In a tight, 40-minute performance, Mae lit up the Pageant and its near-sold out crowd with bright, melodic rock and perfect pop hooks. While Motion City Soundtrack was headlining, Mae drew an enthusiastic reaction and received a great lighting treatment that let me put the Nikon D3 to a proper test.

By the time five-piece band took the stage, the crowd had swelled to just shy out of a 2,000-head sellout. With strong opening performances by Metro Station and Anberlin, Mae continued the trend with a solid set that had the house moving from the opening bars.

Fronted by Dave Elkins on vox and guitar, the Norfolk, VA band ripped into a performance that drew heavily from their major label debut, Singularity (2006).

If one didn’t know better, Mae might well have been mistaken for the main attraction if it weren’t for their short set, due to their big performance and the simple but compelling show of lights that blew up behind the band. In a stark departure from the first two openers, Mae was showered with an abundance of headliner-quality light, which made this set a blast to shoot.

Shooting Notes:

Heading back down to the pit after two acts of dim lighting, I was interested to see how the Pageant would treat Mae, who seemed to have a strong following in the crowd. While the new Nikon D3 had handled the first two acts without too much complaint, I was ready to test the camera with more conventional lighting.

One problem that arose early on in the shoot was the microphone setup for Dave Elkins, which featured two mics. This double-barrel approach made getting clean shots from either side just a little more tricky. I quickly found that the best shots came from when the singer was using the mic closest to the shooting position. Aside from paying attention to which mic Elkins was using, shooting at a more oblique angle downstage helped get a little separation from his rig.

While Elkins was more tethered to the mic for his focal duties, guitarist Zach Gerhring frequently came to the stage during the first three songs, which made for some great photo opportunities. By contrast, Josiah Schlater on bass was easily the most subdued member of the band on stage and remained off stage-right during the band’s first few songs.

Jacob Marshall on drums put in a heavy performance, though he felt somewhat disconnected from the rest of his group in his position at the back of the stage and walled in on either side by Motion City Soundtrack’s gear.

Keyboardist Robert Smith was left to more delicately do his part, laying down accompaniments and twisting knobs to tweak out a little of the band’s sparkle. As with most keyboardists, whose instruments are set up parallel to the front of the stage, I found shooting from further downstage produced the best shots.

As usual, it was first three, no flash for this gig.

Lighting:

The lighting for Mae came from Pageant’s stock setup, but the equipment was put to spectacular use for a very bright show characterized by strongly atmospheric light from the rear of the stage.

For the first two songs, the lighting came primarily from an array of multi-colored backlighting that took the form of three main schemes of orange-red, magenta-purple, and turquoise. This deep lighting was accented with white light from the front of the stage that kept detail in the faces of the performers, which was a welcome touch.

Into the third and final song I shot, white light dominated the stage from both front and behind, with occasional additions of subtle tints that warmed up the tones.

Enhanced by the heavy use of a water hazer, the lighting had a voluminous quality that contrasted starkly with the opening band’s thin effects. The abundant vapor made photographing Jacob Marshall on drums a little more tricky, as the atmospheric effect was double-edged, reducing contrast for the most distant musician. Closer performers didn’t suffer the same hit to contrast, since there was much less haze in between them and the lens.

Lenses:

For Mae’s performance, I had the opportunity to use each of the three zooms I brought, which covered a range from 14mm to 200mm:

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 N
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 N
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR

Out of the above lenses, the 24-70mm was used the most by far, which came as no surprise. However, I was pleased by the variety of images that the ultra-wide and telephoto lenses brought to the set as well. The telephoto in particular was essential for photographing Elkins from down stage and for grabbing a shot of Marshal on drums at the back of the stage.

The 14-24mm f/2.8, Nikon’s newest in a line of great ultra wide-angle lenses, was only used for a few shots, but the extraordinary perspective was enough for me to come back to the optic for Motion City Soundtrack’s set that followed.

I think the 14-24mm will be particularly useful for musicians that play at the front of the stage, where the close subject distance will allow for the rendering of some very interesting dynamics. While I very rarely used the Tokina 12-24mm f/4 for concert photography, mostly due to the slow speed of the lens, I think the new Nikon will make a space for itself in my bag after a few more shoots.

Exposure:

Given the abundant light for this shoot, I shot mostly between ISO 1600 and 2000 for this three-song set, where the D3 renders very nice files that are exceptionally clean. ISO 1600 or possibly even lower would have been possible, but the boost in speed allowed me to shoot between f/2.8 and f/4 at 1/250 for much of the set.

End Notes:

Overall, this shoot was a breeze, in no small part thanks to the great lighting. While I always expect headliners to receive the best stage treatment, the Pageant setup Mae with a compelling display that showcased the capabilities of the house system.

Anberlin launched in a 35-minute set under dim backlighting in a performance that was dominated by the rock band’s bright melodies and frontman Stephen Christian‘s constant movement on stage. Even at ISO 12800, the dull lighting schemes were a challenge for the D3 and 24-70mm f/2.8.

Hitting heavy from the start, the band whipped up the crowd with an energetic performance that had the floor singing back the choruses and following Christian from wing to wing.

