There is an incredible place in Asheville called Isis that has Sunday night jazz. For free! Amazing food, great drinks — definitely a place to mark and remember. Here are some photos from a recent visit!
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Tag Archives: musician
Photo Exploration: The Guitar. January 2013
Performers on stage are, by the nature of performing, pretty emotive people. Usually cognizant of every look and motion, they are constantly building up a presence with their eyes and hands and lips and hair and clothes and so on and so on. That makes for engaging and exciting photography — think of the timeless imagery of Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page or James Brown (accidental alliteration, what?). Even in the midst of organic and spontaneous activity, there is a constant persona presented to the audience.
However, with the right environment and patience, occasionally a photograph can be taken that catches a moment of quiet distraction. Such as the photograph below.
Distracted
Taken at the French Broad Brewery, this photo was one of a series and you can see the rest of the show here. But this one image stood out to me for a number of reasons — I get a sense of solitude, maybe of internal rehearsal, and ultimately a sense of calm. I’ll be honest — I really like this image. I like the color, the composition, the subject. I like that it feels a little bit behind-the-stage-curtain. I really like that it does not look like a concert photograph I would normally take.
How to get such a photo, and how to reproduce? The technical spec’s are 1600ISO, 1/60 @ f/2. Canon 5Dmk2, 50mm f/1.4 lens. Stage lighting (of which I had no control). So we know it’s going to be a moderately grainy setup, and we know the DOF is pretty going to be pretty shallow. And since the lighting is coming from the stage lights, we can assume that it’s going to be a mishmash of some red, yellow and greenish tones.
And all of which plays well with this “curtain for a backdrop” type of stage. If it wasn’t a top-notch craft brewery, you could expect PBR cans or perhaps cracked tumblers of Old Crow for refreshments. Fortunately, the beer was delicious (ESB for me) and the glasses solid.
Anyway — the main thing you have to remember with these sort of environments is to be alert. Distractions between songs can lead to missed opportunties. When the singer moves away from the mic, don’t go back to the beer. Follow her with your camera and watch what’s going on. Is she getting something out of her guitar case? Is she talking to someone off-stage? Is she, as in this case, changing instruments entirely? All of these open up the window for a photo that’s a bit more involved, a bit more personal than the protected and projected personality of the artist.
Thanks must also go out to Chelsea Labate of Ten Cent Poetry for graciously allowing photography at her events.
Ten Cent Poetry, French Broad Brewery
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Chelsea Labate, performing as Ten Cent Poetry at the French Broad Brewery
Photo Exploration: Austin, Vocals. March 2011
I heard from a film photographer once that he would only shoot the first three songs of a concert. He said the energy level was highest then and that at least one of the songs was going to be something the crowd could get into. There was the practical reality that if you wanted to get your photos in the papers then you had better get back to the hotel and start developing ASAP. If I had followed his advice I would have missed this photo.
This was taken at the only live performance of a group of extremely, extremely talented musicians that went by the name The Archetechs. I believe all were taken during the song Mr. Multi-Million. The show was in a cramped room in downtown Asheville that was overflowing with people. I’d been working with the group to provide imagery for their website, album material, etc and was excited to finally see them live. It was quite a meaningful experience.
There are some attributes to a venue that help photographers. Great lighting, easy to get around, awesome stages — plenty of places have those features. The location of this show was not one of them. It was a completely flat floor, providing for an intimate experience with the band but difficult to get angles one normally can get at an event. The lighting was atrocious. Barely any special lighting for the band, and what there was were basically directional 40watt bulbs. So, out comes the 50mm f/1.4 and we’re shooting pretty much wide open and hoping for decent framing. ISO at least 1600 on a 5D all night. Looking for any settings that will come out sharp and reasonably exposed.
Even with the difficulties there were a great number of photos that came out at least decent. Some good energy shots, some nice intimate captures, and especially a series of Austin singing this one song. I remember very clearly taking the photos and having high expectations for a single definitive shot. But the more I looked at that series — trying to pick out “the one” — the more I leaned towards a set. It was clearer to me that a triptych conveyed Austin’s emotions and convictions far more completely than one solitary capture.
After mixing and matching the sets, I decided on these three. I enjoy the story they tell, the selflessness of the artist mixed with the conviction of the cause in the lyrics. Even though the photos are grainy, the contrast is higher than I prefer and the framing isn’t perfect, I can hear the song every time I see the photos. Trying to accurately document the power of performance leads down many paths and most often the results aren’t what were expected.
To close, I don’t know if Austin has sung the song in public since this show, but I’d like to think that every time there is this much energy and soul in the performance.
Jack9 at Jack of the Wood
My favorites from a concert at Jack of the Wood. It is a challenging place to shoot — dark, no great angles, low stage — but it can also afford a little intimacy with an unobtrusive camera. It was a great opportunity to test the new Fuji X100 — very good low-light capabilities and can be basically made as invisible as a film rangefinder. It was a great experience both with the shooting and the results!