With all concert photography our biggest challenges are, lighting and the dreaded smoke machine.
We arrived to the Crystal Castles concert and were informed of the following:
- The band didn't particularly want to be photographed
- We had to shoot from the side of the stage, actually on stage
- There would be strobe lighting
- There would be smoke
- Alice Glass was going to throw her mic stand in our direction.
There were three photographers this evening and as the crew led me, Mike and Haydn to the side of the stage we did our 'Hail Mary's' and wondered what the hell we'd let ourselves in for!
We sat packed tightly, (lodged between a speaker, the bands water supply and a pile of towels) and because the band were fashionably late on stage, our feet, then legs had started to go numb.
A crew member went through the routine and to our relief said he would be standing near us to catch the flying mic stand (which he did), and we were very happy - particularly Mike, who was getting married a week later and wasn't looking forward to a potential black eye! (Imagine trying to explain that to the new Outlaws!)
Lots of strobes, lots of smoke, lots of clicks of the camera and lots of disappointing shots, then all of a sudden Alice decides to jump into the crowd. Which meant:
- There was a spotlight on her (very happy)
- She more or less stayed still for a few moments (even happier)
- We could stand up YAY! (however, Haydn's legs were dead by this stage)
So as the fans grappled towards Alice, we stood and clicked to our hearts content.
And I got some pretty good shots considering...
A nice surprise, a couple of weeks later, to find that MixMag wanted to buy one of my shots for their February 2013 edition, out January 17th (ish).
Tonight's lesson... Never underestimate your ability... always expect the unexpected!
No comments:
Post a Comment