20th January
2009
Last Saturday night, I went to the 1st Culburra Beach Music Festival, at the Culburra/Nowra surf club. The music was great, with Paul Greene heading up the bill. Having never even tried to take photos of musicians playing before, I didn’t realise how frustrating it would be. The microphone is one annoyance for a photographer. The lighting at this gig was another problem. Things were ok during the time there was some daylight outside, but I really needed to open the lens up and shoot high ISO once it got dark outside.
All in all, it was a good learning experince. I would love to do it again, next time with a flash and I would get in a bit closer.
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My thoughts on photography and the people who take photos.
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Completely agree with you in regards to gig photography. A fast lens is required… a telephoto is required also.
I remember doing a gig once up at the Prince in St Kilda and the lighting was that bad (canon cameras + red lighting = fail). I only saved the photos by converting them over to black and white or grayscale.
A lot of photographers don’t realise that gig photography is one of the hardest things to do really well, cause you ahve to battle with the crowds, lug around adequate equipment for the night, drink spillage on your equipment, and a few other things… in fact, I’m glad that I had some experience in action and sport photography that helped me frame a shot on the fly.
I’ve seen alot of photographers trying to do events thinking that it was easy, only to get extermely frustrated at the conditions they have to face.
Getting close is the #1 thing.
Avoiding the mic is the #2 thing.
Getting a symbolic moment or expression is also hard. Finding that rare moment of exultation or exertion is the true reward.
Hi!
I’m fotographer from Ukraine using the same WP theme, borrow some from U, nice pictures!
WELCOME to my blog )
THNX
Ya know what, when I met Liz I always thought the gig photography she was doing was a snap. Until I tried it for myself. We both went to the same gig, were both in the same pit. Yet when we got home she had a few dozen usable photos, while I’d have been lucky to have two or three.
There’s definitely a skill to successful gig photography, and yeah, it’s a skill worth your learning.
Oh, and try to limit how much you use the flash. Most musicians don’t overly like being smooshed in the face by blinding light all night.
[...] also did my 1st gig photography in January. I have posted about it on here a little while [...]