Bec Reid Photography

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Monday, September 26, 2011

A bit more about Soundwave Counter Revolution...

I thought I'd write a bit more about what it was like at Soundwave CR on Saturday.

The music! Wow. Almost all of the bands there definitely 'brought it'...'it' being whatever it is that makes an audience member think; "Wow, this band/singer definitely wants to be on this stage, and loves performing!" A couple didn't really seem to so much, but I won't name names (it could have been jet-lag)

Some of them really liked the camera too. The guys from Alesana, Story of The Year...wow. Thanks for the poses. Young Guns were just plain fun. All Time Low was tricky (singer loves his mic and lead guitarist just constantly RUNS around the stage. Haha.

Yellowcard were definitely the stand out for me. Definitely going to get their music now. Love that they have a violinist in the band. So rare!.

Down to the actual 'shooting environment'.

It was set up fairly similarly to the recent Youth Alive event (both were at Riverstage)
Nice deep photo pit, of course the stage is the same height/location. The only reall difference is that there were two stages, a temporary one was just to the side of the main stage. One band would play on the big stage, then after their set the smaller stage would start up, then back again.
Was pretty good - meant there was rarely any 'dead time' between acts. The audience was like a slow moving wave between the two stages.

Weather was just about perfect. Warm, not a cloud in the sky, nice glaring sun...hehe. I managed to only get slightly sunburnt, probably becauseI didn't venture out into the crowd very much. The mob I was shooting for didn't require crowd shots so I didn't take many. I hate bothering people.

Turned a bit cool in the evening but I didn't care - I warmed up during my dash over the Goodwill Bridge to the Convention Centre Southbank for Alice Cooper.

Everyone was lovely and clean when I showed up at 10:30am. By midday we all reeked.

Bands, security, shooters, crowd especially. I think that's when everyone really started getting into it - when they all realised "Heck, my makeup is ruined anyway - might as well DANCE!" The general mood gets more fun then. Everyone picks up on a carefree, fun, happy crowd.

I'll be honest...I took too much equipment.
 Speedlight - unnecessary. The few crowd shots I did were during the daylight - and couldn't use the flash for anything on stage.
50mm 1.4 - never took it out of my bag. I'm so used to shooting at places like the HiFi - with poor lighting, that I take it everywhere 'just in case' Well the lights at SWCR were enough that it wasn't required, and the 50mm focal length was covered by my 24-70 - which is the lens I used most.
Batteries - not that they're heavy....but I brought three and only used two.
D90 - this was my back-up body. Doesn't weight much without a battery in it, but I didn't need to bring it anyway. In hindsight.

Basically it was just D700, 24-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f2.8 and my new 32GB CF card all night. Could have taken the smaller LowePro afterall! Probably better to be prepared though. I am definitely a 'Boy Scout Photographer' Prepared for anything... tiny roll-on sunscreen, 2 Snickers bars, iPod, Sharpie... everything but the kitchen sink.

I recall one funny incident. I was desperate for some water, so I went to scoop some out of the big bins of water the security guys use for the crowd. One guy saw me, stopped me, and went and got me an actual sealed bottle of CHILLED water from the crew's stash. So grateful to him.

Well taht's about it for now, I have a pile of editing awaiting my attention.

Young Guns

Sunday, September 25, 2011

SOUNDWAVE COUNTER REVOLUTION! + Alice Cooper

What a BLAST! I'd forgotten how much I love festivals.

Tonnes of waiting around between sets, 3-song rule, but still....so much fun. Also discovered a few new bands to listen to. Alesana, Yellowcard, Story Of The Year. Never really heard any of their stuff before yesterday.

Met some interesting people, saw some interesting stuff, got some great photos.

Alice Cooper was also amazing (what a showman!) but my detour to his gig was about 15 minutes out of almost 9 hour day.

