Interesting things Glenn,
Keen to see the photos - whenever you get those back.
>From: "D. Glenn Arthur Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Aching Shoulders
>Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 16:20:12 -0400 (EDT)
>
>Today I went to listen and photograph a friend's band down
>at the Harborplace amphitheatre in Baltimore. I tried to
>catch them Wednesday night but they got rained out. (Yes,
>that was also the night the train fire started and the water
>main broke, so getting _out_ of the Inner Harbour that night
>was rather difficult. Of course, I'd loaded all three K-mount
>bodies with film apropriate to shooting on an overcast
>evening, and today was Sunshiny Bright midday. So I threw
>some Tri-X into an H1a and tossed the Spotmatic into the bag
>so that I could shoot slower film before finishing off the
>fast stuff in the K-mount cameras. Which meant, of course,
>some extra screwmount lenses as well. And just before I left,
>I got a phone call from my friend, asking whether I could bring
>a long extension cord. Add a tripod and my purse to the load,
>and things got a little heavy. Oof. (Well at least I got my
>exercise for the day.)
>
>Now I need to come up with the money to develop the eight rolls
>I shot (well, seven and a half). If the band likes any of this
>enough to use as a publicity photo, I'll get some of my money
>back (though they're not going to be able to afford much).
>
>Sure enough, I got a passerby saying, "Oh, I see a Pentax there.
>That's a good brand. I used to have a K1000." (I mentioned
>that they were all Pentax, with models covering about a 20-year
>span.) Another passerby said he wanted to get back into
>photography and _wanted_ a K1000 and was upset that Pentax
>had stopped making it. He really wanted to be able to walk
>into a camera store and buy a K1000 new. I showed him my KX,
>told him about the MZ-M, had him hold my Super Program to see
>whether it felt okay in his hands ('cause if that felt too
>small, he'd hate the MZ-M), and mentioned the ultra-coolness
>of the LX. He's probably going to buy a used K1000 in a pawn
>shop (which is what I'd do in his shoes if I didn't know about
>the KX). I also told him about PDML. A couple other folks
>commented on how professional I must be (because I had _so_much_gear_,
>so I _looked_ pro). A few folks were interested in stuff I'd
>shot, and I had my 8x10 book with me (all relatively recent
>stuff, some 5x7) so I showed that off, and folks really liked
>it. A Turkish fellow was looking very interestedly at my
>equipment, so I asked whether he was a photographer, and he
>pulled out a Ricoh. He complained that getting film developed
>is too expensive in the US compared to Turkey. And as I was
>backing up to frame one shot, I realized I was backing into
>the path of another fellow with a camera -- when I started to
>move out of the way, he said, "It's only fair that I get a
>picture of the artist!" -- I hadn't realized he was trying
>to photograph me. I gave him a thumbs-up and turned my
>attention back to the band.
>
>I didn't get all the shots I wanted -- I had planned to get
>up close with a wide-angle near the end of the concert (when
>distracting them wouldn't have as many consequences), but
>they finished more abrubtly than I was prepared for. And I
>didn't get many low-angle shots because flopping down on my
>back in front of them for those was a little distracting
>to the rest of the audience. (*shrug* I did get a couple.)
>Sooner or later I'll see them perform on a raised stage, and
>the "towering guitarist" photo will be easier to get (even
>if it's a mandolin at the time). Of course, I was fighting
>harsh shadows and nearly-directly-overhead sun the whole time.
>*sigh* But I'm looking forward to finding out what I've got.
>
>And the band, Moonsalt, sounded good. Not as photogenic as
>I would have liked, but that wasn't the real reason they were
>there. The sound was good. They were much more relaxed and
>confident than the last time I'd seen them. The lively tunes
>were lively, the slow tunes were sweet, and the early stuff
>rocked. (They played mostly Irish with a smattering of other
>Celtic, but they threw in some Renaissance tunes as well.)
>
>My instinct with musicians is to compose tightly -- get
>facial expressions, the set of their arms, dramatic shots
>of player and instrument. This was outdoors, with the
>harbour behind them (and a wooden warship). I actually
>remembered to open it up a bit and show some sky, some
>rigging, the big banner behind them that said "Harborplace".
>I shot some from off to the side, wide-angle, with the band
>in one corner and the audience in the rest of the frame.
>It'll be interesting to see whether I like that look as
>much in a print as I did in the viewfinder. I think this
>is the first time I've used a focal length wider than 50mm
>shooting a concert.
>
>
>
>A good afternoon of it, but now I'm hungry and tired (I was
>thirsty, but I grabbed some juice as soon as I got home).
>Time to open a bottle of stout and see if there's any auto
>racing on the telly.
>
>And maybe I can arrange a photo shoot sometime where I don't
>have to worry about getting in the way of the rest of the
>audience, and I can move the band around on stage to suit
>my composition whims.
>
> -- Glenn
>
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