Dead Letter Circus @ The Zoo

Last Tuesday night I was given an opportunity to do something I loved - photography, AND go to a concert I would have paid to attend regardless of a photo-pass! Dead Letter Circus are one of my favourite bands. One of my first entries in this blog is about a gig of theirs I shot in Noosaville.

The only downside was...the venue. I am not a big fan of The Zoo (Fortitude Valley, Brisbane) It's small, dark and not very well ventilated. Also it never has a barrier. Ever. Not even when DLC's show is sold-out and their fans are some o the nuttiest I've met! Haha. So it really was a zoo.

I staked out my spot early (I always enter The Zoo from the back alley now...so much better than lining up on the side of a busy street at 8pm in the Valley) and stayed put for the two support acts (Closure in Moscow and Wolves - one VERY rude bassist in CIM! Little punk...I've got a very unflattering photo of you...muhaha) and by the time DLC hit the stage...Whoa. Talk about COMPRESSION! Lol.

Warning signs were pasted all around the place about the use of strobes during the night. Let me tell you - strobe lights are NOT good for photography. Unless there is a lot of other light. Which at The Zoo, there isn't! Not that I'm complaining (much...) I would have braved just about any venue to shoot/hear DLC - I love them.

So here we are, one very technicolour shot of lead singer, Kim Benzie - and a hand.

Post-Easterfest

Flash flooding forces evacuation 

Well that was unexpected.

Saturday night - just over the half-way mark of Easterfest. Newworldson have been on stage for about 10minutes when it starts spitting rain. No biggie, we all thought. It'll stop soon enough.

Then the rain really started.  Best estimates from the Easterfest camp have it at 50millimetres over 30 minutes. That's a lot of rain. I had read a forecast for 'fine with the slight chance of a shower' over the whole weekend so I brought one poncho with me. For the camera, really. That's what I ended up doing.

Gave up on trying to shoot and just huddled as far under the stage awning as I could. D700 was poncho-wrapped, my LowePro Slingshot was on my back (containing another lens and accessories) I never bothered getting an 'all-weather' cover for it so I was just praying it would hold up against the barrage of water. It did, in the end.

I had two more things to shoot at that stage that night, the first being the amazing Chris Wayne, then Switchfoot. The former was cancelled, much to the dismay of many - but totally understandable given the weather.

The rain wasn't letting up and it was now well above the tops of my socks, so I made a break for it with the help of a lovely couple from local media company Thru A Lens. The only path to a dry area we could see was on-stage, so that's where we went. Via some huge stage-support structures. I must have done it wrong, because I leapt from one to the other 3 times, missing twice. My shin is bruised from knee to ankle...

I'm glad I went there though, as I was still able to get some photos of Switchfoot - one of my favourite bands. I could hear them too, of course (which was amazing - as they always are!)

Probably the best shot I got of Switchfoot. I had the wrong lens on, of course. Wasn't game to try changing because I was still standing on wet floor, my bag was dripping and I wasn't going to risk any more gear.

Queen's Park flooded. Easterfest activities were cancelled for the rest of that night (Noooo! Emery!) and the next day. Luckily, event organisers were able to scramble and get more stuff happening in Easterfest City. So The Classic Crime (50% of my reason for going to Easterfest this year) were able to perform in a pub/club type place, Newworldson and Naturally 7 found stages around the city, so did PC3 and many others - many more than were originally slated to perform in Easterfest City that day.

The Classic Crime set was amazing. They were originally going to be in a tent that has room for 5000 people, so moving to a pub that has room for about a tenth of those people made for some squashiness. I got there early (Easterfest media pass meant nothing outside the gates of Queen's Park! haha) so I was in the front row. I actually only planned to stay there for a couple of songs then let someone else have my awesome spot - but it wasn't until about 3/4 of the way through the set that I could actually move! So good. I listened to the rest of the set from downstairs.

After that, I headed back to my hotel. The next day (Anzac Day) I visited my grandparents.Then we began the trip home. Quick stop to stock-up on Easterfest eggs (at 50% off....) and here we are :) My few days of holidays are over, so sifting through the 5000+ photos I took over 3 days is going to take awhile.

It was worth it. So worth it. So many amazing bands, spectacular shows with great atmosphere, happy crowds and bands whom obviously enjoyed the shows as much as we did! Easterfest organisers and crew did a great job of making sure everyone was safe, as did all the Toowoomba emergency services.

Well that's it for another 12 months. For Easterfest at least. My next gig is Escape The Fate - thankfully that one will be fully indoors!

Procrastination and Indecision, my old friends...

If you've been to my website, you may have noticed the 'Gallery' tab doesn't work. That's because I haven't actually put anything in it. First of all I couldn't decide what kind of gallery I wanted, then when I settled on one I decided I didn't like it anymore, but I don't speak enough HTML to actually change it so it's sitting there...empty. Oops. The Flickr link works though! I will get the gallery up and running...soon... (meet Procrastination)

The other problem is deciding which photos to use. Say hello to Indecision :)

Had a few shoots of late, 2 were in as many nights, that was a busy week. Worth it though. I got to photograph Imelda May - Irish rockabilly singer/songwriter. Seriously talented and beautiful, I now love her music. Got some good shots of her too.

The other one was Silverstein with supports blessthefall and I See Stars. That was fun. Huge amount of energy on stage and from the crowd. Perhaps a little too much from the crowd, actually...Security sure earned their pay-cheques that night!

I was constantly diving out of the way to avoid getting trampled by dudes being dragged out of the area in front of the barrier (either because they jumped the barrier or were pulled out for being naughty) scored a nice shoulder bruise for my troubles, but as always was worth it to shoot some great bands!

That's one thing I find difficult - trying to be aware of what's going on around you with a camera pressed to your face and the other eye squinted shut. Need eyes in the back of my head...or side mirrors? Hehe.  I try to glance to the side every few minutes but it's hard to not get lost in the whole photographing thing...also the whole post-processing thing.

I sat down at 8pm last night to sort out some shot to use on my website. Next thing I knew, it was 11pm...heh. Doesn't help that I have a cold right now so sitting in front of a computer is a much more appealing option than, you know, actually doing something,

As per last blog post, camera is all fixed. CF card isn't - but that's okay, I know where to get them at a decent price.

Did I mention that I hate CF cards? Well I do. Fiddly, fragile, obtuse things they are...

Here's a shot of I See Stars.  Happy looking fellow he was...