I suppose that I should mention right out of the gate, there aren't going to be any close-up photographs in this little update. This past Tuesday, a couple and friends and I crossed the river to go to the big city for a rather loud concert. The Metropolis was the place, and the first two bands on the bill were San Francisco thrash metal veterans Death Angel and one of the Big 4, New York's own Anthrax. The last few times I've attended concerts, I've managed to find myself relatively close to the stage, thus being close to the action and get some pretty nice photographs for my collection. That wasn't in the cards this time. To be perfectly honest, it wasn't
even part of the plans. Having recently had a double-digit changing birthday, I have very little desire to find myself in situations that don't favour my leaving a show in the same physical condition as when I arrived. If you go to a Death Angel, Anthrax and Slayer show, more on them to come another time, you know that if you're on the floor, your going to find yourself in a physical situation rather quickly. Very quickly. With the opening notes of the first band, the mosh pit was in full effect as I watched from safety as a dust cloud of wild hair and flailing body parts took over much of the floor. Nope, the floor was not for me on this occasion as discretion 
really was the better part of valour. I found a nice safe spot behind the wheel-chair section from which I had a clear, and safe, view of the stage. Once again I was able to get my trusty camera into the show, though the same cannot be said for my Lifesavers, which for some reason the members of the security staff had never heard off. Have Lifesavers become an obscure candy? Anyway, the candies ended up in the garbage, but the camera made it in, despite my actually being stopped and asked to show it for the first time. Luckily, I had taken off the battery pack and was only using my trusty plastic cased 50mm lens. Not the best lens to use when you want close-ups from several feet away from the stage, but my only real option as there was no way that I was going to get into the show with any of my other lenses. As a result, I tried to focus on getting wide shots of the bands in action, getting some of the different band backgrounds into the shots, as well as the raised arms, and other assorted body parts, of the crowd.
even part of the plans. Having recently had a double-digit changing birthday, I have very little desire to find myself in situations that don't favour my leaving a show in the same physical condition as when I arrived. If you go to a Death Angel, Anthrax and Slayer show, more on them to come another time, you know that if you're on the floor, your going to find yourself in a physical situation rather quickly. Very quickly. With the opening notes of the first band, the mosh pit was in full effect as I watched from safety as a dust cloud of wild hair and flailing body parts took over much of the floor. Nope, the floor was not for me on this occasion as discretion 
really was the better part of valour. I found a nice safe spot behind the wheel-chair section from which I had a clear, and safe, view of the stage. Once again I was able to get my trusty camera into the show, though the same cannot be said for my Lifesavers, which for some reason the members of the security staff had never heard off. Have Lifesavers become an obscure candy? Anyway, the candies ended up in the garbage, but the camera made it in, despite my actually being stopped and asked to show it for the first time. Luckily, I had taken off the battery pack and was only using my trusty plastic cased 50mm lens. Not the best lens to use when you want close-ups from several feet away from the stage, but my only real option as there was no way that I was going to get into the show with any of my other lenses. As a result, I tried to focus on getting wide shots of the bands in action, getting some of the different band backgrounds into the shots, as well as the raised arms, and other assorted body parts, of the crowd.
I also tried using some different crops while editing the photographs, as there are only so many wide shots one can look at. That being said here come a whole bunch of photographs. The first you was 
was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm. The second photograph was taken at f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm. The third and fourth photographs were taken at f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm. Those first four photographs were taken while Death Angel was performing. The low lighting and my distance from the stage meant that I didn't get a really large selection of photographs, but I was happy to end up with those four that I just showed. Up next was Anthrax and their lighting was much better. Their set also allowed to me watch the work of one crew member who seemed to be having a difficult time keeping up with the action on the stage. 
That would be the guy in charge of the lighting. When I wasn't watching the concert, or had one eye in my camera, I was watching the poor lighting guy as he tried to keep up with the band on stage, constantly pushing buttons and spinning dials to create the lighting effects that we were seeing up on the stage. He seemed to lose himself a few times, but always seemed to pull himself out of whatever mess he always appeared moments away from falling into. Again, there isn't going to be much shot variety here, but the clarity of the photographs I did manage to get was thanks to that hard working crew member. The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm and the second photograph was taken at f/5, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm. Here are several more photographs of Anthrax in action.
was taken at f/4, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm. The second photograph was taken at f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm. The third and fourth photographs were taken at f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm. Those first four photographs were taken while Death Angel was performing. The low lighting and my distance from the stage meant that I didn't get a really large selection of photographs, but I was happy to end up with those four that I just showed. Up next was Anthrax and their lighting was much better. Their set also allowed to me watch the work of one crew member who seemed to be having a difficult time keeping up with the action on the stage. 
That would be the guy in charge of the lighting. When I wasn't watching the concert, or had one eye in my camera, I was watching the poor lighting guy as he tried to keep up with the band on stage, constantly pushing buttons and spinning dials to create the lighting effects that we were seeing up on the stage. He seemed to lose himself a few times, but always seemed to pull himself out of whatever mess he always appeared moments away from falling into. Again, there isn't going to be much shot variety here, but the clarity of the photographs I did manage to get was thanks to that hard working crew member. The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm and the second photograph was taken at f/5, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm. Here are several more photographs of Anthrax in action.
f/3.2, 1/60sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/8, 1/80sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/7.1, 1/125sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/4.5, 1/100sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/4.5, 1/250sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/4.5, 1/160sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/1.8, 1/200sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
f/5, 1/200sec, ISO 1250 at 50mm
Due to the conditions, I tried taking some silhouette style photographs, like the second and just before last Anthrax photograph. It was fun to spin the dials of my camera as I experimented with several different aperture and shutters speeds to try and get some shots. It was great fun. That should be enough to keep everyone satisfied for now, but stick around. There is still one more band to go.
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