Music Photography | Adventure Starts Tomorrow.

Last week was a busy one. With a combination of me trying to keep myself busy photographic wise, getting a job as an unpaid intern and also meeting up with friends. I have had days with two or three things happening, keeping my rushing all over the place.

Saturday was no different. In the morning I kicked myself out of bed and got up to Kings Cross, after being there for a few hours I spent some time travelling around London by bus because of how much I like long bus journeys. I then went to Bromley to attend a birthday BBQ of my friend Steve, for all of twenty minutes, because then I had to get to a pub called the Dirty South in Lewisham. I was used to this pub because I have photographed quite a few bands there in the past.

And on Saturday I was photographing a new band called Adventure Starts Tomorrow. The band consists of Stephen Russell on vocals, Ian Murrock on bass and backing vocals, Lewis Parrish-Hills on guitar and Kaya Moulla on drums. This was their first gig and in my opinion it went really well. I was happy with the shots that I achieved during their performance and there are a few group shots that are being planned for the near future. I know this band because my good friend Andrew Murrock’s older brother is the bass player for the band and he and I get along pretty well.

With my band photography I tend to use the camera in full manual. By this I mean I control the exposure, ISO and even the focusing. I do this because when I started band photography I found that because of the lighting used at gigs the camera with either over-expose the image or not be able to focus on a band member due to the low light and the movement of the band member.

Because I knew I would be writing this blog post I checked what my camera would do in full automatic [less the flash] to give an example of camera functionality when using automatic rather than manual. My camera at ISO 3200 wanted to make an exposure of almost a second at f2.8 and it focused on a microphone stand because that was the only solitary object in the area reflecting enough light. But I [using manual] was able to get a photograph with an exposure of a 60^th of a second at f2.8. Allowing me to get photographs that weren’t just people flying across the stage in a blur. Another reason I do this is because most of the time I loathe using flash. Unless I’m at a wedding or event where it is required, but in other situations I can’t stand it. It makes an image look fake in my opinion, especially with gig photos, but obviously there are times where it can look good, you just have to use your own personal judgement. Another good thing about using your camera manually, you get a feel for your camera and find that you are able to use it a lot faster. Being able to get acquainted with your camera by shooting gigs in manual helps a lot when you are photographing a wedding and need to think on your feet.

Speaking of weddings the shots from the wedding I did last week will probably be going up next week and this Saturday I have another wedding to do. As you can see I’m keeping myself very busy.

I especially like the Dirty South pub because I was also able to get some shots for an ongoing project that I have had going on for a few years. But I will cover that in another post at another time. Oh, another tip for gig photography is that you want a lens with a low aperture. Preferably one with an f stop of f2.8 or lower. To be honest I see f2.8 as the highest you should have. This is because the lower the number the more light can get in and the faster your shots will be, which, if you tend to photograph without flash like me, is great.

At the end of this post I have included eleven photographs from the gig at the Dirty South on Saturday. All these photographs were taken with a Canon EOS 50D in full manual, using the Sigma 18-50 f2.8 lens. This lens is good for all purpose photography because of the standard zoom range and the fact that it is f2.8 throughout the zoom range. Under the photographs I have placed links to the bands websites so that if you want to have a listen you can.

Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/adventurestartstomorrow

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