Taking a photography course last year, I asked my tutor what the best way of taking photos at somewhere like a bar was. His response? Don’t do it.
I’d heard that getting good photos of live music was one of the most notorious challenges of photography. The conditions are exactly what you don’t want – indoors, night time, low, rapidly changing light and lots of movement. It’s a nightmare.
So I thought I’d have a go.
Armed with my limited photography knowledge, my recently purchased Canon and a supportive friend, I headed out to Rock the Bay at the Espy, an alternative music lineup featuring 40 bands over three stages.
At first, I was bloody nervous. I didn’t want to push my way to the front and annoy the audience. I had no idea what setting to begin with. And when I discovered when there were other photographers there who clearly knew what they were doing, I felt even sillier. But pressing on, I tried lining up a good shot of the first band. This is what I came out with:
Yep. Blurry and crap. Gig photography was definitely going to be hard. Luckily, after I’d peeked at the settings of the more experienced photographer in front of me, I adjusted my own, headed off to the next band and tried again. And this time, after a few more dodgy shots, I got a few I liked.
Tim from the Tim McMillan Band
Lead singer of The Beards
The Beards in action
Lead singer of Barbarion
Barbarion guitarists
There were some seriously great bands there, which helped – The Beards, that sang songs about beards, including ‘No Beard, No Good (There’s Not Enough Beards in My Neighbourhood)’ and ‘If Your Dad Doesn’t Have a Beard, You’ve Got Two Mums’. There was Bellusira, with their energetic lead singer, the Tim McMillan band, who mashed up a variety of genres and guitared them to death, and Barbariön, the Viking metal band with some out-there costumes.
I’ve been to many a metal gig before, and knew there’d be other hazards at the show than bad lighting – so when I was shoved by drunk fans, had beer spilled on my leg, ducked out of the way of Barbarion spinning around a fan in the mosh pit and narrowly avoided being hit in the face by the long hair of a headbanger, I really only had myself to blame.
My camera and I survived however, and despite the vast number of bad shots I ended up with, I feel I’ve learned a lot. I’ll be back for more – hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.
