Jazz Concert

Last Friday I had a chance to shoot the first Jazz Concert of a season at the local university (Cal State of Northridge, CSUN).

It was my first time shooting at the Plaza Del Sol Performance Hall, so I was a bit cautious moving around. Also, lighting was pretty horrible - gel-colored lights mostly, and dark ones at that. I was using two f/2.8 lenses (17-55 IS and 70-200 IS), and yet ISO 3200 was bearely enough. Man, I need faster glass for this...:rolleyes

Anyway, here is what I got.
Below are the few excerpts.

1. The Piano Man:



2. Woodwinds having a good time



3. Trumpet Solo



4. "Little Drummer Boy"



All shots taken with Canon 40D and either EF-S 15-55/2.8 IS USM or EF 70-200/2.8 IS USM. Handheld, available light, ISO 3200.

The rest of the hand picked small selection is here: http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/3651323

And the complete set is here: http://nik.smugmug.com/Events/395429

Enjoy shooting the good old jazz!

Hi Nikolai,

Again you bring us you fun work and give us an idea of the great evening. Thanks for sharing.

Live music is difficult to photograph unless the guys are making visual performance!

I find that one isolated the individual and then one needs no obstruction and some feeling of the joy, movement and passion. Here the second and third images approach this best. I'd like to see the woodwind with the instruments visible.

The drummer is pretty good too but for some reason it looks flat?

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Hi Nikolai,
Again you bring us you fun work and give us an idea of the great evening. Thanks for sharing.

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Asher, you're most certainly welcome, thank you for commenting!

Live music is difficult to photograph unless the guys are making visual performance!

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I am not gonna argue with that

I find that one isolated the individual and then one needs no obstruction and some feeling of the joy, movement and passion. Here the second and third images approach this best.

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Yes, those tend to be my favorites, too. There were a few complications in this particular setup, though. Partially, the curtain sides were pretty much all blocked with heavy/stationary lighting or recording equipment, which made it next to impossible to get quality side shots.

I'd like to see the woodwind with the instruments visible.

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Your wish is my command

Tenor sax:



Bariton sax:



And plenty of other woodwind shots here: http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/3651541

The drummer is pretty good too but for some reason it looks flat?

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As I have mentioned, lighting was pretty tough, if not plain horrible. Drummer's pit was particularly badly lit, at least 1.5 stops dimmer than the rest of the band. I guess I'm lucky to get it at all (thank god for 40D and its High ISO Noise Reduction functionality).

Cheers!

Nikolai Sklobovsky said:

I guess I'm lucky to get it at all (thank god for 40D and its High ISO Noise Reduction functionality).

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Bonsoir Nikolaï
do you seriously think that God has anything to do with 40D, High ISO and Noise Reduction ?-)


Congrats, for the nice pics, BTW

Nicolas Claris said:

Bonsoir Nikolaï
do you seriously think that God has anything to do with 40D, High ISO and Noise Reduction ?-)

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LOL
Well, I treat it as a god's gift

Congrats, for the nice pics, BTW

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Merci beaucoup, mon ami!

Somehow I think that a lot of bands place themselves so widely on the stage with all sort of boxes and garbage as a way of defeating photography! That means one has to break up the stage! Shoot a musician means you remove the context of the whole band or else record an incoherant mess!

For example, the piano is way to the left of the stage, then there's a 6-8 foot gap, totally empty, the gear and finally the vocalist is blocking the two guitars a sax and the double base.

So it's tough to compose! Timing is a great thing. One has to watch how they move around and plan to catch them next time they pass through a particular routine. Then a wide open lens can make the mess evaporate! I found the same in shooting dance on a large stage. The photograph does not record the music so the photograph is much harder to make since only movement, expression and lighting ambience can convery the vibrancy of a live stage performance.
Nikolai's jazz pianist is obviously caught between great notes but the freezing of the action allows the music to escape. Making the picture "hot" is the toughest thing to do when the player's face shows little emotion! A movie however allows the viewer to hear the sound and watch action unfold and progress to though the peak moment. So still photography is so much harder. I have the greatest respect for those who do this and do it well.

One must know the piece so that one can anticipate the peak moment. I know Nill does it with his sports pictures. However, with some musicians, they have no peak visual moment, so what does one do!!

Asher

Asher,
you don't say... In my daughter's' HS Performance Arts Center at least I know all the ins and outs and I can move quickly and quietly from one stage wing to another to any side of the audience to the back of the audience. Here at CSUN not only the navigation was less familiar and hence much slower, there was no way for me to switch between the backstage and the audience except during the break. And even once inside a certain domain, moving to its other part took enormous amount of time. I definitely missed a few good shots due to that reason only...

Oh well, next concert is pretty soon, hopefully I'll manage better

Lucky to shoot

Maybe it is the events that I have attended or I don't have the right credentials, but it is frequent that you are not allowed to shoot inside the theatre venues. For example at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, they have a contract with a photographer and they do not allow you (or anyone) to shoot their productions.

Kathy Rappaport said:

Maybe it is the events that I have attended or I don't have the right credentials, but it is frequent that you are not allowed to shoot inside the theatre venues. For example at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, they have a contract with a photographer and they do not allow you (or anyone) to shoot their productions.

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The bigger the venue, the stricter the rules and security, I guess.
In my cases, however, I'm either on a good terms with the band director (TOHS) or was actually invited specifically by the dept leader to shoot the performance (CSUN).

Civic Arts Plaza is easily the worst case here, I totally agree.