Essay #49: On Wisconsin

Last weekend the Badgers trounced the Michigan Wolverines, and I had the pleasure of seeing it first-hand.

Live sporting events are so much more engaging than televised ones: the crowd, the cold, narrow bleachers, the announcers, the concessions, the big-screen marriage proposals. Plus, it allows for sports photography, the genre that first hooked me on this hobby. I first fell in love with a camera's power to capture motion and energy, freezing a moment in time, while on the sidelines of a college football game taking pictures for the student newspaper. It's amazing how a still image can contain so much motion.

Essay #48: Concert perspective

Okay, so I've taken a lot of photos of the downhere guys over the years. A lot of photos. So last weekend my goal was to capture new perspectives.

Essay #47: Concert light: Black and White

I saw the band downhere twice over the weekend. Each venue had its own set of lights--with their own pros and cons. So this week I'll talk about shooting at a concert: the most exciting light, while also most challenging light.

Concert lighting, while spectacular in person, can wreak havoc with a camera. When colored lights result in unnatural skin tones that no white balance can counter, I have two options: embrace the oddity (see previous post), or go back into the trick archives and pull out the oldest one-shooting in monochrome.

Essay #46: Concert magic

The next couple of posts will be more concert photos--second only to produce in sheer quantity of what I shoot.

Needtobreathe played in Madison last night, closing out The Outsiders Tour (which also began in Madison--fitting, no?).

Something about live music is just...magical. I have zero musical ability of my own, so I'm amazed by the lovely sounds artists can conjure. A strum, a hum, and the air thrums with dazzling beauty, a profound connection that stirs in the hearers and binds the audience to each other and the artists in shared sensational experience. I'll pay more for a concert ticket than I will for an album.