This past Tuesday night I managed to mix two of my favourite things. Photography and rock music. The Heavy Metal band Steel Panther was in Montreal and playing before a sold-out crowd at the Metropolis. I've had this date circled on my calendar for a long time now for two reasons. One, I really wanted to see the show, and secondly, I had decided that this was the show where I was going to try and get my camera into the building to try and get some photographs of the show. Some of you long time visitors may remember that a year ago I posted some photographs of the band The Darkness that I had taken at a show. I was upset by the fact that I had only brought in a tiny point-and-shoot camera with 
me rather than my regular camera. I felt even more burned when I saw people at the show with some regular SLR cameras. That's when the seeds of my little plan were planted in the back of my head. Upon looking at the size of those SLR's, I noticed that they weren't really much larger than my camera once I took off the battery grip. As for a lens, I needed something that would give me a wide enough view since I knew that I wouldn't be able to get to the very front of the crowd, and also something that would allow me to get the fastest shutter speeds possible in order to deal with what would be low light conditions. It also had to be something small enough to successfully continue my little camera disguise. 
I chose to go with my little 50mm lens. It has an aperture range that goes to f/1.8, and is small enough so that it looks like the lens of a regular camera. With the disguise now complete, all that was left to do was to get past the security guards at the front door and the ticket takers just past the point of entry. I figured there was no point in trying to hide the camera as all it would do would be to make me look suspicious. I held it tight in my hand, but it was very visible. So visible that I immediately noticed the eyes of the security guard lock in on my camera as I got closer to him. Never stopping, I said a quick hello and walked into the building, not wanting to wait around and give him a chance to say anything. Next 
stop was the ticket taker, and this time I did try and be a little more stealthy as I held the camera close to my body with my right hand as I presented my ticket with the left. Once the ticket was scanned, I was quickly up the steps and into the main hall, not even waiting for my buddy who was attending the show with me. Once inside, we shared a smile of relief as he told me that he had noticed the eyes of the outside security guard as well and was sure that I was going to be busted. We found a spot on the floor that I felt was close enough to the stage to get some photos, yet far enough away from what my friend said would be the mosh pit. Steel Panther is more of a glam metal band so I wasn't so sure that there 
would be any moshing, but my friend Louie, a veteran of many a metal concert, told me that it would no doubt happen and if I didn't want to get caught in the mosh with my camera, we should take a few steps backwards. Sure enough, he was right, and we were just in the right spot to avoid the slamming bodies, though not the crowd surfers, and still be close enough to the stage. It was a terrific show, and even the crowd got into the act by dressing in the same 1980's fashions as the group. I probably should have grabbed some photos of the crowd, but I was on a mission, and that mission was to get some shots of the concert. You may have noticed by now that there are lots of photos here. I chose 
the my 11 best and figured I'd just post them all up here as one update rather than split them into different parts. I plan on doing another update with some shots I took of the opening band, Future Villains, in the near future, so I figured I might as well get all of the Steel Panther shots out right away. My favourite is the fifth shot in this set. I also really like the sixth. I knew that there would be lots of body parts in my shots based on where I was positioned, so I decided I'd try to work them into my photographs. I just thought that I'd try to use the hands in the air as my main focal point for a few shots and see how they worked out. This one probably turned out the best. It felt great to be able to both 
attend the concert and take photographs at the same time. It was kind of thrilling to be able to mix both of my passions. Here are the technical stats for my shots, which were all taken in AV Mode. Photograph numbers one and two were taken at f/1.8, 1/2500sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. Photograph number three was taken at f/1.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. Photograph number four was taken at f/1.8, 1/2500sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. The fifth photograph was taken at f/1.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. The sixth photograph was taken at f/1.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm and the seventh photograph was taken at f/1.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. Here are a couple more shots to round things out.
me rather than my regular camera. I felt even more burned when I saw people at the show with some regular SLR cameras. That's when the seeds of my little plan were planted in the back of my head. Upon looking at the size of those SLR's, I noticed that they weren't really much larger than my camera once I took off the battery grip. As for a lens, I needed something that would give me a wide enough view since I knew that I wouldn't be able to get to the very front of the crowd, and also something that would allow me to get the fastest shutter speeds possible in order to deal with what would be low light conditions. It also had to be something small enough to successfully continue my little camera disguise. I chose to go with my little 50mm lens. It has an aperture range that goes to f/1.8, and is small enough so that it looks like the lens of a regular camera. With the disguise now complete, all that was left to do was to get past the security guards at the front door and the ticket takers just past the point of entry. I figured there was no point in trying to hide the camera as all it would do would be to make me look suspicious. I held it tight in my hand, but it was very visible. So visible that I immediately noticed the eyes of the security guard lock in on my camera as I got closer to him. Never stopping, I said a quick hello and walked into the building, not wanting to wait around and give him a chance to say anything. Next stop was the ticket taker, and this time I did try and be a little more stealthy as I held the camera close to my body with my right hand as I presented my ticket with the left. Once the ticket was scanned, I was quickly up the steps and into the main hall, not even waiting for my buddy who was attending the show with me. Once inside, we shared a smile of relief as he told me that he had noticed the eyes of the outside security guard as well and was sure that I was going to be busted. We found a spot on the floor that I felt was close enough to the stage to get some photos, yet far enough away from what my friend said would be the mosh pit. Steel Panther is more of a glam metal band so I wasn't so sure that there would be any moshing, but my friend Louie, a veteran of many a metal concert, told me that it would no doubt happen and if I didn't want to get caught in the mosh with my camera, we should take a few steps backwards. Sure enough, he was right, and we were just in the right spot to avoid the slamming bodies, though not the crowd surfers, and still be close enough to the stage. It was a terrific show, and even the crowd got into the act by dressing in the same 1980's fashions as the group. I probably should have grabbed some photos of the crowd, but I was on a mission, and that mission was to get some shots of the concert. You may have noticed by now that there are lots of photos here. I chose the my 11 best and figured I'd just post them all up here as one update rather than split them into different parts. I plan on doing another update with some shots I took of the opening band, Future Villains, in the near future, so I figured I might as well get all of the Steel Panther shots out right away. My favourite is the fifth shot in this set. I also really like the sixth. I knew that there would be lots of body parts in my shots based on where I was positioned, so I decided I'd try to work them into my photographs. I just thought that I'd try to use the hands in the air as my main focal point for a few shots and see how they worked out. This one probably turned out the best. It felt great to be able to both attend the concert and take photographs at the same time. It was kind of thrilling to be able to mix both of my passions. Here are the technical stats for my shots, which were all taken in AV Mode. Photograph numbers one and two were taken at f/1.8, 1/2500sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. Photograph number three was taken at f/1.8, 1/2000sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. Photograph number four was taken at f/1.8, 1/2500sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. The fifth photograph was taken at f/1.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. The sixth photograph was taken at f/1.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm and the seventh photograph was taken at f/1.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm. Here are a couple more shots to round things out.
f/1.8, 1/1600sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm
f/1.8, 1/1250sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm
f/1.8, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm
f/1.8, 1/400sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm
So much fun. I had a blast, the crowd had a blast and everybody went home happy, even if the voice and ears weren't working quite as well as they had been before the first note was played. Hopefully there will be more nights like this in the future, and I won't need to smuggle in a camera during them.
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