Paul Colman Trio!

First of all - I need to say how awesome this band is. Aside from being very talented - they are the nicest guys I've ever met in the music industry.


I had really good access at this gig (another nod to the Trio - lovely people that they are!) so getting a lot of great shots was definitely do-able. I posted a whole bunch on my photography Facebook page here, let me know what you all think.

I had an absolute blast. Was pretty much like hanging out with a bunch of mates. Instead of the glares I often get from performers who spot me taking their photo - I got grins and thumbs-up gestures and other nice things.


 PC3 - currently my favourite band to photograph!

Follow the pretty lights...

If I mentioned colour in my last post, this one can be about lights.

I love lights at a concert. They create such different effects. Even the most boring band, with the least stage presence, can look interesting in a photo, if there's some lights involved. Sometimes it's not the musician's fault, they're stuck behind a drum kit (hardly ever lit up! Must talk to some lighting people about this...) or a keyboard. My example;

[Hungry Kids of Hungary, The HiFi, Brisbane, May 2011] Good band, but heck, how much can you really do with a keyboard player? Well...that.

Having shot at a few different venues now, I can tell you now...not all lighting people (engineers? designers?) are created equal. One venue in Brisbane seems to think a couple of light bulbs and a red spotlight are all that's required. Um, no. Not for the poor photographers, anyway! Not that red can't be cool, if there's enough LIGHT. My example;

Okay...in my opinion it's fairly cool. [Rapture Ruckus, Easterfest, Toowoomba April 2011]

So just about any colour can look awesome, providing there is enough LIGHT. How to get the light? Well, if it's just a dark venue and you gotta work with what's available, make sure you have the right gear. I chose Nikon based on the low-light performances of both my D90 and the D700. Of course the D700 is by far the better of the two, being a full-frame and all. D3s would have been my first choice, but I like having two kidneys.

Then it's about lenses. No point in having the best body if you stick a kit lens on it. That said, I started off with kit lenses, but I was lucky in that my first gig was a large music festival, one with PLENTY of lighting. Thus enabling me to use a faster shutter, etc.

Basically don't go for any number bigger than f2.8. I use three lenses in my music photography; Sigma 50mm f1.4, Sigma 70-200 f2.8 and Nikkor 24-70 f2.8. I definitely notice if I go from the 50mm to either of my zooms... in fact I often first think "Somethings wrong with my camera!"*shame* then I remember...'Oh yeah....f1.4 - > f2.8...duh'


So you've got your gear, at the venue, band is up. How to get the light? For me it's a mixture of trial + error, patience and luck. Mostly luck, I think. Watch the lights, see where they pan, when they flash. Try to time your click with it. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. That's the great thing about digital isn't it? Take as many shots as you like! In the 3-song window, of course.


Of course, if you shoot at the same venues a lot, you can get to know the 'pattern' most often used, and the locations of the spotlights. I'm down with the HiFi in West End now. I know what they got, and where the lights go.

[Paul Colman, playing with Peter Furler at Easterfest, Toowoomba, April 2011.]

 Not the best shot of Paul, but a good example of the awesome lighting available that night. There was also a ring-style thing. I think I have a shot...

[Michael Paynter, Easterfest, Toowoomba, April 2011]

See that metal rig behind him? Lots of cool lights later on that day (it was barely dark when I took that photo)

So many cool effects can be done with lights. I love this one;

[Paul Colman again]

Notice how all my 'cool lights' shots are from Easterfest? They used the best lighting people, in my opinion. Wish they could do every gig I shoot!

Some photogs use an external flash. I don't, not in live music. It's been recommended to me, I just don't believe it's relaying the true performance with a flash, if you know what I mean. It dulls colours and looks boring, 'set up'. 

That's my take on it, anyway. 

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!

Don't throw ANYTHING out + the early days...

Around the time I started this blog and my website, I bought a new camera. A Nikon D700 ( a full-frame DSLR, as opposed to the one I started with, a Nikon D90, entry-level DSLR, with a much smaller sensor, etc)

Once I started using the new one, I immediately thought 'there is no WAY I am ever going to use the old one, I may as well sell it!' but, after some prodding from someone else, I finally agreed to take it with me on a shoot. Mostly because for this gig (and many others I do now) I was required to get 'social' photos, shots of the punters - and as I am currently down to one CF card I didn't want to 'waste' it on shots that in my head, aren't as important as photos of the actual band.

Anyway, so I dragged out the D90, blew off the dust (just kidding, dust dare not enter the area I keep my equipment) stuck a lens on it, and took it to the Imelda May concert at the HiFi, Brisbane on March 3rd.

I did use it for 'socials' and for some of the support acts. Then I put it away and got out my D700. Because of the way my camera bag is currently set out (has moveable dividers and such in it) and the gear I had with me (the D700, D90, new fave lens 24-70mm and 'old faithful' 50mm and on a lark, my huge 70-200) I had to do some re-arranging and the 70-200 ended up on the D90. Rather than stuffing around with zipping and un-zipping the bag again, I just slung it on one shoulder and the D700 on the other.

After I got what I considered 'good' shots of Imelda May, I decided to use the last little bit of the 3rd song (the last song for me) to see what the D90 could do.

Here's one of the results;

The point of my ramble? Never get rid of stuff!

Adding more photos to my gallery right now. Found the folder of photos I took on my very first photography gig, with my very first camera (yes the D90) with kit lenses (*cringe*) no idea what I was doing and absolutely no experience. I should also add that I had purchased the D90 exactly 2 days before the event, and took it out of the box for the first time on the drive to Toowoomba (location of the event) 

It's probably a bad idea to show the less-than-perfect shots, but in a way it kind of shows where I started, how far I've come (in my own humble opinion...;)) plus I got to shoot some of my favourite bands at that event, Easterfest 2009. Here's one, of Grant Norsworthy - as part of Paul Colman Trio