Concert Photography... or, quite possibly technically the worst photos i've ever posted on here...

[TheBigYin]

This bunch came from an alcohol fuelled evening watching my mates play a support slot many, many moons ago - I happened to have my Camera bag in the car, so decided I'd try and grab a few pictures of the event for posterity. Now, considering I'd never shot a band before, the place they were playing was a badly lit cowshed (you can see some of the 60w bulbs that were the "stage lighting" in some of the shots...) and I'd only got 400asa Ilford XP2 and a roll of some 100asa colour with me, I knew I was up against it - especially as this was pre-AF camera's, and I didn't have any fast glass with me.







And, my favourite of the set - Unintentional Double Exposure, scratched and watermarked negative, film rebates left in place, to show it's a full frame not buggered about with - unintentional camera movement when I was bounced into by a happy punter enjoying the music, it's a glorious mess, like the gig was, and I love it.





boy is gig photography easier with better kit, higher ISO's and AF lenses...


Do I care in this instance... not one Iota.

 

[FishyFish]

#2 is a cracker.

 

[kendo1]

So you knew The Who before they made it?

Ah! Those were the days...

 

[Harlequin565]

support slot many, many moons ago

I think you missed a "many" out of that sentence judging by that hair.
Then again, a couple more months of lockdown, and I'll be looking like 'em.

Memories. Great aren't they?

 

[TheBigYin]

If many = 10 then yes it's probably 3 manys...

 

[pentaxpete]

i think they are all good -- i used to photograph Trad Jazz Bands in the London '100 Club' in Oxford Street with an Asahi Pentax S3 55mm f1.8 Auto-Takumar and HP4 processed in the original powder 'Promicrol' . There were NO DRUGS then , only a Coffee Bar , NO ALCOHOL !


.

 

[trevorbray]

Mark. Who cares about technicalities. Every one tells the story. Love them.

 

[Plankton]

I'm unsure of the etiquette of posting on someone else's thread but his was my attempt to photograph Bonnie Raitt.
Film was Fuji Neopan 1600 so fast enough, but she was lit by red spotlights.
I still don't know whether it's good or bad.

 

[TheBigYin]

I'm unsure of the etiquette of posting on someone else's thread

to be honest, it's normally frowned on - I'd far rather people started their own thread - by all means reference the thread "inspiring" the post, but just adding pictures to someone elses thread smacks of trying to hijack the thread. Indeed at one point it used to be written into the forum rules not to do it - however, we had a bit of an edit session on the rules to make them shorter, in a (completely wasted) effort to get people to actually read them...

BUT

seeing as it's my thread, and i'm on the staff here, and I haven't already nuked Peter's shot, it would be bad to allow a regular to post and not a new member... so, don't worry about it, but, try and remember for elsewhere, as some members are VERY irritated by it, and report it, and then make lots of work for staff having to spin the post and comments off into another thread.

 

[Bebop]

I love these. I often shoot live music in those kind of dark places, and thank goodness I don't have to do it on film. I'll bet your friends are really chuffed that you captured the moment.

And I do believe that acoustic is an Antoria - I still have one from 1975 and the only place else I've seen one, was on an Oasis video.

 

[TheBigYin]

I love these. I often shoot live music in those kind of dark places, and thank goodness I don't have to do it on film. I'll bet your friends are really chuffed that you captured the moment.

And I do believe that acoustic is an Antoria - I still have one from 1975 and the only place else I've seen one, was on an Oasis video.

It was LITERALLY a barn, with a couple of 60w lightbulbs here and there, and a couple of 200w spots that the headline band owned and hadn't wired up when my mates were playing as there wasn't room to get the tripod stands in place with 2 bands kit in situ...

As to the guitar - little Martin the guitarist used to work as a Luthier/Guitar Tech for JHS at the time, who were the main importers in the country for quite a few "interesting" brands - at the time they were only source for Jackson guitars in the country (back when Jacksons were around 2x the price of a USA Gibson and worth every penny - before they moved production to china and became a pale imitation of themselves) - if you look closely in one of the photo's he's actually playing a Jackson Pro Soloist in one of the most blurred pictures - it came in with the headstock smashed - Martin bought it as "scrap/spares" and rebuilt it himself. I'm not a great guitarist, but that guitar actually made me feel like I was half competent! Played beautifully. Noggin, the bass player's also got a Charvel bass round his neck, which Martin picked up for him at trade price... That was nice, but not a patch on my Telecaster Bass

 

[Plankton]

to be honest, it's normally frowned on - I'd far rather people started their own thread - by all means reference the thread "inspiring" the post, but just adding pictures to someone elses thread smacks of trying to hijack the thread. Indeed at one point it used to be written into the forum rules not to do it - however, we had a bit of an edit session on the rules to make them shorter, in a (completely wasted) effort to get people to actually read them...

BUT

seeing as it's my thread, and i'm on the staff here, and I haven't already nuked Peter's shot, it would be bad to allow a regular to post and not a new member... so, don't worry about it, but, try and remember for elsewhere, as some members are VERY irritated by it, and report it, and then make lots of work for staff having to spin the post and comments off into another thread.

