Shadmehr Aghili @ Nokia Club 6/20

Last Saturday was an extremely long, but fun, day for me... hot on the heels of a for-fun shoot, I was hired to shoot an Iranian pop star at the Nokia Club. I figured, hey, why not?

These are the guys who opened for him, above. I'd always wanted to shoot at a venue with a balcony, like the Nokia Club had, but I think I'm finding I prefer the tight intimacy of a lower, close-on angle where there isn't as much distance between you and the artist, and where the artist is level or elevated relative to you.



I had no idea what he was saying (he was singing in Farsi) but damned if this guy wasn't flexible. He was on the guitar and violin, doing great vocals the whole time.

This is where I found out the guy had a rabid following in the Iranian community in LA.


Every song had a different set of dancers - they had dudettes on stilts, the Flamenco dancers above and a bunch of other ones.
I was ON the stage for this shot. As in, audience could see me (barely). Nobody batted an eye. I think they were all too busy having fun.