Bleeding Through @ The Hifi Bar

Well, it turned out to be a pretty exciting night. I had never been to the Hifi Bar before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was lucky enough to be granted a photo-pass for the night's show but it can be a little hard to prepare for something like that when you don't really know the venue.

When it comes to live music photography, I'm pretty wet behind the ears. I have been practicing by going to the local Route 66 gigs and have only had a genuine photo-pass once before when I shot the Angels live a couple of months ago. Other times, I have had to sneak a camera in and get a lucky couple of shots from the balcony or something like I did for DJ Shadow, Tori Amos or PJ Harvey.

Once I was granted access into the venue the usher told me I had three songs to shoot, no flash and no climbing on the stage. No problemo. The problem tho - there was no designated photo area at all. I wasn't really sure how I was gonna pull this off and my editor needed these shots so I had to make do.

I shot some of the opening acts to get a feel for the place. I just wasn't getting the results I wanted and the 17-85 lens just wasn't cutting it at all. I switched to the 50mm and now we were cooking!

Just before Bleeding Through's set I found the opportunity to mingle to the second or third row of peeps and I was in a pretty nice position. I basically stuck with the 50mm for most of the set. The crowd was incredibly wild and I found myself dodging the obligatory stage jumper every so often.

It really was an insane gig. I had basically worked up a sweat by the second or third song and I shot the entire gig. No bouncer or usher could get anywhere near to where I was so their 3 song policy was shot to hell.

41 photos | 120 views

items are from between 23 Jan 2009 & 24 Jan 2009.