Noted.
Sorry.

 

[TheBigYin]

Noted.
Sorry.

no need to apologise my friend - as I said above, I'm staff - if i'd have had an issue, your post could have just vanished, as could pentax petes... I don't really worry about it on something like this - provided the contributions from other parts are still film shots, god help anyone who posts something digital though

 

[Bebop]

It was LITERALLY a barn, with a couple of 60w lightbulbs here and there, and a couple of 200w spots that the headline band owned and hadn't wired up when my mates were playing as there wasn't room to get the tripod stands in place with 2 bands kit in situ...

As to the guitar - little Martin the guitarist used to work as a Luthier/Guitar Tech for JHS at the time, who were the main importers in the country for quite a few "interesting" brands - at the time they were only source for Jackson guitars in the country (back when Jacksons were around 2x the price of a USA Gibson and worth every penny - before they moved production to china and became a pale imitation of themselves) - if you look closely in one of the photo's he's actually playing a Jackson Pro Soloist in one of the most blurred pictures - it came in with the headstock smashed - Martin bought it as "scrap/spares" and rebuilt it himself. I'm not a great guitarist, but that guitar actually made me feel like I was half competent! Played beautifully. Noggin, the bass player's also got a Charvel bass round his neck, which Martin picked up for him at trade price... That was nice, but not a patch on my Telecaster Bass

Interesting. Jackson guitars with the pointy headstocks... I have two friends who love them, but they seem to be a bit marmite. My OH seems to favour Gibson, Fender and PRS.

I've never tried a Charvel or a rare Telecaster Bass - don't seem to see many of those around! I have a Musicman Sterling and a Warwick Jazz. I used to have a Fender Jazz - the sound was just brilliant in the house - used to make everything rumble, but I found it a bit big to handle and it didn't seem to cut through in a band situation. The neck length and fret positioning was a bit different from my other basses which used to throw me too.

I'm not much of a guitarist at all. I hadn't picked it up for years before lockdown. I've enrolled on a course to see if I can fill in the gaps, having taught myself.

Martin sounds like a good bloke to know. Our singer in one band used to fix amps which was very handy.

 

[TheBigYin]

My Telecaster bass is probably one of the things I'd choose to be with me if I had a Viking Funeral... 1969 Cream with Maple neck, single coil pickup - basically its the same as the pre-cbs '51 Precisions - wonderful studio instrument - tone and sustain from the through body stringing is just beautiful, but not something I'd gig with (if I was actually gigging these days) as with a single, single coil pickup and completely passive tone, it's very much a "one trick pony" tonally... I never got on with the Jazz Bass if I'm honest, they're much more versatile, but as far as I remember the neck was a little narrower and more cambered than the P-bass and having hands like a bunch of Banana's i'm more inclined to go with something a little flatter in profile. I do keep getting a bit of an urge to pick up one of the current crop of 5-strings, but, I know it'd just be a toy, as my playing is limited to 20-30 minutes or so at a time due to tendonitis issues - so i'm not likely to ever get into a band again.

 

[Bebop]

@The Big Yin that sounds lovely. My Fender Jazz was a 1964 copy, cream with a rosewood neck - a relic. My brother now uses it for recording. I like a narrow neck, having fairly small hands. I'm not very fond of a D shaped neck like I once had on a Steinberger. It can all make such a difference to the playability. My Warwick is the easiest to play, but I love the sound of my Musicman... it's just so heavy!

I'm sorry to hear about your tendonitis - was it set off by your playing? I assume you've tried changing your bass height and things?

I think this week is the anniversary of my last live gig! I've only filled in when needed for the last year or two - mainly I didn't want the commitment of gigs so far in advance.... I wanted to be free to travel.... it seems not anymore!

My hands turn into bananas if I have more than one drink when I play

 

[TheBigYin]

Tendonitis... was initiated years ago, when i was working 10+hours a day on a computer keyboard, and gigging 3 nights a week playing either Bass or Keyboards, plus practicing/learning new stuff... basically, my hands (especially the left) were just in knots... Ended up at a specialist, who said "right, we've 2 options, operate or put your hands in a cast (one then the other) for a couple of months to immobilise them, and you need to choose one of the 3 things you're doing that are causing the problems... As I could earn far more as IT manager of the company I worked for at the time than I've ever earned as a muso it was a easy, if somewhat saddening, decision to make. These days if I play for more than 2-3 songs in a day (either guitar, bass or keyboards) , the next day I can barely type - so - i've got to the point where I don't even sit and play for fun - and will basically only play if pressed by someone to prove that I still can (or, if I'm half-drunk and someone passes me an instrument, as occasionally happens in pre-lockdown era gatherings of my friends, as we've probably all been in bands with one another at one point or another.

It's so annoying, I actually wish that I could sing, so at least I could join in with the "proper musicians" - unfortunately my voice is awful - I can hit the notes, within a fairly narrow vocal range, but it's the "tone" of the voice thats bloody awful...

