I’ve only seen live music on Jeju a few times so having the opportunity to watch and photograph Dave and The Specialists rock out was a welcoming occasion.
Dave and The Specialists at full tilt near the end of the night.
I was asked by the guitarist of The Specialists, Adam, to head down to Geckos Bar in Jungmun to photograph their gig a couple of weeks ago. I had previously seen them play once at the Beach Volleyball tournament held in October 2015. I enjoyed their energetic style and the danceable songs they covered, so it was easy to accept the job.
I’ll introduce the players and then just post a gallery of my favorite shots from the evening. All the musicians work by day at the Korea International School here on Jeju, but by night they put on their entertaining shoes and rocked the house.
Dave
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- Canadian Dave, the one-man acoustic band who rocked a best of covers playlist. A former American Idol contestant, he played and sang with exceptional talent and passion.
The Specialists
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- Adam, lead guitarist and backup vocalist. His training in the art of guitar-playing facial expressions really payed off. Fantastic guitar work and voice.
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- My favorite shot of the evening. This was his reaction during the first notes of ‘Let’s Get It On’. Brilliant.
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- Francis, lead vocalist and keyboard extraordinaire.
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- Marcelina, bassist and best smile.
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- Lee, drummer and backup vocalist. His big arms got a mighty good workout this evening.
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- Extra: Shila, guest vocalist for a few songs. She has a beautiful voice!
Best of the Rest
Dave and the Specialists entertained for nearly four hours. Dave played a couple of sets and The Specialists played a couple, and then they teamed up for an amazing grand finale. I was tapping my toes and singing along the whole show. Here are the rest of my fav pics from the night. Click on any to view in the Gallery.
Extra
I took a couple of videos during some of the exciting parts of the show. One day, I’d like to try to improve my filming skills, but for now I prefer just sticking to photography. Check out the vids below.
Finally, a few links to share –
Some of my photos of people dancing have some streaking lines that make the image come alive. Here’s a good article on How to Give Your Dance Photos a Sense of Motion, written by Jason Vinson (Vinson Images).
Also, here’s a Youtube video of Dave talking about other contestants on American Idol and then playing a song. I found it after googling him!
Last, if you are in Jeju and want to be entertained by Dave and the Specialists, then it’s your lucky week as there will be more live music on Jeju at GET Company in Jeju City this Saturday starting around 8:30 pm. That’s after what will be a great time at the Jeju Chilli Cook-off held at The Bar in Jeju City.
These are the places to be this Saturday so bring an empty stomach and your dancing shoes! I’ll most likely be out with my camera as well. Check below for the details of those events. Hope to see you there.
Click here to see the plans for the 3rd Annual Jeju Chili Cook-Off
Wow, great photos as always Eric! You captured what looked like a really fun evening! That’s pretty cool that Dave was on American Idol! Thanks for sharing tips on taking dance photos as well. We will have to see if they have any shows when we come to Jeju in August! We would love to see them live if so! Thanks for sharing!
Wow! It seemed like an interesting night of talented musicians. Fantastic photography…the shots really capture the emotion of the music. Keep up the great work!
The streaking lines caught my attention, too. Your photos show the fun everyone there is having. And Jeju seems to have an active expat night life there. Enjoy!
You have a real talent for photography! I feel like I was there with you the way you take the pictures. I would also love to see the band play one day!
Awesome post Eric! I would imagine Jeju has a lot of visiting bands! It seems like the event scene is pretty lively there from the posts my Jeju friends put up. But the fact that its not that frequent probably makes occasions like this one all the more special. I do love how dynamic your photos are with the light flashes and how you zone into a shot with the vignettes. Beautiful editing work on top of great composition. Thanks for posting the video too! Its nice to get the visuals AND the sounds to accompany it. Feels like I was actually there 🙂
What an exciting and energetic evening! Living in rural Korea, I’m always jealous of your even posts on Jeju. I’ll be sure to check out Gecko’s whenever we finally get around to touring your island. Looks like a blast and your pictures have a wonderful sense of intimacy and motion.
Thanks Izzy! I do use a lot of vignetting in my shots and spend a lot of time editing photos. I really enjoy the process of it all. Just throwing this out there, but I began my lessons in editing travel photos from this book: VISION & VOICE – Refining Your Vision In Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, written by David Du Chemin, http://davidduchemin.com/books/. He’s a great author for travel photography.