Airbourne - Live

It's been a little bit over a week since my first photograph from the Airbourne concert I attended at the Corona Theatre made an appearance on these pages.  In the days since, I've tried to repeat my concert going experience and published photographs that I took of each of the bands.  Those of you who have been following at home probably don't need the reminder, but in keeping future viewers in mind, the first band to hit the stage was One Bad Son (Official Site) and the second group out were The Glorious Sons (Official Site).  I've pretty much discussed the entire experience with you all over the last three posts, so I don't really have much more to add here.  There were two specific moments that I wanted to try and capture while Airbourne was on the stage.  The first was to capture a beer arc.  During the show, singer  Joel O'Keeffe smashes a beer can and swings it around.  My friend Pierre Bourgault got such a photo last time they were in town and I really liked it.  Sadly, the lighting wasn't as colourful this time out as it was for their previous concert.  I did manage to get a beer arc, but it isn't as spectacular as his.  The other thing I was keeping my eyes peeled for was that at one point Joel O'Keeffe climbs onto the shoulders of a security guard and plays out into the crowd.  I knew that they'd be passing by directly where I was standing, so I was hoping to get a good shot of that.  In any event, it was a great night and I guess the only drawback to the fun that I was having taking all of my photographs was that I kind of wasn't paying as much attention to the actual show.  I tried not be be a camera junkie and have my camera in my hands at all times, but as I said way back in the first post of this series, I came home with 477 photographs, so I obviously didn't do as good of a job watching the show as opposed to photographing it.  Still, it was a great show and I ended up coming home with several cool photographs as well.  I consider that to be a pretty good night out.  The first photograph you saw here on the page was shot at f/6.3, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  The fourth photograph was taken at f/5, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm and the fourth photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/100sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm.  Though the light wasn't very colourful, it was bright enough to allow me to finally try out Pierre's tip by using a smaller aperture than f/2.8.  I think these shots ended up turning out pretty well.  Here are some more shots of Airbourne in action.

 f/4.5, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

Caught in mid-headbang

f/4.5, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

Going through the crowd with some well placed hand.

f/7.1, 1/320sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

Rocking on the stage while Joel was going through the crowd...look where the others aren't

f/4.5, 1/500sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

Beer arc!

f/5.6, 1/50sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

My friend Louie kept wanting me to get a shot of the Marshall stacks

f/7.1, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm

I hoped to get a shot of the dummer as well, but he wasn't in my sight line.

f/5, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

Thank-you Airbourne.

I had a great time photographing all three bands and I hope that you all get a feel for what a great show it was through my photos.  It was a great experience to roll through the aperture and ISO settings of my camera, trying to get the best combination possible to get my shots while not missing the action.  The only drawback was the very stubborn auto-focus button on my little 50mm lens.  I actually had a small blister on my finger from trying to switch it on and off so often.  A small price to pay.  It was great fun, I hope I get to do it again.

The Glorious Sons - Live

When last we met, I was telling you about my adventures getting into the Corona Theatre to see a rock show.  First on the bill were One Bad Son.  They put on a great show and you can see the photographs I took of them by following this link.  There isn't really much to add story wise that I didn't already mention in the previous post, but incase you haven't seen the other one, I managed to get my camera into the Corona Theatre for the show and promptly placed myself as close to the stage, though a little more to the left than I would have liked, and began to snap away.  The second band to play that night were The Glorious Sons.  They're a Canadian rock band from Kingston, and I've managed to hear a few of their songs before on the radio.  The lighting was a little bit better for this set, though the big difficulty I had was getting some shots of the singer.  He was a bundle of energy through out the set, moving all over the place.  I tried to study his movements in the early parts of the songs as he would sometimes repeat them later.  Knowing when he'd be still, I tried to take most of my photos at this time and hope that the light would be good.  The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/5, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  Here are a few more photographs I took during their show.

f/4, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/4, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/3.5, 1/25sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/4, 1/80sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

Once again I overexposed a most of the shots in order to gain a little bit of shutter speed.  I really like the second shot in this series simply for the look of joy on the face of the guitarist.  I also managed to catch the drummer with his stick in the air for this shot, an added bonus.  The first two acts were done, all that was left was the headliner, which we'll get to shortly.

 

One Bad Son - Live

A little less than a week ago a few of my buddies and myself made the trek into Montreal to catch a concert by the groups One Bad Son, The Glorious Sons and Airbourne.  The show took place at the Corona Theatre, the same venue where my buddies and I saw The Darkness last year and where the seed of a plan was planted in my mind.  The few photographs you'll see if you click on the above link were taken using a crappy little Kodak camera, something I could get into the building.  However, while at the show I saw people inside taking photos with Canon Rebel cameras.  If I were to take the battery pack off of my camera and used my smallest lens, it wasn't very much larger than a Rebel.  I figured that I might be able to get my 'disguised' camera into the show, and I put my theory to the test back in May at a concert by Future Villains and Steel Panther.  Since my little plan had worked the first time, I decided to give it another shot for this show.  We arrived early at the show and I followed the same steps I took back in May.  My camera was palmed in my hand and pressed against my body, but hardly hidden and still in plain view.  As we walked by the doorman and ticket taker I made to the camera was on the side opposite than they were.  I realize that all of this cloak & dagger drill was probably not necessary, but it added a little bit of a thrill to the event.  Once inside, I needed to get as close to the stage as possible.  The first row after the barrier was already occupied, but my friend Louie suggested I place myself just beyond the barrier, against the side wall.  I'd be shooting at an angle, but I had a clear view of the stage and wouldn't have to try and shoot between people.  I got my camera in the door, I was in a good spot, all that was left was for the show to begin.  The first thing I tried to keep in mind was some advice I had gotten from my buddy Pierre (Pierre B Photo).  He suggested I shoot using a smaller aperture than f/2.8.  Sacrificing a little speed for more clarity.  Though the lighting for the opening acts wasn't the greatest, I tried to keep that tip in mind.  The house lights went down, and it was time for action.  The first band on the stage was One Bad Son (follow them on Facebook).  They're a Canadian rock band originally from Saskatoon and now based out of Vancouver and they put on a great show.  It was difficult getting some good shots of the singer as he was often in shadows, but the rest of the band was often in some good light.  I hadn't heard of them before the show, but they played several of their originals before closing their set with a rocking cover of the Talking Heads hit, Psycho Killer.  Since the show, I've bought two of their CD's and and am really enjoying them.  The first photograph you see here was taken at f/4, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/4, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  I was really happy that I captured the drummer with his stick in the air.  The third photograph was taken at f/4, 1/100sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm and the fourth was taken at f/2.8, 1/25sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  Here are a couple more photos that I took during their set.

