Electric Co in Schiedam

Electric Co

I don’t see cover bands as a rule, but since I was at this ‘Joshua Tree 20th anniversary release party’ anyway I thought it would be good practice to shoot the band and try ‘different’ things. And not be afraid to screw up the shoot. In the end I didn’t try that many ‘different’ things, but putting a 20mm on the body did give me a different perspective, har har. I am very pleased with this Sigma 20/1.8’s performance in concert circumstances. It’s got great colours.

Not a lot of concerts photographers shoot with primes (= fixed focal length lenses) like I do. They’re either sporting their 70-200’s zoom, or some variant of a 24-70, or wider – I always see this one guy who always has some kind of really flat lens on his body, it hardly protrudes from the body. I hardly ever use anything wider than 50mm, as I tend to go for close ups. Maybe it’s time to reevaluate, get a wide zoom other than my Sigma 24-70/2.8, which I’ve tried to use before but doesn’t seem to work that well.

The lad shooting next to me at the The National gig was using a Tamron 17-50/2.8. I might get me one of those for starters, before I splash out for a Canon 16-35/2.8L .

See the slideshow at Flickr.com.

‘I am red hot kitchen’

Shirley Manson, like Kylie Minogue, is likeable and exciting to watch. I don’t care a whole lot for Garbage as a band (not since their first album, anyway), but their leading lady is just riveting.

(Selection of photos)

A sign outside the venue said: ‘No flash. No professional gear.’ Just before the start of the show, a security guard noticed me taking my camera out of my bag.

s.g.: ‘We don’t allow lenses on cameras.’
me: ‘But all cameras have lenses.’
s.g.: ‘Uhm, you can’t use professional gear.’
me: ‘It’s a 300d, it’s not a professional camera.’
s.g.: ‘OK. But don’t be surprised if we take your roll of film later on.’
me: ‘There’s no film in this camera.’
s.g.: (sigh) ‘Well, whatever’s in it.’

I stayed out of view of the guards for most of the show right up until the end when some people in front of me left. It gave me the opportunity to take some good close ups when Shirley played our side of the stage. Just when I knew I’d got ‘the’ shot (the one above), a big bald security guard told me to cut it out, using the international cut throat sign. I put my camera away then and he didn’t take my memory card. A guy in front of me filmed the entire show with a tiny digicam.