Category Archives: Nightlife

Rockstar Aaron, Denver’s colorful mohawk-clad dance party DJ, recently commissioned my services to produce and edit a promotional video for him. Over several months, I gathered bits and pieces of footage of Aaron spinning at various venues, which I then edited together with some of his older archival video footage, promo flyers and stills.

This particular project was fun to work on, but also one of the more demanding editing jobs I’ve done recently due to the sheer amount of effects and filters used, as well as the quantity of third-party material that was incorporated into the video. Let’s just say that rendering took a while! My footage was shot on Canon EOS 7D with a 17-55mm F2.8 IS USM lens on a neck-strapped monopod and with a Carry Speed LCD viewfinder loupe for stabilization and focus assistance. I also used a dimmable HDV-Z96 on-camera LED light for illumination.

A little bit of history: Aaron and I go way back. We met many years ago, when we were both working as master control monkeys at a certain large cable TV company. Already back then, Aaron was pursuing a DJ career on the side and encouraged me to take my photography (which wasn’t more than a hobby at the time) to a new level. In 2007, he was the one who introduced me to Tyler “Danger” Jacobson and Boyhollow, two of the founding fathers of Lipgloss (Denver’s popular indie club night at La Rumba), where I’ve been a resident photographer ever since. That connection has lead me to many more photography and video production gigs down the line, covering events at Rockbar, Bar Standard, Bender’s Tavern, Hi-Dive, Beauty Bar, and many other venues around town. For about a year, I was also the Denver Nightlife Photography Examiner on Examiner.com, which gave me an all-access pass to covering events such as the Westword Music Showcase, Electric Avenue Music and Arts Festival, DJ Tiesto at Beta Nightclub and dozens more. Looking back, I have to say that Aaron was pretty much responsible for giving birth to my nightlife photography side career. Even though I’ve slowed down on nightclub photo gigs in the last couple of years due to my main focus being shifted toward video production, I’m still shooting for Lipgloss and TheHundred on a somewhat regular basis.

If you would like to know more about DJ Rockstar Aaron and to book him for your next party or event, check out www.rockstaraaron.com!