Thunder – Christmas Shows December 2011

Thunder - Xmas 2011

Although no longer a recording band, and despite a farewell tour in 2009, Thunder are way too good a band to disappear completely.  They resurfaced in July 2011 for a one off appearance at High Voltage, and by most people’s reckoning were the best band at the festival.  Buoyed by their continuing popularity even in retirement, they decided to put together a special Christmas show in December.  That sold out within hours so they added a second date, at the same venue, Nottingham’s Rock City.

Thunder Christmas shows in past years attained almost legendary status among fans, and it was no surprise that both shows were packed to the rafters.  Fortunately, as sole photographer allowed at the show I had the best seat in the house, with a photo pit all to myself.  That, combined with the lighting skills of Scampi and a new toy (er.. new camera) to play with, made these two shows possibly the most enjoyable shows to photograph I can remember.  I hope the pics reflect some of that.

Each show followed a similar format – starting with an acoustic set comprising a mix of Thunder tunes and covers of other well known rock and soul songs, and following that with a full on electric set of mainly Thunder songs.  Highlight for me was a magnificent cover of Wings’ ‘Live and Let Die’ (the James Bond theme).  Brilliant.

The aftershow party, that I left at 4.30am, was pretty enjoyable too!

Here are the pics…. (of the shows, not the after show party)

Thunder Xmas Show – Tuesday 20^th December 2011

Thunder Xmas Show – Wednesday 21^st December 2011

Saint Jude – Birmingham 18th December 2011

I first saw Saint Jude when they supported The Union a year or so ago. Lead singer Lynn Jackaman is charismatic and has a great powerful voice, and their album ‘Diary of a Soul Fiend’ still gets frequent plays on my car stereo.

Now managed by Thunder’s Danny Bowes, they embarked on their debut headlining tour in December. I managed to catch one of the shows, in Birmingham. Saint Jude attracted, and wowed, a sizeable crowd, and it was fun to shoot them, despite the challenge of very dark stage lighting and the usual ‘three songs no flash’ restrictions imposed by the venue.

Here are my pics of the show

Saint Jude – Birmingham 18th December 2011

Uriah Heep – Bristol 5th December 2011

Way back in the 70’s, when I first started to get into rock music, there were probably three bands who stood out and defined rock music in the UK – They were Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.  For most rock fans, every other band was usually compared to one of these as the benchmark.  I remember when I first came across Uriah Heep and started to look out for their back catalogue, the local music rags of the time always described them as a kind of poor man’s Deep Purple.  They were never popular with the press, and that’s a tragedy, because I for one always enjoyed their music.

Unfortunately, blighted by multiple changes of lead singer and other lineup changes, they never really made the breakthrough into mainstream rock culture in the way that the other three bands mentioned above did, despite selling around 30 million albums.  However, unlike those other bands, they’ve continued making new music and toured extensively right up to the present day.  This year alone they have played over 120 shows in more than 20 countries.  And with 23 studio albums they have plenty of material to play.

Although I’ve seen them several times, this month was the first time I had the chance to photograph them in concert.  Here are the pics…

Uriah Heep – Bristol 5th December 2011

It was a great, honest, rock gig.  No pyrotechnics, lasers or huge stage set.  Just good music and a wonderful rapport with the audience.  Very ‘eavy, very ‘umble.  For more information on Uriah heep, visit their website http://www.uriah-heep.com

Tyketto – Southampton 2nd December 2011

Danny Vaughn has one of the best voices in rock. That is without question.  For a few gigs this month, he teamed up with his original bandmates in Tyketto to show us that the band also have a tremendous catalogue of great songs.  Tyketto were a popular rock band in the early 90’s but, apart from resurfacing every now and then to play a few live dates, they haven’t released any new material in a while.  Now Tyketto are back together and working on a brand new album, and that can only be good news for the melodic hard rock scene.  Here are a few pics from Tyketto’s show at The Brook in Southampton a couple of weeks ago.

Tyketto – Southampton Dec 2011

Tips for concert photography with point and shoot digital compact cameras

Quite often I’m asked specifically for advice on using point and shoot cameras at concerts.  A few years ago, the stock answer would have been…. don’t.  Cameras were usually not allowed in, without a photo pass.  In recent years, however bands have become much less concerned about people shooting with ‘non professional’ cameras.  Pro cameras are still usually banned without a photo pass but I guess most bands, managers and venues have realized that banning tiny point and shoot cameras is pretty much unenforceable.

However, while you can now come to a concert with a P&S camera, without feeling guilty, the vast majority of people who do so take pics without appreciating the specific problems that a dark concert hall environment presents, and as a result they end up with images that are disappointing.

I’ve therefore started to collect together a few hints and tips specifically for users of point and shoot cameras in concert environments.  Whilst it probably won’t suddenly enable you to take award winning images from the back of the venue, and I would not advocate you applying for a photo pass or shooting in the photo pit with one, these tips may help you to produce images you will be proud of and which act as a reminder of the event.  Here are a few to start with…..

