The Inspiring Story of how the Power of Photo Books Strikes Again

Above: My iPhone shot of Ann Wilson (lead singer of Heart) at the Capitol Theater on Saturday night.

So, last Saturday night my big brother Jeff and his girlfriend Dee treated the wifey and me to a concert by Ann Wilson, lead singer of the classic rock band Heart. Ann was great — she can belt it out like a boss, and she’s freakin’ 66-years-old. She did some Heart songs of course, (not as many as I hoped), but she did some incredible covers, including songs by Yes and The Who that people went crazy for — she seriously nailed those songs. Great concert overall, and an intimate 750-seat venue to enjoy her in — really fun night.

Anyway, I posted the pic above from the show on my Facebook page, (proving once again that Kalebra clearly is the iPhone photographer in our family), but there’s another story here — an inspirational and awesome one, and I wanted to share that with you.  It came in the form of a comment on my Facebook page, under that photo, from a woman named, Monica Fraioli Cole and it underscores what I always say about the power of creating photo books. Here’s what Monica wrote: 

How is this for a photography story? I am an Elementary Ed. teacher and amateur photographer. I married my love for photography with Ann Wilson – took a Sony RX100 to two back to back special solo concerts she gave in 2015 at City Winery in NYC. Shot from two different audience seats during each show and came up with some interesting shots.

I did not like the way they were editing in color, so I chose to go with black and white. Made a sequence order photo book documenting both shows and sent it to Ann. She loved it, I edited further and it is now being sold as a commemorative photo book at her current shows and online. Great feeling and experience for me :)

p.s The show you saw is Ann Wilson of Heart…not a full Heart show….she is focusing on doing songs she loves…that is why Magic Man and Even it Up were not on the setlist. Hope you enjoyed her song choices. Awesome singer for almost 67! Here is my photo book – just screenshots, but you will get the idea. https://mocophoto.zenfolio.com/p845003400

Seriously! How cool is that?! Shot from the audience with a Sony RX100! Of course, a ton of people take shots from the audience at concerts these days, with their phones and even DSLRs, but by Monica taking that one step and going further — making a photo book — and sending it to Ann — look where she wound up. I’ve heard stories like this again and again, and it always does my heart good to hear about someone having success like this.

Thanks Monica for sharing your story, and the link to your photo book screen shots. I think you totally rocked it!

Hope to see you back here for Guest Blog Wednesday, and on The Grid tomorrow at 4 pm ET when my guests will be LA-based commercial photographer Ian Spanier and the man behind the Platypod himself, Larry Tiefenbrunn — it’s going to (wait for it…wait for it…) epic! :)

Have a great Tuesday everybody!

Best,

-Scott

P.S. My full-day Lightroom seminar is coming to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle in August. Get a seat now before I make you stand the whole time. ;-)  Here’s the link.