A good friend described it thus... "You know mark, its a bit like this... I could take an out of tune Stradivarius, tighten one string to a reasonable tension, put a bow across it as a novice, and produce a sound so beautiful it'd make you weep. Or I could take a perfectly tuned Chinese Scratch Box, give it to a concert Violinist and it'd still sound like a cat forcibly being removed of its entrails.... It's not the technique it's the instrument. And, mark, your voice is definitely NOT the stradivarius."

He's a git, obviously, but he's right.

 

[MickSturbs]

He's a git, obviously, but he's right.

 

[Mr Badger]

I used to do a bit of gig photography in the early 90s (blues festivals), using a Canon A1, Mitakon 80-200 f/4.5 lens, with Kodak Ektar 1000 film, with -1 ev to stop the camera's meter trying to make it look like daylight. It was right on the limit of what could be achieved lighting wise, but didn't like using flash as I thought it removed the atmosphere. Not sure my eyes are up to a manual focus camera for gig photography these days! Things got a bit easier using an AF EOS-3 and Fuji 1600, but I wasn't doing much gig photography at all by then. I imagine it's a lot easier these days with modern AF digital cameras with their great low-light high ISO performance, perhaps I'll have to try it again one day.

 

[TheBigYin]

I imagine it's a lot easier these days with modern AF digital cameras with their great low-light high ISO performance, perhaps I'll have to try it again one day.

for me, the big improvement was actually AF and quality glass... gig shooting with the EOS3 or 1v and something like the 85mm EF-1.2L or the 70-200 f2.8L was a world away from the Yashica 108 and kit zoom I was playing around with in the original post. Yes, even the Mk1 7D is easier still, with the same glass as above, and something that would be usable at higher ISO's due to improved sensor / electricals would be even better - but that way i'd have less excuses for not getting the picture I guess so swings / roundabouts.

 

[Bebop]

Tendonitis... was initiated years ago, when i was working 10+hours a day on a computer keyboard, and gigging 3 nights a week playing either Bass or Keyboards, plus practicing/learning new stuff... basically, my hands (especially the left) were just in knots... Ended up at a specialist, who said "right, we've 2 options, operate or put your hands in a cast (one then the other) for a couple of months to immobilise them, and you need to choose one of the 3 things you're doing that are causing the problems... As I could earn far more as IT manager of the company I worked for at the time than I've ever earned as a muso it was a easy, if somewhat saddening, decision to make. These days if I play for more than 2-3 songs in a day (either guitar, bass or keyboards) , the next day I can barely type - so - i've got to the point where I don't even sit and play for fun - and will basically only play if pressed by someone to prove that I still can (or, if I'm half-drunk and someone passes me an instrument, as occasionally happens in pre-lockdown era gatherings of my friends, as we've probably all been in bands with one another at one point or another.

It's so annoying, I actually wish that I could sing, so at least I could join in with the "proper musicians" - unfortunately my voice is awful - I can hit the notes, within a fairly narrow vocal range, but it's the "tone" of the voice thats bloody awful...

A good friend described it thus... "You know mark, its a bit like this... I could take an out of tune Stradivarius, tighten one string to a reasonable tension, put a bow across it as a novice, and produce a sound so beautiful it'd make you weep. Or I could take a perfectly tuned Chinese Scratch Box, give it to a concert Violinist and it'd still sound like a cat forcibly being removed of its entrails.... It's not the technique it's the instrument. And, mark, your voice is definitely NOT the stradivarius."

He's a git, obviously, but he's right.

Made me chuckle, but I know where you're coming from. I can sing in tune, but I don't have a lovely voice. Mostly I sang backing, but I was often pressured into singing lead a few times each gig. The songs would go down well, but I always felt sub-standard and hoped everyone sang along and was drunk enough that they didn't notice.

I was a computer programmer and had trouble with a ganglion which I think was due to the keyboard. It does take it's toll especially if you're also having long gigs on the trot. People have no idea either about how much practice goes on behind the scenes. It's sad though if it hasn't disappeared once you've eased off. I'm so sorry you can't enjoy playing for longer

 

[pentaxpete]

Here I am back from Hospital but in pain --- sorry, but I did not know about 'Etiquette' and posting ! Thanks for not sacking me ! (OUCH! ) just had a twinge in my CUT !

 

[Mr Badger]

to be honest, it's normally frowned on - I'd far rather people started their own thread - by all means reference the thread "inspiring" the post, but just adding pictures to someone elses thread smacks of trying to hijack the thread. Indeed at one point it used to be written into the forum rules not to do it - however, we had a bit of an edit session on the rules to make them shorter, in a (completely wasted) effort to get people to actually read them...

BUT

seeing as it's my thread, and i'm on the staff here, and I haven't already nuked Peter's shot, it would be bad to allow a regular to post and not a new member... so, don't worry about it, but, try and remember for elsewhere, as some members are VERY irritated by it, and report it, and then make lots of work for staff having to spin the post and comments off into another thread.

Sorry, hadn't read that before posting, just saw the other photos and though it was a general thread rather than a personal project type one. I'll delete my photos now, but will leave the text to maintain continuity.