Huey Lewis & The News

January 18, 2009 – Ladies and gentleman, at 58-years young, Huey Lewis is still on fire. In a thrilling, nearly hour-long set, the dynamic singer led his band The News through a hit-filled performance that had the audience on their feet and spilling out into the aisles.

Photographer’s Notes:

This show was a blast to cover. Which was a nice surprise, because I didn’t come in expecting such a great production in terms of technical production and the performance on stage. The lights were bright, the band was on, and everything came together for a really fun set.

There was no photo pit for this set, and with a seated front row and minimal clearance to the stage, I stayed out of the way as much as possible while shooting. This meant ducking down beneath the 5-foot stage, positioning myself in front of small, stage-mounted speakers, and anything else I could do to minimize my presence to the event’s guests.

Aside from access at the very front of the stage, there was a center aisle dividing the floor seating that went right up to the first row, which was continuous across the length of the stage. This shooting position also provided some nice relief for getting more straight-on shots.

Regarding lighting, the spotlights were literally on Huey Lewis, so the singer became the natural and default subject for the night. There were, luckily, some breaks to lead guitarist Stef Burns during his solos, which added a little variety to the set.

I shot this event with the Nikon D3 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 as the primary combination, with the D700 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 coming into play for just a few wider shots here and there.

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 Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2009, arena, back to the future, benefit, d3, high iso, huey lewis, live, Music Photography, nikon, photography, the news, the power of love. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.