f/4, 1/25sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/2.8, 1/30sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

Kind of blurry, but I like it.

f/4, 1/25sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/3.5, 1/50sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

Okay, so maybe I didn't get far beyond f/2.8, but the tip was still in my head and it did come in handy later in the night as the other shows had a little bit more light.  I also used the Exposure Bias function on my camera to over-expose my shots by one step to get me a little bit more shutter speed.  One Bad Son, put on a good show, but there are still two bands to come.  Keep your eyes peeled, they'll all be here soon.

Not Like His Cousin

This past summer My Lovely Assistant and I were able to once again spend a little time at a family cottage in La Minerve.  This, sadly, was our final visit to the cottage as it was sold a short time after our visit.  One of the things that I always liked about our visits there was the abundance of little critters just waiting to be photographed.  Like this little guy over here.  Last year I spent a good couple of days chasing his cousin around before finally getting a photograph.  This guy was the complete opposite.  He spent most of the two days we were there almost asking to be photographed while sitting on this little stump.  I shot this photograph at f/8, 1/640sec, ISO 400 at 68mm.  I didn't even have to use any of my peanuts or anything, though I did once again leave some behind as a thank-you to my model.  I hope the new owners of the cottage remember to treat my little critter friends well.

Ready To Rock

I attended a concert by the rock group Airbourne last night at the Corona Theatre in Montreal.  I was once again successful in getting my camera in the front door and ended up right next to the stage.  In addition to Airbourne, there were two other bands playing and I ended up coming home with 477 photographs.  So, I've got a little bit of work waiting for me.  I wanted to get atleast one photograph up before Father Time works his magic and I find myself playing with these photographs in March, so here is one of my favourite shots from the night.  This photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/200sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm.  I'll put up some more photographs from the show as soon as possible.

Brown Eyed Girl

This is one of those photographs that I've always liked, yet it always seemed to get bumped off of the blog by something else.  I always seem to want to save it for some other time, even now as I'm writing these words I'm still thinking to myself if there is something else I'd rather post instead.  I've always found that to be odd, because I really like this photograph.  It's a Brown Eyed Susan, and one of the many flowers that grew in my Mom's backyard.  There were a whole batch of them growing in the backyard and I wanted to take this shot with the focus on one flower and the rest of the flowers blurred and out of focus in the background.  I also really liked the contrast between the dark black of the center of the flower and the yellow that filled most of the rest of the photo.  This photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/2500sec, ISO 100 at 45mm.  There's a couple more photos I took of this group of flowers  that I've been holding onto.  I might be able to convince myself to put those up here some day soon as well.

Are You Ready For Some Football

Back on the first of the month, I put up some photographs taken at a football game featuring a play that led to a touchdown.  Sadly, the team that scored was not actually the team that I was there to see.  I was there to watch the Champlain Cavaliers as my buddy Mike plays for them, but I seemed to have caught them on an off day.  The team from Outaouais was a little bit better that day.  Much like the touchdown photos, most of these were taken in Burst Mode so the technical aspects may not change very much from photo to photo.  For me, I found it most important to shoot with an aperture small enough to guarantee that most of the action would remain in focus, but with a fast enough shutter speed in order to not blur the action.  To achieve that, I bumped up the ISO a little bit even if it was quite sunny that day, to make sure that I'd still get enough shutter speed to compensate for the smaller aperture.  I managed to catch a couple of plays, and even got to photograph another touchdown, though my buddy Mike won't be very happy because it was once again scored by the other team.   Anyway, my buddy asked if I had any other photographs from the game and I'm always ready to share, so here comes a few more photos taken that day.  The first photograph was taken at f/4, 1/1600sec, ISO 100 at 200mm.  Yes, I know that's exactly the opposite of what I just explained, but that photo was taken early after my arrival and before I adjusted my settings,  The second photograph was taken at f/10, 1/800sec, ISO 400 at 165mm.  Here are some more shots I took.

Interception!

f/10, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

Photos you see in the paper aren't 4x6, so neither is this one.

f/14, 1/400sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

 

 QB Sack

f/14, 1/200sec, ISO 400 ay 115mm

 

 #5 makes the tackle

f/14, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 200mm

QB Sneak for a Touchdown

f/11, 1/500sec, ISO 400 at 102mm

There you go Mike, a few more action shots for you.  The team has a few more home games before the season comes to an end, so hopefully I'll have the chance to get out there one more time to try and capture some more of the action.