2009 Orlando Fringe Theatre Festival
The 2009 Orlando Fringe Festival was quite the experience! I went for 6 days photographing different stage performances, shows, candids, and everything else! I worked with another photographer who was really great, Dixie Lee. We worked so well together and that is really hard to find in the photography community, so I think we have a great friendship started!
I volunteered for the event and it was well worth the while and the gas money, the people I met, the shows I experienced, everything was just awesome!
We even took our dog Dizzi one afternoon and she wore a t-shirt with all of the Fringe buttons on it and everyone just loved her and wanted their pictures with her. She is definately the new mascot and is thinking of starting her own blog for the Fringe next year! LOL.
One of my favorite shows was “7(x1) Samurai” with David Gaines. I got to photograph and experience the show and it was nothing short of incredible. After posting some of the images on Facebook I received an email from David Gaines, the star of the show and this is a copy of the post that I made there:
Why I do what I do…
As I woke up this morning exhausted from another night of shooting at Fringe and amazed at all of the great shows I had seen thus far, but wondering if all of my volunteer work would one day pay off...I opened up my email to find the following from the performer of "7 (x1) Samurai", an incredible show I saw the night before. I posted a few of his pictures and this is the response he sent....reminds me why I do what I do.......
"Kristen –
I just saw your shots from my “7 (x1) Samurai” show, and I must say they are excellent! You have a great eye for composition, and you caught some of the best shots I’ve seen of the show!
You are certainly welcome back to my show anytime. It’s funny. In the shower this morning I was just wondering if it would be possible to capture a sense of the movement and the mask in one shot. I was thinking of some complex multiple-exposure with sequential flashes - to achieve that kind of thing you often see with dance photography of multiple images connected by a blur of movement flowing into a final pose…
But many of your photos captured the sense of movement just by your skillful choice of the right moment to click the shutter. Bravo. You have a gift and a talent for what you do.
Thank you for bringing it to bear on my show as its subject.
Sincerely,
David "
Another of my favorite shows that we were waiting for after seeing the “preview” was “The Karate Guy”. Michael Marinaccio played the part of Daniel, 25 years after winning the karate tournament. I got some awesome shots of this performance as well. You just have to see the show!
Another absolute favorite was “Elegies: for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens”. My great friend Marcie was in the show so I had to see it. I didn’t know anything about it really until I went to photograph it. John DiDonna, the director, did the most incredible job with this performance! If it is any consolation, they sold out every single show but one! The night that I was there to photograph they were supposed to be on an outside stage and it was pouring down rain so it was moved into an interior room with no professional lighting or anything, and still the cast did an amazing job!
And another great favorite was “Department of Angels”. The two performers in this were just INCREDIBLE! I would describe it as a very Charlie Chaplin style of performance, lots of loud movements and facial expressions….and no dialogue. You can get a lot by the photographs, see for yourself!
And yet another favorite was “Wanderlust”. Martin Dockery interpreted his 5 month journey through Africa on stage and it was just hilarious. He was such a great performer and had so much stage presence…..and I believe he earned the “Fringe Crush” award……yes ladies I think he is taken!
Other shows that I saw and photographed but could not always stay for the entire show were "Burlesque Unzipped", "The Mayor of Orange Avenue", "PuppetSlam", and "The Lighter Side of Suicide". The lLighter Side of Suicide was put on by my good friends Don and Pam Canavan. Their son was in the play as well. I could only stay for about 15 minutes so I was a little dissappointed I was in a hurry but heard it was a great show!
Everyone was so awesome and I can't wait to do it again next year!
www.davidgainesperformance.com