You Say Tiger Shoot

 

Sitting in the bar waiting for the band to go on stage, I felt that hint of nervous anticipation I'd felt before when I used to play in a band myself.  I reckon life would be pretty boring if you didn't get nervous once in a while.

So gig night has been and gone, and I took around 300 images.  From those I have about 20 or thirty that I think are worthy of being seen, and I have ten that I'm happy enough to put up here.

The biggest problem I had was that when all the normal lights were turned off the place was plunged into (well for a camera anyway) darkness.  The 50mm lens was a lifesaver, because if I had have landed with my kit lens, the night would have been over before anyone even took to the stage.  For a bit of fun I tried the kit lens at its widest 18mm, but still there wasn't enough light to work with. 

Besides all that, here are some of the images I came away with that night.  I ended up converting most of them to black and white because of the image noise from shooting at 1600 ISO, but there were a few that just looked far better with a touch of colour.

So thanks to You Say Tiger for letting me shoot their first Auntie Annie's gig.

 

Showtime

Batteries charged, memory cards formatted, lenses clean...ready to shoot my first band tonight.

It's been a couple of weeks since I was asked to go to Auntie Annies tonight and shoot You Say Tiger playing their first gig there and I've been doing the research and testing out the camera in low light situations just to get a bit of practice in before I start snapping the band on stage.  The most apparent difficulty that I was having was getting a fast enough shutter speed with my kit lens so as to freeze the action.  Linda and I went out to RBG one night with a couple of friends and I brought along the camera and even sitting around a table I was getting motion blur and the fastest shutter speed I could work with so as not to massively underexpose the picture was around 1/20th of a second.  The best thing to combat this?  Buy a 50mm 1.8 prime lens. 

I think I've said this before, and I know it's true, that it's not the equipment that makes the photographer but under these circumstances and doing a bit of research on shooting gigs in low light, I knew it made sense.  Besides, £70 off eBay was nothing when you consider that without it I would have been walking away with blurry, underexposed pictures that couldn't be used.

I finish work tonight at 8pm and the gig is at nine, so it's a run home, change and straight out the door again.  I want to capture some images of the band setting up just to work out the light and where the best places are to stand.  I've read a lot of hints and tips and a lot of people say that they only bring their body with one lens because it's not that practical to be walking around with a camera bag over your shoulder in a crowded bar, but I'm choosing to ignore that one.  Because this is my first time and I'm not too sure exactly which lenses I'll want to use, I'll just do my best and hope I don't annoy too many people by smashing them with the bag.

I plan on shooting the gig tonight, editing the pictures tomorrow morning and uploading the best ones before I go to work.  I'm confident that I know enough about what I'm doing technically with the camera so all I have to worry about is being in the right place at the right time to get the best shot.

If all goes well, I'm going to ask if they need any promotional shots done.  It's good for the band and it will go towards my portfolio.

Pictures to follow!

Photos of the St Patricks Day Parade in Belfast

I got a bit of time to look through the images I took on St. Patricks Day and again, out of about 250 shots I have around ten good ones that I don't mind putting up here.

I started out at the corner of Chichester and Victoria (very Americanised reference to the corner of Victoria Square), taking pictures of the parade coming down the street.  I guess this is where I made my first error as a 'press photographer'.  I was standing on the footpath at the front of the crowd and soon as the police passed everyone took about 5 steps forward and all of a sudden the viewfinder was filled with the back of some guys head.  I was considering just walking out into the middle of the road to get a few shots as everything came closer, but the photographers already there were all sporting 2 high end DSLRs with expensive lenses, so I decided that I wasn't going to get anything different than them.  I worked my way around the hoards of onlookers and just captured some people waiting around and minding their own business.

As the parade passed there were some great characters.  Kids dressed up as old shipyard workers, people on stilts representing something to do with 2012 and not particularly St Patricks Day.  There was also a group of cheerleaders, one of who I managed to capture mid-air after she had been launched by part of her squad at the start of her routine.  Lucky shot as the moment before she was thrown into the air I had the camera down by my side, but I still got something acceptable I think.

Anyway, here they are.  None of them really need any explanation, they're just a wee look at the people of the day.

 

 

In preparation for my shoot in Auntie Annies on the 29th, I took some pictures in RBG over in Bedford Street with the 18-55 kit lens and even at 1600 ISO there was a good bit of blur and the fastest shutter speed I could really shoot with was about 1/30.  Now I know it's not the kit that makes the photographer (the phrase 'all the gear and no idea' comes to mind), but I honestly think I'm going to have to invest in a faster lens for this one.  I read a couple of reviews and I think I'm going to pick up a Canon 50mm 1.8 tomorrow.  Under £90 and it will give me a few more stops of light to work with in the bar so I can push the shutter speed up a bit and get the shots I want.

If I get it I'll be taking a few test shots before the gig and work out how to use it properly.

Just as a side note, I finished typing the blog there, and it started to sound a bit familiar so I looked at my previous post and I noticed that I basically repeated myself word for word about the parade.  To be honest I really couldn't be bothered deleting it so there it will stay!  I suppose I'm improving my blogging and my photography. 

So that's it for now, I've got some Friday Night Lights to watch.

St Paddys in Belfast

"Josteling for position just to see the parade never mind take any pictures confimred how little I want to be a press photographer." - Me

Walking up Victoria Street towards the shopping centre there weren't that many people, but ten minutes later and it was 3 deep to the front.  I'd positioned myself facing up Chichester Street so that I could get the parade head on, then take some close-up shots as they went past at the corner, but that plan was quickly changed when the group of people in front of me stood up and it turned out they were all 6 footers.  So I shifted around to the front of Victoria's pub and managed to squeeze in front of a couple of older folk who weren't really paying that much attention to the procession.  I managed to pick out a couple of good shots, although I had more opportunities shooting everything other than the parade.