• Digital compacts tend to have a very small sensor, which suffers badly from pixel interference (excessive noise or grain) when its sensitivity (ISO) is increased.  The better compacts allow you to select an ISO without having the camera automatically select it for you, and a little experimentation here can improve the quality of the resulting images.

• In fully automatic mode, the camera makes compromise decisions for you, which usually means raising the ISO and/or reducing the shutter speed, to get enough light in for a decent exposure. This results in well exposed pictures, but which are really grainy because of high ISO and blurred due to a slow shutter speed.

• If your camera doesn’t have manual settings your biggest problem is going to be keeping the camera still while you take the shot.  Because the light will be low (it may not seem like it but the stage lights are not that bright, and the level of light reaching the camera falls off rapidly the further away from the stage you are) your camera will by default try to use a longer shutter speed, resulting in a lot of blurred pics.  One thing you could try is changing the camera mode to ‘sports’ mode or whatever the equivalent is on your camera.  This is still an auto mode, but biases the settings in favour of a slightly faster shutter speed.  It will improve your chances but only a little.

• Once you’ve mastered adjusting the shutter speed to get the best results, then you can look at adjusting ISO and aperture settings to improve the shots even further.  To start with put your ISO at the highest you can without the images appearing too grainy.  For SLRs this is usually around 800-1600 ISO (maybe a little higher with newer cameras).  For point and shoot cameras it usually means up to about 400 ISO (any higher and the grain/noise deteriorates the image too much in my opinion).

• Switch off your flash if you can.  If you are in the photo pit, flash will probably not be allowed anyway.  If you are not in the photo pit, the flash will not be powerful enough to reach the stage (unless you are in the first couple of rows), it will draw the attention of security people to you, and it will often override your shutter speed so that it that works against getting the shot you want.  You are also more likely to just light up the backs of the heads of the people in front – and this doesn’t make for an attractive concert shot!

• Another issue I find with digital compacts, especially when used on auto mode, is that when you press the shutter there is a delay of anything up to a second before the shutter actually activates, meaning you often miss that ‘moment’.  This is because, when you press the shutter, the camera then has to focus, and calculate what aperture, shutter speed and ISO to use to get the correct exposure, before it actually takes the picture.  Better cameras reduce this shutter lag, and you can improve things further by taking the camera off auto mode and pre-selecting a shutter speed or aperture etc.  Less calculations for the camera to perform means it can operate quicker.

Camera settings and techniques for concert photography – Part 2

There are probably as many opinions about best techniques for concert photography as there are photographers, and the hints and tips shown below are just some of the things that work for ME.  At least as a base point.  I wouldn’t say I adhere to my own advice all the time, and once you have a few decent shots in the bag you can start experimenting and trying different things.  Some will work and some won’t but the important thing is to learn from it, ready for next time.

I’ve had the privilege of shooting at least 400 concerts in the past five years, for a wide range of different bands.  At least half of these have been shooting a whole show (with the band’s approval), rather than just the usual three songs.  Anyway, my point is that I’ve learned through trial and error (and that means a lot of mistakes, with over 200,000 photos taken at concerts) what works for me and what doesn’t in different concert situations.

Concert photography is a difficult skill to master simply because to get the best results you often need to push your camera to its limits, and to do that you need to know what those limits are and how your camera will react to certain settings in any given situation.  And as well as coping with the technical limitations, you then have to think about things like composition, anticipating specific moments on stage, and being aware of other photographers and the audience around you etc.

In no particular order, here are a few more nuggets of advice/experience/suggestions/anecdotes – call it what you will – based on responses I’ve given by email to people asking me for advice…..

