I requested to attend a Blues concert in Long Beach, California so I could photograph the blues player “Anna Popovic” as she is a great blues guitarist & has a super stage performance. I was able to get on staff at this show which gave me assess to any were I wanted to go to shoot my images.
To get organized for the shoot I needed to think about what gear I would need for this gig, you might think that would be an easy thing to do but today it would seem most of us have way too much equipment to pick for this sort of job. My first thought was how would the light be for the day as it was going to be outside so later in the day when it became dark just they might start using stage light’s.
My first pick of camera’s was my Canon 6D as it would cover the sunlight issue and stage light (Low Light) I also wanted to use a full frame camera which the 6D is. This would then make me think about what lens to use as now the focal length would be a factor.
I have a 85.mm which would be good for low light as it’s a 1.8F and a 50.mm which also was great in low light, but I was thinking I needed to get not just the player on stage but also the view of the stage with more than one person. I would need a zoom lens that would also be able to do this as I did not want to move back and forth within the crowed. I have a 70-200.mm and a 24-70.mm but My thinking is I do not like to just shoot face’s on stage but the complete person from head to toe as the instrument is part of the show. So I went with the 28-70.mm. Zoom!
As you can tell in the images this gave me the images I needed, I also think it help me stay out of the way of the view of the people’s who paid money to see the show. We don’t want to piss off them that’s just not cool. On a side note it is always best to wear black as to not stand out and to wear black will also help to make you look like staff at a show! It’s a sign of a professional at work!
With today’s digital camera’s it seems to me that most of the images that photographers take all look the same so I decided to switch my images to a more 60’s BW look and in post I gave my images a bit of grain. I think you can see this helped to get a more stylized look to take away the look of a snap shot which people get with a camera phone. I also went and slowed my shutter down to get some movement to give ever more of a styled look. I think it works and you can tell my work apart from your ever day shooter.