I had the fortunate luck to land a gig to shoot Bedouin Soundclash at The Starlite Room last night courtesy of The Edmontonian, a relatively new local online news site. It was the Starlite Room’s fifth anniversary and Bedouin Soundclash was headlining the show. I was super excited that my first “official” concert shoot would be of Bedouin Soundclash, as every now and again Walls Fall Down ends up in my playlist (among other great Bedouin Soundclash tunes).
The show was opened by Ben Stevenson, former frontman for Our Mercury. I’d picked a few concert photographer’s brains, namely Simon Pollock from Gtvone Photography, for some tips and pointers to shooting and I was glad I did. Even so, I was very disappointed (and somewhat stressed I must admit) when the lights came on for Ben’s portion of the show. The lighting was VERY dim and really not conducive to photography at all! The best I could manage was 1/60s exposures at 2.8 shooting at 3200 ISO (gulp) with the 70-200. After a song and a half I swapped out the lens for my 50mm f/1.8 and was able to get a few crisper shots at 1600 ISO. All in all though, I must say even at the high 3200 ISO the Canon 5D Mark II performed admirably!

Ben Stevenson; 200mm, 1/60s, f/2.8, 3200ISO
After an awesome performance and a short break it was time for Bedouin Soundclash to hit the stage. And boy can they rock the joint!
Being somewhat accustomed to the low lighting in the venue, I started my “first three songs, no flash” shoot of Bedouin Soundclash and frontman Jay Malinowski. Much to my surprise – and satisfaction – the fourth or fifth shot in I was rewarded with a HIGHLY overexposed shot as the intensity of the lights increased. I made a few quick adjustments and continued shooting at 800-1250 ISO with the 70-200 ranging from 1/60s – 1/125s exposures at f/2.8-3.5. Switched over to the 50mm for the third song I was allowed to shoot for a few more quick shots and before I knew it my shooting time was up!

Bedouin Soundclash frontman Jay Malinowski; 100mm, 1/125s, f/2.8, 800ISO
I absolutely loved the shoot, and I really have no gripes about the “three song only” limit – it allowed me to get in, grab some shots and then sit back and enjoy the rest of the show – and what a show it was! You can read the concert review and see a few more photos over at The Edmontonian. My thanks to Sally from The Edmontonian to hooking me up with this gig, and for Simon for his valuable insight into concert photography and helping make my first concert shoot a success.

Jay Malinowski; 50mm, 1/80s, f/1.8, 800ISO
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