music photos concerts photography

The photos are going public. Gulp.

My still-unfinished Library 365 project will be shown at the library’s fundraising event next Thursday. (The goal is to get to 365; I’m currently at 105, though next week will be so busy I suspect I’ll add several more photos.)

There’s something more than a little surreal about laying out your own photography for such a very public airing. I’m well aware that I’m not a pro-level photographer. I’m a decent amateur who knows her limitations, and I’m hoping someone will smack me if I ever show pretensions beyond my station.

I’m curious to see how people react to the shots.

As I just said to someone via IM: I’m not sure if concert shooting is fun in spite of, or because of, the crappy conditions. The showier performers are constantly in motion. The lighting is either spectacular or terrible, depending on the half-second; low ambient light combined with frequent bright flashes mean you’re waiting for those magic moments when light, motion, and melody sync together.

The burn rate of digital photos at concerts is horrendously high. I started shooting concerts because they forced me to think outside my careful-composition box: shoot, shoot, keep trying, trust that you’re going to delete 90-95% of what you take but you won’t get that magic photo without trying.