A2 PHOTOGRAPHY - EMILY MOORBY
MUSIC CULTURE
For this shoot, I took inspiration from Adam Elmakias and his style of Photography, as the subject matter was a line up of bands who were performing for a crowd of paying fans at a sold out show. There were four bands on the line up, however I only decided to shoot three of them, and these were:
- ROAM (The second band to be announced for the tour, but by this time, tickets were just about sold out, so a few fans missed out on getting the chance to go to the show to see them. I have seen ROAM three times before, so this was the fourth time I saw them. They were first established in 2012 and fall under the Pop Punk category)
- Frank Carter and the Rattle Snakes (I had previously heard of this band, however I had never listened to them, and I didn't even know what any of the members looked like. After the show, I found out that Frank Carter the front man, doesn't always perform alongside The Rattlesnakes, and I initially found this quite unusual. I had previously heard things about Frank when he is on set, and this didn't prepare me for what I saw, but I still enjoyed the set and loved the sound they all created. Frank previously performed as front man for Gallows and Purelove, and 'Frank Carter and the Rattle Snakes were only formed in 2015).
- Sum 41 (Sum 41 are a Punk Rock band who were first established in 1996, and have only recently came back to write more music and perform shows, due to the illness of front man; Deryck Whibley. When they were announced to be headlining the Kerrang! Tour 2016, tickets sold out practically instantly, as this was their first set of shows in the UK since 2012, so demand was high. The chosen venues were also quite small, so having the chance to go to an almost 'intimite show' appealed more to the fans. There were also fans there who came from the USA, which I feel defines how dedicated music fans are when it comes to their favourite bands. Due to having connections with ROAM (a Pop Punk band who I have previously taken pictures of at multiple shows), I was given permission to take my camera into the show and collect some shots, and when I found this out, I was very excited to photograph Sum 41.
As I said in my annotations for my previous shoot of Roam, I really wasn't happy with how the outcomes turned out. So, when the opportunity came around to photograph the band again, I took the offer with both hands and was straight at the show. First of all, the lighting was DEFINITELY better this time round, and this made me initially more confident about the shoot; even before I had collected any images. As well as the lighting, I also used a different lens this time round. Instead of using my standard 18-55mm lens, I used my f/1.8 50mm lens, and I think that this contributed to the fact my images were stronger. I was located to the right of the stage, and looking back on the results, I wish I moved more to the centre or the left of the stage. This was because, I captured hardly any of the left (stage right) of the stage. My f/1.8 lens resulted in most of the shots being close up style, and meaning that my shot variety was slightly limited, but I did experiment with medium close ups, shallow focus shots, medium long shots, and extreme close ups. The shoot took place in the Newcastle University Student Union (NUSU), and it was my first time in this venue; so I initially didn't know what to expect.
This shoot took place the same day as my Roam re-shoot. As Frank Carter was on the same line-up, it made sense for me to photograph him also. With regards to how this shoot turned out, I was very happy. I had never seen Frank play before, or even listened to his music, so it was an interesting experience to say the least. Despite his idiotic tendencies, he seemed like a really down to earth man, who put his heart and soul into the set; which is something that always makes me happy when I watch a live set. Like with Roam's set, I used the same camera body and lens, and I really liked the lighting used during the set. The main focus of the shoot was on Frank and not 'The Rattlesnakes' (the band playing alongside Frank) however, and I would have liked to get more shots of the members, but Frank was very dominant on stage, and the set did revolve around him for most of the time. This set was a first for me, as Frank spent more time in the audience than he did on stage. He also performed a track in the middle of the crowd, and made everyone sit down and 'embrace the music', which is something I have personally never seen before. The majority of my shots were landscape, and mainly consisted of close ups, medium close ups and medium long shots. Despite this, I am happy with the shoot, and it was hard at times to capture Frank in a stationary position.
This section of the shoot was a dream come true for me, as Sum 41 are one of my all time favourite bands, and I have loved their music from being the age of 8. So, to be given the opportunity to photograph them was an absolute honour for me, and not only am I happy with how the shoot turned out, but I am hoping that this shoot will help get me known in terms of music photography, and hopefully enable me to gain more of a reputation. Having 1329 images in total was hard to go through, however I would rather have more photos than less. Also, based on experience, it is always better to have more images when shooting bands, as you have more chance of getting a clearer image. Especially with me and my perfectionist tendencies, slight movement detection puts me off the image completely, so having more images to choose from is always better in my eyes. I used my Canon EOS 600D, as well as my f/1.8 50mm lens again, as Sum 41 were the headliner for the show, along side Roam and Frank Carter. As Sum 41 were the last band on, I think that this had a positive effect on the quality of my final outcomes, in the sense that I had chance to get used to the environment, and shooting the two previous bands were almost like practice shots. I knew what worked, and what didn't, and I avoided certain things whilst Sum 41 were playing (extreme close ups were hit and miss all night, so I mostly refrained), but also kept certain things (like medium close ups and long shots).