Hey, everyone! I am so excited to share some of my photos from the Air1 Positive Hits Tour concert! It was such an amazing experience, and I was beyond thrilled to be there!
Click on images for larger size.
Photography and music are near and dear to me, and I love to attend concerts and take photos from the crowd. I attended the Positive Hits concert with my Dad and brother, and we got really good seats. We waited about 5 minutes before the 10-second countdown started, and the house lights dimmed as Hollyn came onstage. I love American Sign Language, and in the weeks before the concert, I’d glossed some of Hollyn’s songs in ASL, including her recent single, Love With Your Life, so I was super excited when she sang that song.
A few minutes after Hollyn left the stage, Passion came out. And, wow, when they did! There was a whole laser lights show, and the stage lights were spectacular (but believe me when I say it wasn’t so easy to color-correct the skin tones when it came to editing)! They sang some of my favorites, like Remember and One Thing Remains, and I was really inspired by what the band members had to say during the performance.
One of my biggest struggles with photography is forgetting to live the moment. I can sometimes get so set on taking photos that I neglect being a part of what’s going on around me. At my very first concert, I took less than 100 photos. I didn’t need to take photos, so I chose to keep my camera in its bag most of the time (well, the bag was open the whole time, so I could reach down and grab my camera whenever. 😉 ). This time, I used the same method, except that I took about 5 times more photos…But I nonetheless spent just as much, if not more, time clapping my hands until they shook (They vibrated like that gorilla machine at Chuck E. Cheese’s – you know the one where you have to hold onto the bars that vibrate, and if you hold on until the vibrating stops, you get a few tickets, and afterwards your hands feel shaky and numb? That’s how my hands felt.) as I did snapping photos. In my mind, going through photo albums is nice, but recalling memories is better.
Capital Kings is one of my favorite bands, and, boy, they brought the energy! Cole and Dylan are amazing! Every song had me jumping around (which I don’t do very often) and clapping my hands. I stepped on my Dad’s feet in the process, but he understands. 😉
During some of the songs, smoke fountains poured out of smoke machines at the front of the stage, and that was super cool. The concert had one of the most amazing light shows too. It was really impressive (points for the backstage people!). Whenever I was taking photos, the lights were just spectacular. Sometimes I achieved cool silhouettes (I really like how the silhouette of Melodie from Passion, middle photo in the first line of the above gallery, turned out!), and many of the photos I shot were so nicely lit.
After a few minutes of a dark stage with a few workers moving things on and off stage, Danny Gokey came onstage for the final performance of the night. He sang a few love songs, shared some sweet stories about himself and his family, and then burst into songs like Tell Your Heart To Beat Again and Hope In Front Of Me. Hollyn joined him for a new and absolutely beautiful duet, Better Than I Found It, which is coming out on his upcoming album. I was maybe just an teeny-tiny bit sad when he exited on stage right, the stage lights dimmed and the house lights came on and people started pouring out of their seats to the lobby. It’s like Sine Die at TeenPact, you know?
And now a quick story for y’all…
Two days before the concert, I had a crazy idea to draw Hollyn. So I did. Then, one day before the concert, I had another crazy idea to draw Capital Kings. One. Day. And mind you, I don’t draw circles and put eyes and ears on them and call it good. And though I don’t draw hyperrealistically, I do try to draw to the best of my ability. So I was nervous. I had less than 24 hours (counting the hours leading up to the concert) to finish my drawing of Capital Kings. The first day, I penciled in the faces and shaded Dylan, save for his hat. The next day (the day of the concert), I had to go on a day trip to another city. But I still had to shade in Cole – and Dylan’s hat wasn’t much to speak of. So what did I do? I brought my pencils and drawing book with me, and I shaded everything in on the way there and back. And my busy-bee work was well rewarded.
I have this thing where I buy at least one t-shirt at a concert. So I bought a Love With Your Life shirt and a Capital Kings shirt, and overheard that the artists would be signing things at a table around the corner. So, with my brother and Dad in tow, I headed to the back of a rather long line (and on the way there, I passed right by Danny Gokey and Capital Kings just as they were coming through a door to the signing table. I was so stinkin’ giddy because I’d passed by them. 😉 ). The line moved fairly quick though, and pretty soon we were closer than close to the table. And I had butterflies in my stomach because I was so excited. I tend to get all giddy and childish when I meet some well-known person.
Well, suddenly I was standing in front of Hollyn, and my brother was chatting it up with Kristian Stanfill and Brett Younker from Passion. I asked her if she would sign my drawing, and opened my drawing book to her portrait, and she exclaimed, “That is so sick!” and signed her name on it. Danny Gokey smiled and asked me a few questions about how I draw (he was so, so nice!), and then I moved a few steps over to Capital Kings, and asked if they’d sign my drawing of them. And that was SO awesome! The first thing Dylan and Cole said was “Whooooa!” Danny Gokey laughed and said, “What? I didn’t make the cut? I’d better put out better music!” And I was beaming like crazy because here I was with these people who tour all over the place, and they’re saying the nicest things about my drawings. Cole even took a photo and posted my drawing on Snapchat! They signed it for me, joked back and forth with each other, and shook my hand. I had an adrenaline rush for hours after the concert! *You can view my drawing HERE*
All in all, it was a super awesome night, and I look forward to seeing all the artists again sometime. 🙂
Until next time!
Woah! You got to go to a Positive Hits concert! Lucky! I might be a little jealous! It sounds like it was amazing! Love the story about your drawings! How special!
It was amazing, Meredith! I came away from the concert both inspired and renewed. Meeting the artists was a HUGE plus too. 😉 That was a night I will definitely not forget!