Brought my new camera to Linkin Park's show in Vegas

[Roxy Poodle]

I brought my new camera (discussed here) with me to Linkin Park's show in Vegas this past weekend. I'd been meaning to take the camera to some other shows over the last few weeks so I could get used to it, but work's been an insane asylum, and there really haven't been any must-see shows in the last several weeks. As a result, this was my first real outing with the camera, and I had no idea what to expect. Well ... holy crap! I'm so psyched about these pictures!













A very early version of my Flickr set from this show (lots more pics to add) is here: Linkin Park @ Planet Hollywood Las Vegas, and I've been posting sets of some of the more fun moments in the show to my Tumblr account. Hope y'all don't mind me sharing! I don't really have anyone IRL with whom I can discuss photography, so I dump on you folks!

(And pardon the big, ugly watermarks on these pictures. I haven't grown too big for my britches. Rather, this band has a global fan base that includes lots of teenagers and other people who apparently lack a concept of creative property. I knew people were sharing my pictures without crediting me, but I wasn't getting too bent out of shape about that because what can you do, you know? It's the internet. However, I recently learned people were actually putting their own watermarks on my pictures, and that shit's not okay. So yes, big nasty watermarks on the best pictures. Smaller ones on the ones that I posted more for fun.)

[badger]

Very nice! How far away were these taken? How do you handle a rowdy crowd if you are close?

[radial]

I like your use of focal plane in these pictures.  But I'm sad that the subject is Linkin Park, a group my kids loved.  Makes me feel creaky and elderly

[Roxy Poodle]

Very nice! How far away were these taken? How do you handle a rowdy crowd if you are close?

There were probably four rows of people standing in front of me, so maybe 8-10 feet from the stage? Fortunately, this crowd was almost comically tame. Even during a song toward the end of the set when Mike Shinoda got in the crowd, nobody pushed forward. Pit tickets to this show were sold exclusively to fan club members, so I think that contributed to the calmness of the crowd. These were people who really and truly wanted to watch the show; they weren't idiots there to get drunk and act like assholes. (And yes, I am in the fan club for this band. LP puts more effort into interacting with their fans than any other band I've ever seen and in more interesting ways than any other band I've seen, so it's worth it to me!) All that being said, I have been in the pit for very rowdy shows, and I just get out of the way. It doesn't even have anything to do with my camera; I just plain don't want to get injured! I got stuck in a pit at a Jane's Addiction show a few years ago, and it was actually pretty scary for a few minutes. Fortunately the guy next to me realized I was panicking a little and decided to watch over me a bit. Once I got spit out the back and side of the crush, it was really fun hanging out on the edges of it! Ended up being one of my favorite shows of all time!

I like your use of focal plane in these pictures.  But I'm sad that the subject is Linkin Park, a group my kids loved.  Makes me feel creaky and elderly

Thanks, radial! You know, it's funny. I've gotten to know a lot of the fans of this band through the fan club, and some of them got to the venue at ungodly hours to be right up front. (Rumor has it the first person arrived to the show at 1a.m. the night before. The show started at 9p.m. the next day.) It never really occurred to me to do that because the boredom would probably kill me before the show started, but in hindsight, I was actually glad to have some people in front of me! The heads and arms in front of me ruined a couple pictures, sure, but they added so much energy to so many of the other pictures! And the lens just performed beautifully, focusing precisely on the subject and blurring everything else out. After botching my first camera investment a little (now sold back to B&H), I'm psyched to be so totally psyched about my second purchase!

And you're not creaky and elderly! I'm definitely at the top end of the age range for this band! (Although I've been impressed by the diversity of their fan base. It really runs from about age 15 to 40. Equal parts men and women. In NYC, at least, the single most multicultural group of fans I've ever seen for a band. It's really pretty cool.)

[makeda]

 

You are a wonder.  I was at a drag show and couldn't figure out my camera settings in the lighting well enough to take a picture from 4 rows back.   

[Roxy Poodle]

You are a wonder.  I was at a drag show and couldn't figure out my camera settings in the lighting well enough to take a picture from 4 rows back.   

Well, trust me: The bazillion watt Linkin Park lighting rig helped my effort enormously! The lens I was using is ridiculously fabulous, but I took the same set-up back to my usual singer-songwriter spot (City Winery NYC) for Melissa Ferrick and Will Dailey on Tuesday night, and we were back to making our best of a very dark situation!





 

[moroccangirl]

You really need to be a concert photographer!

[diablita]

You really need to be a concert photographer!

yes!

[Roxy Poodle]

Thanks, MG and diablita! Concert photographer is totally the dream. And living in NYC, it's not entirely unrealistic: There's tons of competition, but there's also tons of opportunity. I doubt I'd ever be able to pay the bills as a concert photographer, but I'd love to do freelance work every now and then. We shall see. I just signed up for another basic photography class at ICP. They used to offer a class on live music photography, so I'm hoping that one will come back around. I figure it would be as helpful for what I'd learn as it would be for the connections I'd make. For now, it's just nice to have a hobby that I love so much! I feel kind of lucky to have found something like that!

[RioG]

[Mrtambourineman]

More awesome pics.  Love them.  Thanks for sharing.