Photo of the Week #132

I ventured up to Ottawa this past Thursday night to shoot Andrew Hyatt and Lindsay Ell at Overflow Brewery. The concert was great but I am not used to having to push through crowds to get in position to shoot so I left the venue that night not feeling great about the shoot. I found it very hard to get unobstructed looks and therefore got lots of frames with a lot of heads in the road. I actually told my wife it was my worst shoot ever, I was really upset that I had blown it. As it turned out after going through the folders in Lightroom, I did have some good shots, maybe one or two that are more than good but I was initially extremely worried. I did indeed have a higher than usual rate of “deleters” though and I’m not sure why, maybe the high amount of smoke being used which can mess with a camera’s autofocus capabilities.

Lindsay Ell. Overflow Brewery, Ottawa

It's Been Two Years!

Gord Downie left us two years ago today, how can this be possible? It seems like only yesterday when thousands of fans descended upon Kingston for one last chance to see The Tragically Hip. Gord was not only a singer, but a one of a kind songwriter who wrote songs about……us. He wrote about the people, places and events of Canada. He also cared passionately about many things like Indigenous rights, residential schools, clean drinking water, brain cancer research and environmental issues to name a few. We need more people like Gord, he will be missed.

Photo of the Week #127

My busy summer concert season is slowing down now that the festivals are done for another year. I was lucky enough to be able to document two very rare shows in Kingston recently. The first was the Rockin’ The Big House Event which was held inside the walls of Kingston Pen and featured some great people including three of the members of The Tragically Hip. Also, on Saturday evening I was able to shoot the Glorious Sons show at Richardsons Stadium. I only remember one other show on that field and it was another Kingston band.

Brett Emmons of The Glorious Sons

Concert Photography: Three Songs at a Time

I was looking through some photos the other day and noticed my first concert photography attempt was in 2006 so it’s been about 13 years that I’ve been doing it in one way or another. It’s been a fun and interesting journey and I love every minute of it. I’ve worked hard and learned a lot over those years.

“First three songs, no flash” are the instructions you typically are given prior to the shoot. That’s all you get, after the third song we are escorted back out of the venue, that’s it. I often have to explain to people that I don’t even get to watch the show, but it’s true in many cases. An exception to this procedure is festivals. Bands often do away with restrictions at festival shows.

The image below is of Danielle Nicole Schnebelen of the Danielle Nicole Band. I had the opportunity to shoot this super talented person after a long time of following her music. Most photographers I know have a bucket list of sorts that they wish to shoot and Danielle was one of mine.

Danielle Nicole Schnebelen