I have to say that I was amazed when I saw that the venue was sold out. Especially on a Sunday night with a big Music Festival and the yearly fair going on at a few km away. I guess that speaks for the Eels popularity around here.

I was however to be hugely disappointed (not musically) by the Eels. I was told (as were all the other photographers) that we had our regular 3 songs no flash routine, but we were thrown out of the pit after a minute or so into the show. And that for no apparent reason. On the way out of the pit somebody from their crew told us that we could take a few more pictures from within the crowd though if we wanted.

Now I do and always did respect the rules that management has laid out for us, sometimes it’s one song only, sometimes it’s from an elevated spot in the back of the venue, sometimes it’s even from the side of the stage and I don’t mind, the rules are the rules. But I don’t understand why photographers are allowed into the pit only to be asked to leave before their allocated time is over?

What happened then? Well by the time we were back in the crowd the second song was nearly over, I looked around took one picture and to be honest at that point I thought, well if they don’t want us in the pit they don’t want their pictures taken and I left (first time I’ve done that). Especially since there were ans who paid to be there who saw a bunch of photographers blocking their view.

The few pictures I was able to get can be seen in the flickr slideshow below:

What a nice way to start the season…….. I photographed Reamonn before at a festival. When I heard they were coming back I knew I wanted to see and photograph their show again. The Irish-German band played for the first time in 1999 and became famous with their hit single: Supergirl.

Photographically it was quite tough for a start. I was only allowed to photograph two songs and the light was varying from very bright to very dark. I used the 28-75 F2.8 only as I felt with only two songs I did not want to wast time switching objectives.

You can see the rest of the pictures below in the flickr gallery or by clicking here.

We had only 3 days to prepare the shoot, the location was only confirmed the afternoon of the shoot,  some gear that we needed was still on it’s way from Germany, and this was our first band shoot ……. all these elements and the lack of precious sleep created quite a sense of pressure that day.

But in the end we’ve had a lot of fun, and the result was well worth the effort. The location was the Rockhal Club in Luxembourg/Belval and it’s entry hall which provided us with a total of 4 sets. For these sets we used quite some gear: 2 Canon 5d’s,  24-105F4L, 70-200F2.8L, 17-40F4L, 15mm F2.8 Fisheye, 3 Flashguns Elinchrom D-Lite 4′s and 2 continuous lights, 2 Elinchrom remote triggers, 1 Flash as a back light, reflectors and a fog machine (thanks guys), and some HLS’s ….. thanks Mick and Tania.

It turned out to be a great experience, the guys from Pale Obsession were great and very patient. We’ve had some trouble in finding the right light setup for the fog and I wish we’ve had one or two more flashguns for the more complex shots, but in the end there was nothing we couldn’t handle and by having to deal with the gear at hand made us learn some interesting stuff.

Check out Pale Obsession on iTunes, and keep your eyes open for the release of their new CD.

Make sure you check out the rest of the pictures on the slideshow below or here:

Well we’re here, ….. the summer break. Concert planning is running at it’s slowest pace here in Luxembourg. The last three weeks were  mental, non stop concerts, long hours of waiting for the bands to start, photographing the support acts, editing the pictures, facing picture theft and so on.  It was a tough time but I enjoyed every single minute of it. It was very rewarding in terms of publications, contacts and public exposure in general.

The video below is Pale Obsession’s CD release trailer, made with various photographs from our photo session (post to follow).

That being said now it’s time to take it easy for a while and  spend some quality time with family and friends. Leaving on a trip pretty soon and looking forward to snap some shots of things a bit different than performing artists. Although I am still wondering how to fix a D-Lite4 with it’s Battery Pack in the middle of a “Via Ferrata”  without killing myself or anybody else in the process………..  If somebody’s done it before and is reading this, … any piece of advice is welcome

I’ll also spend a tiny amount of time on some other projects with InFocus. We were quite busy getting everything up and running in the new studio. But after the first two or three sessions in there I think I can say that we’re there. Lately requests have been increasing exponentially which is nice but it also takes it’s toll

Thanks to Tania, JP and Mick for all the help in finishing off what looked like an impossible task more than once during the last year

The Kooks performed before a packed Atelier last night. The indie rock band from Brighton made it to Luxembourg once more to the delight of their fans.

The show started off with stroboscopic effects, I was a bit afraid that it set the tone for what was to come. But it was only for a few seconds. The light was actually very nice, a lot of variation in colors, brights and darks. The pit was packed with photographers so movement was very restricted. I’ve photographed the whole 3 songs with the 28-75mm F2.8.

The rest of the pictures in the gallery here or in the slideshow below.

Daniel Balthasar opened up for The Kooks at the Atelier. It’s a local band that has made it’s name here in Luxembourg. Those who were not fans before they started probably are now if I believe what I’ve heard behind me in the pit. Visit them on their website.

The light was quite ok here, the only drawback was that I had the opportunity to go on stage to take my pictures, but the stage was so cramped that there was no point, movement would have been close to impossible. A whole part from the second song was lit with red spotlights which is not so nice. I used the 28-75mm F2.8 for all three songs.

You can see the rest of the pictures here or below in the slideshow.

Pink Martini performed in a nearly sold out Rockhal (Club) last night. I was surprised by the stage when I got in the pit. Every square meter was used for some kind of instrument.  Thomas Lauderdale won the crowd from the start by talking in Luxembourgish (yes we have our own language). China Forbes has  a captivating charm that didn’t leave the fans unimpressed.

Photographically the concert was very “bright”. I dialled down to ISO 1000 for most of the pictures. The only issue was that the light was so bright on China Forbes that the background often plunged into dark blacks. Some of the band members were hidden behind instruments which made it impossible to get a proper photograph of them. The size and disposition of the stage made for some very nice Fisheye shots.  I shot the whole three songs with the 70-200mm F2.8, 28-75mmF2.8 and Fisheye 15mm F2.8.

The rest of the pictures here or below.

Wow, …… what more can I say? Sometimes I find myself in the pit and tell myself: What a great job to do …. If someone would have told me 5 years ago that I would be photographing Slash at a concert I would have laughed out loud, but secretly I would be wishing it was true. Slash was terrific, he delivered a performance that will be remembered amongst those who attended for a very long time. Not to be missed is Myles Kennedy as the lead singer who delivered a very solid performance as well.

Photographically it was really hard to focus…. Myles and Slash both gave us a lot to photograph. Lighting was very variable but nice. The only really dark moments were when they ran to the edge of the stage on the left or right. I used the 28-75mm F2.8 only as it was not very easy to get a good composition with the 70-200mm F2.8 due to the monitors on stage that were blocking the view.

Enjoy the rest of the pics in the gallery or in the slideshow below.