Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin @ the Pageant — 2007.08.07

Here’s just one shot from the performance by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yelsin, who opened for Peter Bjorn and John back in August.

Shooting Notes:

Like the Swedish Trio’s set, SSLYBY’s performance was dimly lit and greatly benefited from use of the NIkon 85mm f/1.4. With a barricade setup at the front of the stage only as a drink rail – that is, pushed out just far enough from the stage so people couldn’t reach the stage to set drinks on it – the short telephoto provided enough reach to shoot from the thin crowd and pick up this shot of  John Robert Cardwell on guitar and vox.

Though I could have gotten closer, I choose a position downstage from the singer to get a little separation between the microphone and his face. The lighting and musician cooperated for a pretty evenly lit shot; Cardwell’s slight angling toward the lens serendipitously helped make the most of the high front-lighting and save this image being entirely in profile.

The fast aperture of the 85mm, shot just a hair down from wide open, kept up the shutter speed, but still left a little motion blur in the failing light. While this older design suffers from chromatic aberrations and lacks an in-lens AF motor, the fast f/1.4 aperture proves its functionality whenever the light drops.

About the author: Todd Owyoung is an internationally published music photographer specializing in concert photography and band portraits. He also grills a mean steak.

Contact Todd for image licensing and assignments wherever the rock show lives. You can also get in touch with Todd via Twitter.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 12:17 pm and is filed under Music Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.