About Me
Welcome to No Room for Squares. My name is Mark Sheldon, I am a freelance photographer based in Indianapolis and I love music! This photo-blog was made for no other reason than to post some of my favorite photographs and a short story behind the images. Please bookmark this site and stop in frequently as new images will be added weekly.
As a fan of the music and musicians and those clubs/labels and festivals that work hard to support them, I will continue to advocate for them via this journal.
I am a contributing photographer to several publications, including the jazz bible… DownBeat magazine and Living Blues magazine; my work has been seen in many other publications such as Guitar Player magazine, Keyboarding magazine, Double Bassist/The Strad, Jazz Improv, Northwest/Delta’s World Traveler magazine, TimeOut Chicago and TimeOut NY. Additional work can be seen on CD covers/liner notes, Posters, Books, Billboards, ads for Hofner Guitars, Artist websites and a documentary on jazz & democracy that was produced by the Documentay Group.
I have covered many festivals for publication. Some of my very favorite include the Indy Jazz Fest, Chicago Jazz Fest, Portland (OR) Jazz Fest, Monterey (CA) Jazz Fest, the Vision Festival (NYC), the Hyde Park Jazz Fest on the South side of Chicago as well as several events put on by the Los Angeles Jazz Institute.
In addition to Jazz, I love the Chicago Blues Fest (June) as well as the amazing King Biscuit Blues Fest, held annually in mid-October in West Helena, Arkansas.
Please get out and support the festivals above as they continue to bring us all the best music out there!
I’m frequently asked where my interest in photography came from. I used to love digging through photographs at my Grandparents house so I’m sure this was a big part of it. My Grandfather always had a camera with him; he documented everything…his travels with my Grandmother, his kids, grandkids, birthdays, holidays, vacations, my Grandmother and her roses, you name it, he took a picture of it.
As far as music goes, I’ve loved music since I was a kid. As a kid in the mid 1960s, I sat around with friends spinning 45s of the Beatles, Rolling Stones and any other groups that were part of the ”British Invasion” as well as soul legends such as Marvin Gaye and the rest of the Motown/Philly groups of the day. While I primarily photograph jazz & Blues musicians now, I still enjoy a healthy dose of classic 60s soul, blues and rock, having photographed many of these musicians through the years.
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~With Jimmy Heath, one of the true legends of jazz at Joe & Wayne Segal’s Jazz Showcase in Chicago.
~Along side the amazing Lou Donaldson in Portland Oregon, just after a live interview for Jazz Times magazine.
~Here I am with guitarist Pat Martino at The Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis.
Inspiration
While I have too many “favorite” photographers to mention them all, several that I draw inspiration from for various reasons are listed here…. including music photographers William Claxton, Herman Leonard, Ray Avery , Roy DeCarava, William Gottlieb, Herb Snitzer, the recently departed Jim Marshall, Chicago based photographer Paul Natkin, Jean-Pierre Leloir, Lee Friedlander and Indianapolis native Duncan Schiedt. Others that I admire for many reasons include Irving Penn, Dorothea Lange, Arnold Newman, W. Eugene Smith, Dennis Stock and Eve Arnold. I encourage you to take time to click on the above links and to learn more about them and their work.
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Equipment
Most images in this diary have been made with Canon digital cameras and a variety of lenses, almost in all cases with available light. Older images were shot with Canon or Mamiya film cameras using either color or black & white film and scanned for display here . Most of my editing is done with Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Lightroom software. All images were made by me unless otherwise noted.
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Copyright
Please note that the photographs and content presented on this blog are for your on-line viewing only. All rights to these images are exclusively reserved by Mark Sheldon, unless otherwise noted. Please note that no scanning, comping, reproduction or distribution rights of any kind whatsoever will be granted to anyone without the written permission of Mark Sheldon. Any unauthorized download, screen capture or reproduced copy of any image or other content on this blog is a violation of Federal Copyright law and will bring you bad karma. In a nutshell, if you didn’t take the photograph, lease, buy or get written permission to use the photograph, please refrain from using it. All photographs © 2014 Mark Sheldon.
If you are interested in information on publication, usage rights or prices, please contact me at masheldonjazz@gmail.com