Jenny Lewis @ La Zona Rosa, Austin, 9/28/08

Jenny Lewis is the current reigning princess of the indie rock scene (though she may soon be overthrown by Zooey Deschanel—good thing they’re friends, right?). I had the chance to shoot a show she did with M. Ward and Conor Oberst to close out the Austin City Limits Music Festival back at the end of September. In fact, I think I actually got to shoot her three times in as many weeks, and in two different cities. