Day 40: Violinist, Roy Theaker

So, imagine if you can with me - think back - you are in high school or college, you and a couple of your friends decide you want to start a rock n’ roll band. You are jammin’ in one of your friend’s garage. Oh no! Here comes that geeky kid with his violin.

“Hey guys, can I join your band?” Roy asks. “Go away you nerd! Take that classical music crap with you.” He turns away with his head hung in shame. By the time he gets to the end of the driveway, he stops. Kneels down, places his violin case on the sidewalk, opens it, pulls out his violin and bow. Holding the violin on his shoulder he turns and looks at you and your friends in the garage. He stares you down with eyes of fire and the chill of icicles.

He starts to play, you and your friends turn away shrugging your shoulders. But, you then hear it …. You stop …. “Nah, that’s not right!” Yes, it is.

That geeky kid with the violin cranking out “Sweet Child of Mine” from Guns n’ Roses. Your drummer feels the beat and joins in. The bass player plugs in and fills in the baseline. You pick up your guitar and fill it in with some cool licks.

Yup, you all changed your mind that day. Roy Theaker is now in the band.

Those of us who got to hear Roy play know exactly what I am talking about. You have never heard a violin played like that. I took well over 200 pictures, so many of them captured the energy, passion, and emotion Roy brings to his violin. There were times he stared right into my telephoto lens. I narrowed it down to these 20 images. Yes, a bit of post-processing as well.

My goal with this series of images was to capture the emotion and feelings he gave to me. I hope these photos do his performance justice.

Thank you, for letting me share them with you.

- PaulRead more