It was my first time at this venue in Germany. The organisation was quite different than what I am used to. It’s a lot more controlled for photographers. We had somebody watching us during the whole 2 allowed songs. The good part was that the two songs were not the first ones. Which means I had a few songs to watch and get a feeling for the show. That wasn’t a bad experience. The light was quite ok at this one, the only disappointment was the lack of positioning. All the shots were taken from the same spot +- 1m. I mainly used the 70-200mm/F2.8 and 15mm Fisheye. But I am not happy with the fisheye shot. I was too far away for an affective use of it. Below some sample shots, the rest can be seen in the gallery as usual by clicking here.

I was really looking forward to this concert for quite some time now. So it goes without saying that I went there with great expectations. The support act was impossible to photograph. There was just no light available, which led to a lot of worries amongst us photographers at the concert. In the end the lighting was ok. It was a lot of reds, yellows and bright whites. The problem was more the abrupt changes between these, which made me change the shutter speeds quite often during the shoot. Nevertheless Billy Talent’s performance was awesome.

I shot the whole 3 songs with my 70-200/F2.8 as I was busy enough adapting to the light, and didn’t want to waste more time changing lenses. Maybe two bodies would be a good idea…..

Some of my favorites below and the rest as usual here.

Personally I think there’s 3 lenses that have to be part of a concert photographers bag. There’s the 70-200 F2.8, the classic 20-70 F2.8 and then as a “last resort” lens in case the light is worse than it usually is the 50mm F1.8 (or faster).

Then there are the fun lenses, the ones that you buy but don’t really need. After months of debating (with myself) and a weekend trip with my lovely wife I decided to get the Canon 15mm F2.8 fisheye.

I have to admit that my first impression was a bit mixed. The lens is really a lot smaller than what I expected for a 2.8 glass, which is not necessarily a mistake. No surprises with the build quality, it’s what you’d expect from a Canon non “L” glass. The lens hood is fixed to the body of the lens, it is quite small and will not prevent the front element from scratches. This could be an issue since the gear tends to be handled a bit rougher at a concert than in the studio. By the way, due to the form of the front element, there is no way of using a filter with this lens.  The lens cap (in case you were wondering how to fix that one) is “pushed” over the lens hood. I’m afraid that after a few months of usage the cap will come of the hood by itself, thus exposing the front element.  But we’ll see about that in a few months. Technically there is nothing to say, the Autofucs was fast, the lens is sharp enough for me and the people who publish my pictures.

As I mentioned before it’s a fun lens, and as with anything fun you can easily overdo it. I used the lens for the first time with Pale Obsession and Epica. I noticed that once I had the lens mounted on the camera I enjoyed what I saw through the viewfinder so much that I could easily have shot the whole concert with it, and that would be a mistake. I came to the conclusion that when the venue allows it I would shoot the first two songs with my regular lenses and the last one with the fisheye. When I say depending on the venue, I mean that you really take advantage of the lens when you can get really close to the action. There’s no point in using it if you are 2m or more away from the stage.

Conclusion: I am happy with the results of my first test, it will certainly always be in my bag. But it’s not a lens I will be able to use at every concert. Technically it’s a great lens with the “fun” effect.  The only detail I don’t like is the lens cap, and the fact that there is no way of protecting the front element from scratches. But other than that, if you’re looking to diversify the look of your pictures and have fun at it, by all means give it a try. It’s not a lens for everybody, so renting it first would be a clever thing to do.

Here’s a few examples from the to concerts I’ve mentioned before.

I often flag pictures when I do my selection so that when I’ve delivered them to the publisher I remember which one might be worth spending some time with in post processing. I was drawn to this picture from the first time I’ve seen it out of the camera. I started to play around with it,  converted it to duo-tone and back, black and white until I came up with this high contrast version. This is easily one of my favorite concert shots I’ve taken so far. The concert itself was special to me and I’d like to believe that I had some “help” when I pressed the shutter release on this one.

Merci Maya ….

I didn’t know Epica before I was asked to photograph their concert, that actually happens a lot. I have to say that I loved their performance. Their presence on the stage was great. Simone Simons’s voice is beautiful.

I basically used the same gear as for the opening gig, 28-75/F2.8 and 15mm/F2.8. Lighting was ok, a lot of reds and often very dark. The rest of the pictures here.

Pale Obsession was opening up for Epica at “The Atelier” yesterday. I liked them a lot, and judging by the cheers of the crowd I wasn’t the only one. It was quite challenging to photograph them as the light was quite dim in the begining and started to open up a bit at the end.

I’ve used the 28-75/F2.8 for the first two songs, and then switched to the 15mm/F2.8 Fisheye. I had a blast with that lense, but it’s very easy to over do it with this one. the stage is quite low and you tend to get really close to the performance which makes it the ideal place to give it a try. The rest of the pictures can be seen in the Gallery here.

2010, … a new year, new perspectives, new hopes and expactations (sounds a lot like a song, doesn’t it? And a good one at that). Some people will remember 2009 as a positive year and some won’t. Me, …. well it’s been the best year of my life and the worst, all in one.
I’ve always believed that the start of a new year is giving me the possibility to start new projects, and then continue projects from the year before with a different point of view, basically try to change my perspective on things in my life. Well it was never as true as this time around. Here’s a few concerts for January:

- Ou est le swimming pool 14/01/2010

- Epica 16/01/2010

- Billy Talent 30/01/2010

It was the first time I’ve photographed an interview. Well it’s a little less tough as photographing a concert. In this case I had 15 minutes, no flash and I was blocked in the back of the room with no place to move. But meeting the artists like that was an interesting experience.