When going through all the concert photos I took at the end of each year, I am always struck by the same thought: "Boy, are you LUCKY to be able to experience live music this way!" It's a great privilege to be able to be so close up -- closer than close with a zoom lens -- and to take on the challenge of capturing moments of performance that go by with lightning speed. Much conspires against you: poor lighting, fast stage movement/lack of stage movement, TALL PEOPLE IN FRONT, people bashing into you, shooting time restrictions, sweaty hot venues, and any number of technical failures. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it really doesn't. But most of the time I come away with good stuff.
You can't judge how well each shoot went down until you get back home and get the photos onto the computer and begin to edit. Many of them I turn into digital dust right away because of whatever combination of above failures. Then it's the task of selecting the few that I'll take into Photoshop to process. These are the three questions I ask: 1. Is it in focus and well-composed?; 2. Does it give a good feel of the performance? and; 3. Is it beautiful, and can I make it more beautiful with thoughtful editing? I take my time with each image because my biggest goal at the end of the whole event is to offer you concert photos that are worth your time to look at and enjoy. These are the 17 photos I took in 2017 that I loved the most, and I hope you love them, too. (Click on each image to enlarge, and amble over to my Flickr account to see more if you wish!)
You can't judge how well each shoot went down until you get back home and get the photos onto the computer and begin to edit. Many of them I turn into digital dust right away because of whatever combination of above failures. Then it's the task of selecting the few that I'll take into Photoshop to process. These are the three questions I ask: 1. Is it in focus and well-composed?; 2. Does it give a good feel of the performance? and; 3. Is it beautiful, and can I make it more beautiful with thoughtful editing? I take my time with each image because my biggest goal at the end of the whole event is to offer you concert photos that are worth your time to look at and enjoy. These are the 17 photos I took in 2017 that I loved the most, and I hope you love them, too. (Click on each image to enlarge, and amble over to my Flickr account to see more if you wish!)
(Me at work, Burger Boogaloo, Oakland, CA., 7/2/17. Photo by Johnny Samra)
© Copyright 2008- Marianne Spellman