This is Why I Love Music

Hof8231 · Aug 18, 2013

I'm a huge fan of music, mainly less-known artists that player smaller shows (read: hipster). One of my favorite musicians, Frank Turner, has a show in Philly at the end of November. I decided since concert/show photography is something I'd like to get into, I'd shoot him an e-mail. I told about my situation as an amateur photographer, everything that's happened to me over the past few months and how much his music has helped me through it, and asked him if it would be possible for me to photograph his Philly show. I didn't expect a response at all.

I sent that email yesterday. Today, I get a response from him telling me that I've been put on the list to get a photo pass, where I'll be able to shoot the first few songs from the pit. I couldn't be more excited right now! What a great guy! I feel like this will be a great opportunity for me to improve my photographic skills.

Here's a song if his for those of you who haven't heard of him:

As the title states, this is why I love music, specifically less-known artists. They seem to really care about their fans.

mishele · Aug 18, 2013

That is so awesome!! This goes to show that you have to put yourself out there, you never know what can happen! Have fun w/ it and I can't wait to see what you come up with!!

Hof8231 · Aug 18, 2013

mishele said:
That is so awesome!! This goes to show that you have to put yourself out there, you never know what can happen! Have fun w/ it and I can't wait to see what you come up with!!

I'm so excited! I'll have to do some research/look at some professional event photographers' works beforehand so I'm not going in blind lol. Should be a great time regardless!

TCampbell · Aug 18, 2013

That's awesome! I'm looking at your gear list and between your body and lens, you've got everything you need -- all low focal ratio lenses.

You mentioned "first few" songs from the pit. Are they limiting how much you can shoot. Some artists don't care if I shoot all through the show, but just occasionally they'll ask that you only shoot the first few songs (e.g. Jon McLaughlin's agent asked that I only shoot the first three songs.) I think part of that is they want you to shoot the artist when they're still looking their best (some of them get fairly covered in sweat) and part of it may be that they don't want you to block fans from enjoying the show. I try to be aware of my surroundings so that I'm not just parked in front of someone blocking their view.

If you've never shot a concert event before, this is one of those things where the meter lies ... owing to the large amount of "blackness" in the scene offset by a comparably brightly lit performer. If spot metering, I try to get a reading off the lit side of the performers face. If using an evaluative metering, I find I usually have to underexpose by about 2/3rds of a stop... sometimes a full stop.

frommrstomommy · Aug 18, 2013

Very cool!

Hof8231 · Aug 18, 2013

TCampbell said:
That's awesome! I'm looking at your gear list and between your body and lens, you've got everything you need -- all low focal ratio lenses.

You mentioned "first few" songs from the pit. Are they limiting how much you can shoot. Some artists don't care if I shoot all through the show, but just occasionally they'll ask that you only shoot the first few songs (e.g. Jon McLaughlin's agent asked that I only shoot the first three songs.) I think part of that is they want you to shoot the artist when they're still looking their best (some of them get fairly covered in sweat) and part of it may be that they don't want you to block fans from enjoying the show. I try to be aware of my surroundings so that I'm not just parked in front of someone blocking their view.

If you've never shot a concert event before, this is one of those things where the meter lies ... owing to the large amount of "blackness" in the scene offset by a comparably brightly lit performer. If spot metering, I try to get a reading off the lit side of the performers face. If using an evaluative metering, I find I usually have to underexpose by about 2/3rds of a stop... sometimes a full stop.

Yeah, he said it's customary for the people with photo passes at his shows to shoot just the first three songs.

And thank you for the tips!