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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!