London England September 10, 2014

Perhaps you live in a cave or under a rock. Otherwise, most likely you know that I was in London, England last week. It was a quick in n' out. Fly out of Boston Monday night, arrive at Heathrow Tuesday morning, then fly back Thursday evening. Yes, I am crazy.

It's not often that you get the opportunity to do something that will occur only once in your lifetime and you know it. This was one. My friend for 48 years, Robert Spileos is an avid Kate Bush fan. So much so that he joined the fan club many years ago. He must be clairvoyant. It turns out that fan club members received a code to use when tickets for a 22 night stand at the Evertim Hammersmith Apollo went on sale. Tickets sold out in 15 minutes. Robert planned to buy 1 ticket and go by himself. I told him if he was able to procure a ticket, to get one for me as well. I would join him.

He got the tickets. We went. It was one of the most memorable concerts of my lifetime. I've been to a few. There are no photos from the concert here. Ms Bush made a special request to those lucky enough to be attending the shows, please no iphones, cameras, ipads etc. She didn't want anything to detract from what happened on stage. 

I now understand why. Our eyes barely strayed from the stage, making sure we wouldn't miss the spectacular visual event unfolding. We strained to hear every note, every word sung or spoken so that we would miss nothing on the auditory side. Kate's voice sounded like honey. And her vocals were augmented by 5 back-up singers. Add sound effects that went from prerecorded voices to sounds of birds singing and helicopters. It was not an ordinary concert. It was a spectacular, an extravaganza. It wasn't ordinary, it was Kate Bush.

I can't put it all into words. This review in The Guardian last week is spot on; kate bush "before the dawn"

Overall, London was very, very good to us. The entire trip was not ordinary. It was magic. Did I dream it?

Here's what happened in condensed form;

heathrow, express to paddington. tube to queensway. thistle kensington gardens, bayswater rd. that tub is trying to kill us. the victoria 10A Strathearn Pl W2 2NH. Kalamaras, Inverness Mews. Highgate Hill, Muswell Hill Road, the cabbie who took 15 pounds even though the meter read 16.80. salt caramel fudge, clotted cream fudge. Kensington Palace, Barclay Bikes, Buckingham Palace. Maharajah, Queensway St., Eventim Hammersmith Apollo, Before The Dawn, free earplugs, Ms. Bush, Gent wearing the English Settlement t-shirt, the 4 beautiful people who gave us the papers shot from the confetti blaster. Del Casa, Queensway St. (Thanks Yusef. sorry we didn't make it for lunch). Chrissie Hynde on the Beeb. David Cameron says "effin" to a group of Scottish railroad engineers widows on the Beeb. Trafalgar Square, Lord Nelson, the blue cock, Royal Guards Museum, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, House of Commons/Lords, The Eye, The Thames, Denisa at Thistle, Huxley's Heathrow (thanks Marta. I hope you got the weekend off). met folks from Germany, Albuquerque, Dallas, Ireland, Poland, Greenland, Morroco, Afghanistan, Rafak from Nigeria, Surrey and more. The Circle, District, Central, Bakerloo, Piccadilly lines. home again

I managed to take a few snaps in the short time we were in London. I hope you like them.

Some of our fine feathered friends relaxing in Kensington Gardens.

The Queen is dead. God Save The Queen

 Even in West London, Red Sox Nation

 Down in the Tube Station at (nearly) Midnight

Lovers of Today

 Man in Black in repose

That's it for now.

Wayne "the train" Hancock

i've been a fan of wayne hancock+ for a long time. Amongst Americana aficionados, Wayne's first album "Thunderstorms and Neon Signs" is considered a classic. Wayne's sound is a throwback to Hank, Lefty, Carl Smith+, Faron Young+, Moon Mullican+, a touch of Bob Wills+ and other country singers from the 40's into the early 60's.

last night i had the opportunity to see Wayne at the Middle East in Cambridge. the last time i saw him was in the late 90's at SxSW.

he's playing with a stand up bassist and a really talented guitarist, i wasn't able to catch their names. Wayne on acoustic rhythm guitar and vox.

the man has stuck with his retro formula through the years, but manages to make it sound entirely original, not a clone of those who blazed the trail he's on.

in the subway

hi all -

contractually i'm unable to name the model in these photos, but i want to share the photo selected for use and then show you some of the outtakes from this shoot. the model has a great sense of humor and timing. these qualities are quite evident in some of the other exposures from this session.

i love working with her, but it's tough to work out our schedules and, believe it or not, she's somewhat reluctant to pose for me.

these were shot with a nikon D700, Nikkor 85 mm, 1.8 lens. ISO 1000, 1/100 sec @ f1.8

the outtakes

more to come

the first

this is my first blog. exciting, isn't it? more than a year after graduating from Boston University's Center for Digital Imaging Arts, it's time to jump out of the airplane. i don't have enough opportunities to shoot, it's a full plate that i juggle.

I built a studio in my home, which was finally completed in February. Getting it done is a long story that I won't bore you with here. i have a set of +elinchrom monolights and softboxes. I also purchased an Elinchrom grid set and the Lastolite 8 in 1 umbrella

I want to specialize in portraiture and product photography. My true passion is documentary, and I've been at work on a project that was first suggested by +Sharon White - a great photographer, instructor and cheerleader.

I haven't done any branding or marketing yet. Free time is a premium. I recently went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and was able to take photos for a documentary project.

i shot the zulu parade on mardi gras morning.

yes, that is a pair of see thru lace panties going to some lucky parade watcher. i was only able to procure a hand painted coconut, a much prized throw from the Zulu krewe.


With former class mate and shooting partner +David Salo, we then went across the Mississippi to Algiers to photograph the parade of the Mohawk Hunters, a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. The Mardi Gras Indians are one of many Mardi Gras subcultures that have been created through the years. Most of the subculutures developed in the African American communities, in a time when the large parades were segregated, so African Americans created their own unique forms of celebrating Mardi Gras Day.

the suits worn by the Indians are sewn by hand, take almost a year to create and are only worn that year. The day after Mardi Gras, it's time to start working on next years suit.


I also had to the opportunity to shoot with former class mate and shooting partner +David Salo with models +Meredith and +Kateryna. i have not yet had a chance to edit any of these, so the next time I post, I'll post some of them.

you can always see more photos at www.michaelneustadt.com or www.facebook.com/photographsbymichaelneustadt