I guess the big news this week has been that I was speaking to a guy in work who told me that his band are playing in Auntie Annies on the 29th and they need someone to take some photos of them at the gig.  They don't have any publicity shots either, so I offered my services and they gave me the nod to work away.  At this point I really just want to build up a portfolio of work that I can show to potential employers/clients.  I said that I wouldn't charge anything for my work, however, any of the photos that they use if they could just provide a link to my Facebook page so that anyone who looks at it can see my other work that's all that I want.  The general concensus is that at the start of any photographic career, you inevatibly have to give something away to gain recognition and publicity before you can start earning the big money.  So this is a sacrifice that I am actually quite happy to make.

Anyway, it's 3:30 and me and Linda have to meet up with some friends in The Errigle up the Ormeau Road for a few pints and to watch the rugby. 

I know I've said it a few times, but I will most definitely be uploading a few more photos this weekend.

Much love,

Josh

A Long Week

Another week and, sadly, not a lot done.

I finished the last workshop with Belfast Exposed and was really determined to extra creative this week, what with all my extra knowledge that I just picked up, but as it turned out, it didn't really go to plan.

Working the early shift so I was getting home at 6 and just wanted to eat then relax.  I know that's a very dangerous habit to get into so I made a point of tuning into the Chip Litherland webinar on how to grow a wedding photography business.  It was actually quite good even for an amateur like me, so I took notes and followed along where I could.

It actually got me thinking about the possibility of working as a photographer professionally.  I understand that it's not the most stable of jobs, and it's definitely not a 9 to 5 gig, but people do it successfully, and done the correct way you only have to look at some pro photographers websites to see that it can be quite lucrative.  Even for those just starting out.  I imagine at first I would have to have something part time to keep a roof over our heads, but I like the possibility of working in a profession that I really enjoy and can be creative.

Besides that, this week I mostly took pictures of my old guitar and drum kit to get them sold on eBay.  I've been looking at the Canon EOS 50D as a bit of an upgrade, and right now, I don't want to put my hand in my pocket for anything I'm buying.  

The Last Day

Looking at all the images today I realised how much talent there was at the beginner end of photography.

Over the last three Saturdays I have met some great photographers.  And I think the most impressive part of it is that none of them are professionals.  We are all at the same point of our careers, not knowing exactly what we're supposed to be doing, but know that the more we shoot the better we'll get.  The proof is in the photos that everyone brought to class today.  Everyone has taken something from these past few weeks and used it to make their images better.  From big things like learning how to use the metering system and the relationship between ISO, shutter speed and F-Stop.  To simple things, like making a list of the shots you want to capture before you leave the house so that you can tell a story with your images.

For me I've really enjoyed just having a goal every week.  The fact that I had to create my own goal and show my friends in class what I came up with was enough to make me try even harder to make my work better. 

If I had have walked away from the workshops with nothing other than the experience of shooting things that I wasn't used to, I would have been happy.  But the fact is that I got to work with some great people and I'm now looking at everything as if I'm looking through the viewfinder.  There's opportunity everywhere to take brilliant photographs.  From outside your own house, to people jogging in Loughshore Park, or even delinquent youths in Derry.  Really it's whatever you want to shoot.

Philosophy aside I really enjoyed the course and I can definitely see myself taking something else like Photoshop or Lightroom, or even a studio photography workshop.  I'm now going to try to get involved in as much as I can, and along the way, maybe get my foot in the door somewhere.

Here's to the next steps...

Ps.  I only started this blog for my own reflection but I did pick up the courage to give it out to the some of my friends in the course.  I like the idea of people reading this and relating to it, or laughing at it or even just looking at the photos.  So for those of you reading who were in the course, thank you for looking at my page, and thank you for sharing your images in class, and hopefully today won't be the last time we all see each other!  Also, if you do decide to follow the blog and pass it on to your like-minded friends....that wouldn't be too bad either. 

Street Portraits

As it turns out, it's not actually that difficult to ask someone if you can take their photograph.  

It was getting ominously close to the Saturday deadline and I had yet to press the shutter release on my 450D, so I made the most of the good weather on Thursday and got outside.

It was actually really productive and I just ended up shaking off my fear of talking to people and got to it.  There were some characters about that morning and everyone I spoke to was really friendly.  I took a picture of a homeless guy sitting just beside the High Street subway who was as well dressed as the best of them and a guy standing outside the tax office at Customer House.  The most interesting person I got talking to was a Scottish guy called Alex.  He was walking though Hill Street near the Duke of York when I spotted him and I just got chatting and asked if I could take his picture.  Turns out he's been living here for fifteen years and knows mountains more about Belfast than I do, and a really nice guy too.

Here are a few of the shots a picked up through the morning:

As it goes my favourite is the last one of Alex standing in front of the black doors.  The light is great as there was a big white van just off to the right of the frame bouncing the light back on to the side of his face.  Lucky I guess, but I'm not going to miss those opportunities.

I'll be going out this weekend to take some shots and we'll probably go out with Belfast Exposed tomorrow morning.  I'll stick to it and keep the blog updated as I go.  I think the next step is to get someone roped into modelling for me, just to get some good portfolio shots.  Who will the willing friend be then?

More to come!