Senior year is when students often experience the dreaded “senioritis,” a slang term referring to the feeling most students get right before they graduate when they are over all of the work and responsibilities of school and college life. Senior music industry student Sam Bastone, however, has been feeling quite the opposite.
At the end of the 2015 spring semester, not only was Bastone elected as President of the University’s student run record label, Blue Hawk Records, but as her interest in taking pictures grew, she also added photography as her minor.
Throughout the year, Bastone and the others involved with Blue Hawk Records have been planning some pretty big things, not only for the campus but also for the Music Department. Each semester the record label helps the music industry class put together a compilation album and an EP release show.
Bastone and a selected group of music industry students are also planning a trip to Nashville, TN this summer to attend the Music Business Association’s annual conference. Bastone, along with other officers at the record label, are planning various shows on and off campus for this semester.
But along with being the president of Blue Hawk Records, Bastone has managed to start her own photography company, Bastone Media. She has taken pictures for numerous Blue Hawk Records events including Rock Cure Socks Off this past November, the Shades of Blue EP release show last semester, and the Light of Day festival show over winter break.
“What I like about photography is it captures the moment and it makes the viewer feel as though they’re actually where the photo was taken,” Bastone said. As seen on the Facebook page for Bastone Media, she also enjoys taking pictures of her adventures in New York City and Asbury Park, featuring singer/songwriter Brittany Cannarozzi, a junior music industry student.
Bastone’s love for live music and photography has also led to her taking pictures for University bands like The Bunks and Flammable Animals. The Bunks includes music industry alum Jon Chang-Soon and the brother rock duo Jozcel and Jonzi Fernandez, while Flammable Animals includes music industry graduates Guy Battaglia, Joe Enright, and Kevin Houston and current senior music industry student Pat Napurano. Bastone has recently done some band photoshoots with Flammable Animals to promote their new music as well as a music video in the making.
Bastone said, “I love taking pictures of anything, really, but at the end of the day I just want to be at a show.”
With the recent success of the Kickstarter that was set up for Cortex Music, a free music consumption service created by senior music industry student Matt Alonso, Bastone has been working closely with him as well. She has taken pictures for the project, including promotional shots of the first band that was registered with Cortex Music, Grin and Bear. As Cortex Music begins to grow, Bastone will continue to work with Alonso to market the streaming service.
But Bastone Media does not stop there. This past December, music industry alum Andrew Boxman and Flammable Animals wrote a song called “Heart in the Game” for the University’s men’s basketball team. The Asbury Park Press wrote an article about the team’s new unofficial anthem and included a picture that Bastone had taken of the artists in the studio recording the track.
Bastone admitted, “I was surprised to find the picture I had taken in the article. It was pretty awesome to see my own photo there though.”
Bastone Media has only been around for a short while, but has made some great strides since Bastone herself began working on it. She seems to have a lot of passion for this particular project, saying, “Art is subjective and there really is no ‘wrong’ way to express yourself with it.”
IMAGE TAKEN from facebook.com/bastonemedia
