"Making people look like the (rock)stars they are..."

Welcome to my photography site!

I grew up in Montesano, Washington, where I went to school with some future world famous musicians. Buzz Osborne of The Melvins was two years ahead of me, Mike Dillard (original Melvins drummer) and Matt Lukin (original Melvins bass player and later bass player in Mudhoney) were a year ahead of me, and Kurt Cobain was a year behind me. Buzz's brother Scott was in my class, and John and Dan Raymond (who have done merchandising on some of the Melvins tours) went to our school as well. The Melvins used to play at some of our high school dances, and I remember very well when Buzz brought in his guitar and amp, cranked the amp up to full, and proceeded to perform a jam at lunch (including The Star Spangled Banner) until the principal finally came down and put a stop to his impromptu show.

I’ve been taking photos ever since I got my first camera (a Kodak Instamatic) for Christmas in 1976, and have now decided to start posting my work and making it available online here, since December 2008. I first became interested in photography early in 1976, by simply wanting to have some photos to record the US Bicentennial that year, and actually hiring my aunt (for just the cost of the film pack, I seem to recall) to take Polaroid photos of what I asked her to record that day. It was really fun and rewarding to me to have a visual record of an event like that, and I quickly became hooked on the idea of recording more events in the future.

After getting that first camera, I furthered my interest in taking photos, substantially, by becoming one of our school yearbook photographers for several years. Around this time, I got my first 35mm SLR (an original Canon AE-1, and a gift from my parents for which I am forever grateful), and it took my photography to a whole new level from what I had been able to accomplish with the Instamatic. I actually took this photo of Kurt, in eighth grade playing drums, with the Canon AE-1 for the yearbook. It later appeared in the book Rolling Stone published on him, shortly after his death, although they miskeyed the caption as him being in the fifth grade.

                      (click on photo for larger version)

After high school, I went on to study photography in a three-year program at Spokane Falls Community College, focusing on commercial and fashion photography. Professionally, though, I've spent the past fifteen years of my working career as a salesperson. These days, I like to photograph a variety of subjects, although bands/concerts/events, landscapes and illustrative portraits are particular favorites, and subject matter I feel extremely comfortable with. My landscape work includes both scenes of natural scenic beauty (including clouds and sunsets), and what I like to refer to as 'urban landscapes' (downtown city scenes, including night scenes and photos of abandoned/rundown structures).

In terms of musically summing me up, "Night Prowler" and "The Rover" are pretty much both perfect fits, as not only are AC/DC and Led Zeppelin a couple of my favorite bands, but I have always been a night person when given the choice, and I love to just grab my camera and wander around taking pictures of whatever happens to grab my attention at the time. Adam Bomb's "I Want My Heavy Metal" is yet another perfect take on my musical taste.

I'm very interested in meeting other creative people who would like to collaborate on creating great photographic art. This includes models (experienced or aspiring), clothing stylists, makeup artists, hair stylists, graphic designers/artists, image editing/manipulation gurus, and even other photographers, who share my vision of creative collaboration. I really enjoy the brainstorming and concept creation process, (especially when a team of super creative individuals are all focusing their efforts on the same project/goal), the challenge of bringing unique and inspiring visions to life, and being the one to capture it all in visually arresting images.

If you have any ideas, even if they may seem far fetched, don't hesitate to contact me if you think our visions may complement each other. About the only thing I have no interest in photographing is porn/fetish.

If you have any questions about me, or my work, feel free to send me an email at danstonephotography'at'me.com (replace 'at' with @), or go to my MySpace profile.

While I've got most of my work posted here as I write this, I've got quite a bit left to get added, as the fleeting free time between shoots permits, so please continue to check back (or use one of the RSS feed options at the very bottom of this page) to see what else has captured my attention over the years, as well as what will capture my interest going forward.

Thanks for stopping by,

 

"Dynamically kinetic photography, at the speed of music..."

Note to bands: If you'd like copies of any of the photos I've taken of you, please send me an email with the file numbers (DSC_XXXX) of the ones you want, and then allow me a couple days to get them to you. All I ask in return, is for a photo credit (copyright notice, name and website address), for any photos that are requested and used publicly.

Update: Watch for the option to buy prints of my scenic and landscape work, coming soon! Keep checking back...
Sorry, but band/event photos will not be available for sale, unless a band/promoter specifically grants me permission to do so (rather unlikely).

"Image is everything!"