I’ve photographed Selah Sue in March 2011 for the first time. I was deeply impressed by her performance, and was looking forward to photogrpraph here again. This time at the Rockhal, a bigger venue which was packed.

Technical note: The light varied greatly between the first 3 songs, which was nice for a change. The background remained quite dark though, which made me focus a lot more on portraits that the whole scene.

The rest of the pictures here or in the slideshow below:

I photographed William Fitzsimmons for the first time back in 2009, he was here as a support act. I got to talk a bit with him after his gig and found him to be very inspiring. I bought a CD and still listen to it on a regular basis today. When I heard that he was touring I was really hoping he would make a stop in Luxembourg. The waiting paid out, I’ve rarely experienced a crowd so quite during a song that you are actually afraid to hit the shutter release, ….. but that’s the way a William Fitzsimmons concerts is to be enjoyed.

On a technical note: It was a very nice and easy concert to photograph. The second song was red light only, and since the whole set was quite static I didn’t shoot too many pictures during this one. For the other two songs the light was normal. Bright white/yellow on Mr. Fitzsimmons with the remaing members of the group left in shadows. I shot all the pics with the 28-75mm F2.8.

The rest of the pics here or in the gallery below:

When Heather Nova started singing “Island”, … the room just fell silent. Her voice is mesmerizing, you can’t help put listen and get the goosebumps. It’s really hard to resist the urge to put down the camera and listen. I am sure that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, well she must have been a Mermaid in a former life.

I’ve seen Heather Nova a few times now and I am always blown away by her performance. And judging by the reaction from the crowd, I am not the only one. The mixture of her voice and a very strong guitar makes for a concert not to be missed.

On a technical note: The light was really bad for this one, most of the time it was on white or yellow spot on her and very dim if any light in the background. It made it hard if not impossible to pick up any detail in the background. I used the 28-75 F2.8 and the 70-200 F2.8.

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

I remember the first time I’ve heard Razorblade, It was while Snowboarding  in Italy, … I was hooked straight away. I’ve listened so many time to “History for sale”. Coming Closer is just an amazing song. I was hoping to able to photograph them one day. Well the day has come …

It was the last gig of their tour, and you could see they were exhausted, but they delivered anyways. Justin’s Furstenfeld’s voice is impressive on the recorded albums but it is unbelievable live.

On a technical note: The light was difficult for this one. There was no in-between, very harsch or very low. Since I photograph in Manual mode I had to change settings all the time. While it is a good practice to get the feeling for the light it makes it difficult to be spot on with your metering. But it makes for a nice challenge. I’ve shot the whole gig with my trusty 28-70F2.8.

The rest of the photographs below or on flickr here.

The guys from Project 54 asked me if I was willing to go and photograph them for a whole concert with all stage access. It was not in me to decline such a nice offer, …. I did this once or twice before for other bands and I must say it’s a change to no be restricted to the pit and have more than 3 songs to photograph a performance. I do however still try no to be too intrusive, for the band and for the spectators. They didn’t pay to see a photographer running around on stage.

Technically: The guys asked for the lighting technician not to use red spots too much.  It’s a dream come true  .. they used them once or twice during the whole gig. The light was varried and quite ok, yellows, greens, magentas, blues you name it. I used the 1D only and switched lenses. I used the 14mm Fisheye, 28-75 mm, 70-200 mm, 50 mm and 85 mm. Give the luxury of time I wanted to test my two fixed focal lenses. I was quite impressed, although they remove a lot of needed mobility in the pit. I don’t think I would use them in a really crowded pit.

The rest of the pictures below in the slideshow or here:

Last week I’ve photographed Madalena Alberto in London. While planning the session I decided to use two very different sets. First I had access to a Pub (Distiller’s Pub) for the occasion many thanks to Simon for this. For the second set I planned on going down into a tube station and shoot on the platform with a train as a background. It was a bit different kind of shoot for me as I didn’t the location at all. I’ve seen some pictures on the internet but we all know how relying on that sometimes turns out…

But everything worked out fine, I was there half an hour earlier to scout the location and set up my light, yes you heard it right: I just brought a speedlite with a 60cm Softbox just on case. I wanted to use a maximum of ambient light since I’ve seen on the pictures from the website that the pub had huge windows.

The challenge in the tube station was the light. I wanted to remain mobile and I didn’t want to run the risk of being thrown of the platform which is the reason I didn’t use any flash for this set. I’ve always wanted to shoot in a tube station, ……

I really enjoyed this shoot for all it’s challenges and for getting to know Madalena, she is a very talented artist. Make sure you check out her website and listen to her CD, she’s got an amazing voice.

The whole set can be seen below in the slideshow or here on flickr:

The last time James Blunt was in Luxembourg I wasn’t taking any pictures. I went to listen/see the concert. I was deeply impressed by his performance, he’s one of those rare artists you can see that their performance is rooted deeply within. When I was told he was coming back I knew I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to photograph him. And once again he delivered a very intense performance.

Notes from the Pit: I was expecting very sober lighting and not too much movement. So I planned on putting on a long lens and take my time for some nice close ups. But it was different this time, the stage was a lot more colorful, so I ended up using the 70-200mm and the 28-75mm. We had only two songs, which  Mr Blunt spend at the Microphone with his guitar, which was a bit sad for us photographers.

The rest of the pictures in the slideshow below or here:

Golden Kanine played as the support act to Mando Diao. They have their own style which is quite difficult to categorize, but that’s not always a bad thing. In this case it definitely is not. I loved them, …. I might be going out on a limb here but they reminded me a bit of  Mumford and Son’s, …. maybe one of their influences? They are definitely worth having a listen to.

Photographically it was different, but different in a very nice way. The light was moody and fitted their music perfectly. Simple white strobes as front lights and back lights, well aimed at instruments and faces. It’s the first time I’ve had that kind of light during a concert. It actually came pretty close to studio lighting. And the moody light made me want to convert some of the pictures to B&W….

The rest of the pictures can be seen below in the slideshow or here.