Story of the Year

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Crazy times ahead

Today will be one of the busiest and craziest I've ever had! First up I have Soundwave Counter Revolution from 11am . Then at 8:15pm I am racing over the bridge to Alice Cooper. Then back to Soundwave CR (hopefully...fingers crossed) ffor the tail end of Panic! At The Disco's set.

Might as well glue my camera to  my face now! Haha.

Despite the insanity that is sure to occur, this is going to be a blast. Of course I'd rather have them on two separate days....but what can you do? Nuffin.

Bag is packed, all three lenses coming with me, as well as 3 batteries (no grip, was planning to finally buy one this weekend but was out of stock and all hire places are also out) and 3 CF cards (8gb, 16gb, 32gb) as well as my trusty ol' D90. Planning to use it mostly for the daytime crowd shots as well as just in case (God forbid) something happens to my D700.Also two nut bars and one Snickers. And iPod. Just in case there's a huge lull...

Thursday, September 22, 2011

CHOICES + Loyalty

An upcoming shoot I've had ont he cards for awhile is a bigg'un. Alice Cooper.

On the same day is a gig I applied for and missed out on, Soundwave Counter Revolution (All Time Low, Panic! At The Disco, Story Of The Year, etc)

So I'm puttering through the days, waiting for my big Alice Cooper gig. Which is quite late at night.

Then all of a sudden I get the call...can you do Soundwave CR? Um. I have Cooper that night.

Can you do both?

Um. Okay.

Etiquette.

Not sure if I've touched on this subject before...but I will give it a post of it's own anyway.

There are a set of unwritten rules and regulations amongst photographers...I think. I must have started my photography thing with the world's most polite, accommodating shooters. 'Coz it's gone downhill lately.

 It's pretty simple. Basically, 'Do Unto Others...' applies here. Would you like to be stepped on? No. Have someone move in front of the shot you're framing? No. Therefore, don't do it to other shooters. If you do...accidentally (it happens - less than 2 feet of space to share with 5 photogs and 3 security guards? Yeah tripping definitely happens) just apologise.


That said, you really do need to have an eye in the back/side/top of your head. When you've got a camera pressed to your face and 100% of your attention focused on the stage...SMACK! Oops..someone's just kicked a piece of stage equipment into your head. Or worse, your lens. BAM! Security just pulled a naughty crowd-surfer over your head and you copped a Doc in the eye-socket. SMASH! You just tripped over the shooter next to you, ending up on the floor.

It's virtually impossible to know what's going on around you when you're focused on the one subject...but it'll help in reduction of bruises, broken equipment and pride.
Trust me....I ended up on my butt in front of not only thousands of screaming fans
but also Aaron Gillespie and a whole bunch of other media/artists/security. In that case though, there was no contributing factor other than my own lack of balance and coordination.
Then there was that memorable shoot of the Oh! Sleeper set at Easterfest 2011. Lead singer just barely missed my head in one of his many attempts to stage dive...it was a tad scary!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Can't put a price on good lighting...

No, really - you can't.

I appreciate good lighting so much...I often find myself wanting to buy a muffin basket for certain lighting techs. Such as the ones who do Easterfest, and more recently the Youth Alive LoveIs event at the Brisbane Riverstage. Possibly the best YA event I've been to (and I've been to a few...) in terms of sound/lighting/organisational quality. Mr Christopher Wayne the magician had a new trick for us (The Morph = awesome) and I really enjoyed his show.

Not that great lights automatically means great photos, but gosh does it help!

I had a blast that night...and not just due to the icy winds coming off the Brisbane river only a few metres away. It was an amazing night. I found myself actually listening to the main speaker there that night (at previous events I have tended to tune out the speakers)  and really enjoyed the music put on by Jonnday and The Almost. Aaron Gillespie is a pleasure to photograph....really he is. Plus he's a redhead - and we're all awesome.



Jonnday

 That's the amazing logo thing made by one of the Youth Alive staffers. Foam, I believe. Brisbane city can be seen though the windows.
Aaron Gillespie