Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/1.6, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Paul Christensen
of
Midlife Chryslers
My friend Ray invited me out to see Michael Stanley in his latest project, a band called Midlife Chryslers. Back in the 80s, The Michael Stanley Band was huge in the Midwest, and I was a big fan. (The first concert I ever went to was a Michael Stanley Band concert.) Back in the day, they were able to crack the national Top 40 once or twice, but were never able to do much more nationally. In the Midwest, though, it's not possible to overstate their popularity.
Tonight's gig at The Northside (Akron, Ohio) with the Midlife Chryslers was a bit different, playing bluesy rock. Photography was allowed, so I put my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 on my Nikon D200 and give concert photography a whirl. The D200 is not known for its low-light performance (nor am I, for that matter), but I got a few shots that looked okay.
It was challenging. Here's one that came out okay, despite the long 1/20th second exposure at 85mm (with no VR, mind you)...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/20 sec, f/1.6, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Marc Lee Shannon
I like how the wall painting in the background fits into this shot, but composition-wise, I was really limited. The limiting factor was mostly my not wanting to block anyone's view, so I didn't spend much time with the camera, and was somewhat hesitant when I did. Mostly, I stayed in one spot that seemed to be okay, so my ability to compose was really restricted.
The lighting and my position conspired to make for really bad shots of Michael Stanley. None of them came out. Here's the least sucky of the batch:
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/45 sec, f/1.6, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Michael Stanley
The angle/lighting was much better for the sax player, who also presented himself much more photogenicly to begin with. The camera loved him, and he loved the camera back...
Most of the shots were fuzzy due to camera shake, or lack of focus. I tried to salvage one such shot by applying some funky processing, in the same ballpark as the negative clarity “Dave Hill” look I did in my previous post, albeit with maximum positive clarity to keep a gritty edge...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/10 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Marc Lee Shannon
stylized
I'm not sure the result was worth the effort, but there it is.
A real treat was for me to met Michael Gismondi, the base player of The Michael Stanley Band who was apparently just guesting with this evening's performance of Midlife Chryslers. Long ago, I used to work with his sister, Jeannette, who ran the electron microscopy lab at NEOUCOM, and longer before that, his brother-in-law was my high-school chemistry and physics teacher...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/30 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Michael Gismondi
His sister, Jeanette, is also an accomplished photographer, and a lunch with her several years ago was part of the inspiration for me to get my Nikon D200.
Hi Jeffrey – good shots all-in-all. I have done some shooting myself at concerts and typically find the environment very challenging from gig to gig. I usually do 800 ISO though I try to go down to 400 if the light is good. Typically, about 1 shot out of every 10 is deemed usable out of something like this, and I’d say you did pretty well. Also, working in such a way so that you don’t become the focus of the audience (and therefore a major annoyance) is good experience to acquire. Oh, and I’m glad you didn’t use flash.
The ‘full gallery is here’ link takes me to an ‘access to content protected by owner’ location in Zenfolio.
Oops, sorry about that. Thanks for the heads up. Fixed. —Jeffrey