• Always make sure your shutter is fast enough to capture the action, even if that means compromising on exposure.  There are exceptions to this if you want to produce a particular ‘arty’ shot but, usually, too slow a shutter speed will result in disappointingly unsharp images.  You can, to a degree, fix an underexposed but sharp image, but you can do nothing with a well exposed but blurred image.
• Personally, I find that if my shutter speed is less than 1/60^th of a second then the majority of my images will be completely useless.  They may be well exposed but they will be blurred or at least too ‘soft’.  Between 1/60^th and 1/125^th I will find probably half of them acceptably sharp, but if the light is good enough for me to go above 1/125^th (and especially above 1/200^th) then nearly all of them will be sharp enough.  Of course, you can’t just set your shutter to 1/200^th all the time, because very few concerts are lit well enough, and you’d find all the images far too dark to use.
• I generally start by setting the camera at 1/125^th and the aperture as wide open as it will go.  I take a few shots and check them, then adjust the shutter speed up or down depending on whether the images are too dark or too bright.  If I can also stop down the aperture a little without compromising the exposure I will do that as well.
• After every few shots it’s a good idea to check an image or two on your screen and then tweak the settings by maybe increasing or reducing shutter speed or selecting a different aperture or ISO to improve the brightness or sharpness of subsequent images.  It’s a constant process of adapting to the specific venue and the stage lighting you are presented with.  Eventually it may become second nature and you will sense subtle changes in the general lighting levels between different songs and can adjust accordingly, but it doesn’t hurt to check now and then – as long as you don’t do it at a moment when you should really be concentrating on what is happening on stage.
• Facial expressions often make a photo, but they are fleeting and if you wait until you see the perfect expression before shooting, the chances are you’ve already missed it.  Also, in the pressure cooker of shooting three songs in the photo pit, jostling with lots of other photographers, you don’t always have the luxury of choosing your moments, and the temptation is to fire away as much as you can.  However, observation and anticipation will help to improve your timing.
• My approach here is NOT just to fire away without any thought for what is going on.  NOR is it to wait until I see the perfect moment before clicking the shutter.  Instead I would recommend watching and waiting for those moments where you ANTICIPATE something about to happen on stage – some interaction between band members, a particularly emotive part of the song, the guitar solo, a pause in the singing, where perhaps the vocalist might move away from his mic stand…etc.  Anything like that.  Then you can fire off short bursts of 3-4 clicks of the shutter, hoping that among them you with have caught THE MOMENT.  Review your images later and you will be surprised at what you’ve captured.
• If a performer is looking at you, or at another band member in shot or at his instrument, it usually is a more interesting shot than if he’s looking out of the side of the frame.  If they are looking out of the frame, try to leave more space in the image in the direction they are looking, so that they appear to be looking into that space.
• Never use images containing unflattering expressions.  The band and their management won’t thank you for it and may object to you photographing further shows.
• In general photo passes are hard things to come by, especially for more established bands.  You either have to be shooting on behalf of an accredited publication, or else know somebody in the band or its management.  Sometimes, freelance photographers like me can get photo passes but it depends on how good a portfolio you can show and who you approach, when and how (and often what mood they’re in) so it’s a little hit and miss.
• If you do manage to get a photo pass, DO NOT abuse the privilege.  Always be aware of the audience around you – they have paid for their tickets and don’t want to see you stood in front of them all night.  Also, do not do anything to distract the band members on stage.  This includes obvious things like not using flash, but also try to limit your movements around the photo pit to between songs, or at least don’t go scuttling across from one side to the other just when the lead singer is at the front of the stage during a particularly emotive part of a song.  He/she will not be impressed.  Finally, take note of what Security say.  When they say it is time to leave the pit, don’t argue, just leave quietly and quickly.

I’ve just scratched the surface here with a few selected items, and will add more nuggets soon.  For those budding concert photographers out there I hope this helps.  For the more experienced, I’d be very interested to hear if you have any useful nuggets of your own, or even if you disagree with the approaches I’ve suggested.

Magnum – The Robin, Bilston November 2011

Another trip to The Robin, at the end of November, this time to see Magnum.  Always a great show, this was no exception.  Here’s my slideshow of the gig.

Magnum – Bilston, November 2011

Heather Findlay – Bilston November 2011

My second chance in two weeks to photograph Heather in concert.  This time I was shooting on behalf of Midlands Rocks, and you can read the review of the concert, by David Waterfield here.

It’s quite difficult to categorise Heather’s music.  Imagine the looks of a young Stevie Nicks and the voice of Christine McVie (and speaking as a Fleetwood Mac fan that’s not a bad combination), with music that is original, sensitive and highly listenable.

Limehouse Lizzy – Oxford Nov 2011

As tribute bands go, Limehouse Lizzy are one of the very best in the world. Keeping very close to the feel and the sound of Phil Lynott’s Thin Lizzy, it is obvious that these four guys on stage love what they do.

As for the photography, I thought I’d struggle to get any decent shots. The lighting was quite low, often bathed in red light and with so much fog on stage you could barely see the band at times. However, after a little tweaking Lightroom, my grey, contrastless pictures transformed into what turned out to be some of my favourites ever.

The atmosphere on stage, and the graininess of my pics reminded me of the concert images I used to drool over as a teenager reading Sounds and NME a few decades ago. It helped that the band consistently struck the archetypal rock star poses all the way through the show.

Limehouse Lizzy – Oxford November 2011

Firefest photos for sale

 

In conjunction with the organisers of Firefest, I can now offer for sale a number of images from this year’s festival.  Fifty percent of the profit from all sales will be channelled back to Firefest to help fund future festivals.

Together with fellow Firefest photographer Sue Ashcroft, we captured all of the bands on stage this year – all eighteen of them over three days.  Selected images from those shows have now been brought together and are available as fine art prints ready to be mounted and framed, or as a range of other photo products, from keyrings and mousemats to large printed blocks ready to hang straight on your wall.

Here’s the link….  Firefest Photo Products for sale

The photos in the ‘Prints’ gallery  all have a white border and text identifying the festival, the band and the photographer and are all sized to 16”x12”.  The photos in the ‘Showcase Products’ gallery have no border or text and are designed to be printed on a range of products at different sizes and aspect ratios.  For each image, only the products suitable for it will be available to purchase, so you can’t for instance print a panoramic image onto a square block print etc.

Ordering and purchasing of the photo products is automatically handled through the galleries, and delivery is usually within 3-4 days.

At the moment, the galleries contain only my own images.  Sue’s images will be added shortly and, if there is enough demand, we may add similar galleries of images from previous festivals.