos, but the keeper was when he happened to emerge from the water perfectly aligned with my view, drops of water flying every which way. During one of his quieter moments, I’d set my exposure settings to a faster shutter speed, and that is why this one, the moment after he breaks the surface to cool off on such a warm day, is a photo I love.

April 15, 2023. Cropped from a larger image. Nikon D850 (FX sensor), Tamron 100–400mm at 400 mm, f/8, 1/750, ISO 800.

As you face the stage in Gruene Hall in Gruene, Texas, this is the right side of the stage. Before the music started, the guitarist in the opening band sat down at the steps and played for a few minutes for no one but himself.

I love the color — somehow the blues and purples feel more warm than the cool end of the spectrum they’re usually assigned to. It feels to me like it evokes a different time, maybe because Gruene Hall is coming up on its 150th anniversary; that stage probably isn’t that old, but maybe it didn’t look that different back in the day. And mostly I love a musician sitting down and playing for himself for a little while, losing himself in the moment.

This was the cover to my 2019 calendar.

February 10, 2018. Samsung Galaxy S8+ cell phone, 4.25mm focal length (35mm equivalent: 26mm), f/1.7, 1/60, ISO 800.

Here’s a bucolic little scene, a nice, traditional farm with a windmill and a red barn outside the Minnesota community of Red Wing. Clouds are breaking up, a number of train tracks cross the scene to give your eye more to look at, and it just feels like a bit of the country we think might have vanished, but there it is in front of us.

I also like it because I took it from my seat on an Amtrak train going 60 mph with my cell phone. There are going to be a lot of cell phone shots on this site, and someone interested in photography might be interested in seeing how the technology has improved over the years.

This was the cover photo to my 2025 calendar.

October 14, 2024. OnePlus 12 cell phone, 6.06mm focal length (35mm equivalent: 23mm), f/1.35, 1/640, ISO 100.

It’s early Spring in 2018 and I’m at a nature preserve on Chicago’s northwest side. Color is just starting to come back to the world, and there are signs of life: blossoms just pushing out of their buds, goslings clinging near mom and dad as they learn the lay of the land. I take a few photos of those and this and that; then I see, over at the far edge of the pond (just a couple of hundred feet away), a mother and her daughter crouched low to the ground taking a close look at something in the water. You can’t tell in this smaller version, but if you could see this full-sized, the girl is reaching into the water, moving something with a stick.

And that’s the story this tells. Whether mom is showing her daughter something or the daughter is sharing her discovery, the world is fresh and coming back to life, and these two people, who look all but tiny in this setting, have found something in the pond to share, among all the trees and reeds and grasses towering above them that sustain the preserve.

May 5, 2018. Nikon D7100 (DX sensor), Nikon 70–300mm at 70mm (35mm equivalent: 105mm), f/16, 1/60, ISO 100.