Shooting Notes:

This shoot was a little nasty. Nikon D3 or a Lomo loaded with Tech Pan, the light just wasn’t there, which provided a unique challenge when combined with lead Stephen Christian’s constant and furious movement during the first the songs.

The frontman, unfettered by a instrument, took free reign of the stage, workings its length in an aerobic performance that kept the photographers in the pit shaking their heads.

I found the best approach to photographing Christian was to play zone defense and wait for him to approach the strip of stage I was working. Tracking the singer seemed like a wasted effort, especially given the premium on light.

For this set, it was the usual: first three, no flash.

Lighting:

For Anberlin’s first three songs, the lighting was perhaps a little more abundant than it was for starters Metro Station, but the actual quality of the light proved more problematic and created the impression of an even more difficult shoot.

Three main lighting schemes dominated the performance: a warm mix of red/orange, a cooler mix of blue-turquoise, and finally a dull wash of blue-magenta lighting. All of these mixes flared up from the back, with very little front lighting, if any, which proved to be the toughest challenge.

White light made brief appearances to punctuate the the atmospheric floods, but was the exception to the rule. While no flash was allowed, I think Anberlin’s performance was one that would have benefited from the option for fill.

Lenses:

I used the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for this set, primarily at 35mm and below. The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 might have been useful in capturing the energy of the band in a wider perspective, but 24mm on the Nikon D3′s FX sensor did a serviceable job.

Thanks to the constant flood of backlighting, Anberlin’s set was an interesting opportunity to get acquainted with the flare and ghosting properties of the midrange zoom. Despite the abundance of those artifacts in the above shots, I actually think the lens did quite well considering the circumstances.

By contrast, I found that the lens rendered very little flare during Motion City Soundtrack and Mae’s sets, which also featured heavy backlighting. Still, I’ll have to keep an eye on this performance under other circumstances.

Exposure:

I tried to keep shutter speeds up for this frenetic band, shooting at 1/160 and up at f/2.8 and ISO 10000, with occasional bumps up to ISO 12800. Still, even with these ridiculous sensitivities, the struggle against motion blur and the difficult lighting made this shoot a constant challenge during the short three songs I shot.

End Notes:

This set was pretty raucous to shoot, but I’d be curious to see how the experience would differ with headliner lights and more room on the stage.

Shooting with the D2x, Anberlin’s was a set that would have had me reaching for the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 and Sigma 30mm f/1.4 primes when the lights went down.

The new camera didn’t take away the challenge, but certainly opened up new possibilities to use a more utilitarian zoom range while still keeping shutter speeds up, which, in concert photography, are always good things.

As much as it’s fun to shoot in beautifully lit venues like the Pageant, that’s not always where the best bands play. Such was the case last week with the October and Go Van Gogh, who opened for Semi Precious Weapons in two solid sets on Cicero’s intimate stage.

Go Van Gogh

The October

Shooting Notes:

Cicero’s is a small basement affair with black walls, black ceilings, and small strip of low stage on one end of the shotgun venue. Like most places its size, there’s no pit, so I showed up early to grab some stage for this show.

One great thing about the venue is that its low stage is very photo-friendly in that one isn’t shooting up a musicians nose for their set, which is a real possibility at venues with higher stages.

Clubs like Cicero’s are also great places for beginning photographers to get a feel for shooting gigs, since they often have no camera restrictions and no shooting limits. In addition, while the lighting isn’t great, they provide a low-pressure environment for concert photography that can still produce some great opportunities for making images.

Lighting:

In the dimly lit basement venue, light sources were limited to a colored array at the back of the stage and a string of cans at the front shining down a little white light. For openers Go Van Gogh, the lighting was kept to a dim minimum, while things brightened up a bit in the backlighting for the October. Overall, changes in the sets were restricted to different combinations from the backlighting and varying the intensity of the front light lights.

Lenses:

For openers Go Van Gogh, the lighting was particularly dim, so I relied exclusively on the Sigma 30mm f/1.4. The focal length was very nice for the intimate venue, especially given the low stage and short distance between the lens and the performers.

After using the Nikon 50mm for almost two years as my exclusive go-to low light lens, I though the Sigma 30mm performed very well for this type of gig. While I pulled the 50mm out for a few shots, the wider field of view of the 30mm was much more suited for the venue, and I was happy to have it in the bag.

For the October, the fast speed of the Sigma 30mm was entirely necessary, as was that of the Nikon 50mm f/1.4. Lighting wasn’t much brighter from the front, but the wide angle of the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 was useful for a few more atmospheric shots of the stage.

After using the Nikon 50mm for almost two years as my exclusive go-to low light lens, I though the Sigma 30mm performed very well for this type of gig. While I pulled the 50mm out for a few shots, the wider field of view of the 30mm was much more suited for the venue, and I was happy to have it in the bag.

Exposure:

I lived at ISO 1600 for these two acts, though ISO 3200 and 6400 would have been more appropriate at times.

