Shooting concerts can be quite challenging. I had my first experience with shooting live performances back in March for our town's annual Mardi Gras celebration. I learned a lot about how to shoot(and not to shoot) in low light during that experience. It's something that takes lots of patience and practice, and really helps you get to know your camera.
I was pretty excited when Kayleigh and her mom asked me to shoot her fundraising concert for Grammy Camp at a local coffee house, because this is an area of photography I need to grow in.
Grammy Camp is a yearly immersion camp, in which talented young singer/songwriters are selected by merit to participate. Kayleigh was one of only 30 kids to get this opportunity to travel to New York and learn from music industry pros. Travel costs are pretty expensive, so her family and friends all pitched in to organize this fundraising concert - including a live auction of donated goods and services.
Seeing young people do something they love is pretty amazing, and especially when they are willing to put in the work to get their gifts out there. They rocked the house, and I know Kayleigh is going to make it in the music industry.
I think the key, at least for me, with shooting live performances, is to not focus on the whole of the experience, with lots of wide angle shots, but to curate the details and elements that come together to create an accurate documentation of the passion and intensity that musicians have. You have to shoot a lot of pictures to capture the best facial expressions and moments. Most of what you shoot will end up in the waste bin, but there are many moments that will stand out - so it's worth the time to shoot in burst mode, then comb through hundreds of frames to find those perfect shots. I'm learning to be a better editor.
I love black and white photography. The VSCO presets - especially the Fuji Neopan and Fuji FP Negative presets in VSCOfilm 3 and 5 were used to edit all of the monochrome shots above.
Lenses: Canon 50mm prime (f/3.2 and f/3.5) and 55-250mm EFS zoom(f/4 and f/5.6) ISO 500 Shutter speed 1/100
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