For Go Van Gogh, I shot at f/1.8, 1/160, and ISO 1600. I could have used the f/2.8 zoom, but that would have meant compromising on either shutter speed or my self-imposed cap of ISO 1600 with the D2x, beyond which image quality declines too steeply.

During the October’s set, exposure with the two primes didn’t change, as the front lighting remained fairly constant. When using the 17-55, I let shutter speeds drop as low as 1/40 wide open.

Almost 25 years after their formation, the Cult laid down a solid performance of no-nonsense hard rock at the Pageant. With support from Action Action, the Cliks, and the Knives, the British rockers performed a solid set that drew from their classic hits, as well as material for their latest release, Born Into This.

Without a doubt, the stars of the performance were frontman Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, who dominated the stage with big grins and big performances. The pair shared the most time in the spotlight, literally, and genuinely seemed to be enjoying their stage time on this tour.

Shooting Notes:

The Cult’s performance was distinguished by the happy combination of great lighting and a veteran group that knows how to hit all the rock star moves.

The band played with their speaker monitors positioned about a meter back from the front of the stage, which pushed them farther back from the crowd than many acts that come through the Pageant.

While I was initially concerned about the impact this might have on the energy of the set, the band delivered on the rock and the distance didn’t have much of an effect on the images.

During a quick image search of the band’s recent live shots, I was also wondering whether Astbury would be sporting his trademark headband or other accouterments, but a pair of shades was the extent of the adornment.

Overall, the shoot was a snap. Between the great poses struck by the band and the abundant lighting, the set was fun and lacking in any supreme technical challenges.

Lighting:

Overall, the lighting for the first three songs was a simple scheme that utilized white light from the front in contrast with a variety of high backlighting.

A spotlight alternated between Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, providing a very welcome boost to the house lights, which seemed to be on full blast from the front in a marked departure from their normal dimmed state.

The backlighting consisted of a cycling treatment of yellow, magenta, cyan, and white light, primarily with the use of one color at a time.

Lenses:

I shot with the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 for the majority of the time, the range of which was quite good despite the band’s increased distance from the front of the stage.

I can imagine that the lens section from shows at the Pageant may be getting a bit monotonous, as the midrange zoom secures a lot of camera-time at this venue. Still, I find the lens so well suited to concert photography that it’s often my first choice for these sorts of gigs.

Supplementing the 17-55 was the Nikon 85mm f/1.4, the range of which was highly useful for picking up tighter shots of lead singer Astbury, as well as the requisite drummer shot for John Tempesta.

While the absolute speed of the prime was not necessary, thanks the lighting, its fast-focusing, focal length, and excellent optical performance were all welcome at this show.

Exposure:

In a rare treat, I shot at ISO 1000 at f/2.8 and 1/160 throughout much of the set, broadening to ISO 800 and ISO 1250 as the lighting required. Though the Pageant is well lit for headliners most of the time, the exposure for the Cult’s set was unusually comfortable.

A good number of the images were shot at a luxurious 1/200 second as well. At the low end, I dipped to 1/100 at f/2.8 and ISO 1250 for a shot of guitarist Duffy when he got a leg up on one of the monitors during a lull in the lighting.

Shutter speeds topped out at 1/250 at f/2.2 and ISO 800 when using the Nikon 85mm f/1.4.

End Notes:

Even without being familiar with the Cult’s music, their set at the Pageant was a blast to shoot, in no small part thanks to the band’s charisma.

One of the most refreshing aspects of the gig was to photograph such veteran rockers without shooting up their noses from below a 10-foot stage. Were that the case, the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 would have been a must, so shooting this intimate gig with the more personable 17-55mm and 85mm Nikkors was a treat.

For the full image set from the Cult’s performance, you can hit the Flick gallery:

The Cult @ the Pageant — 2007.11.29

Opening in support of VHS or Beta and Moving Units, Brooklyn-based Soft brought a mix of Britpop-inspired tunes that drew heavily from their 2007 release, Gone Faded. Flirting with shoegaze aesthetics in layers of swirling guitars, singer Johnny Reineck’s codeine vocals made a smooth start to the night, loosening up the audience for the dance party to come.

Shooting Notes:

With no pit at the Blender Theatre, I staked out a spot just house right of the mic stand and center monitors, which put me in prime position for photographing singer Johnny Reineck and bassist Dino Siampos.

While Reineck was a relatively static subject, with both hands fixed on the mic throughout the set, Siampos was a much more frenetic target in his space on stage, wheeling his instrument around and seeming to enjoy playing in one of the city’s finer venues.

Lighting:

Compared to the later sets by Moving Units and VHS or Beta, the house lighting for Soft was relatively simple, with warm frontlighting on Reineck throughout the set, and a fair amount of hot white backlighting mixed with blue and red washes from the back of the stage.

If anything, the abundant backlighting provided a challenge for flare and metering, especially in the instances of the bright white light blaring from the back of the stage.

Lenses:

Due to the relatively abundant light, I shot with the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 at maximum aperture for Soft’s entire set, and the range of the zoom left very little to be desired.

Exposure:

The f/2.8 aperture of the zoom was perfectly adequate for the light and I shot at shutter speeds between 1/80 and 1/160 at ISO 1600.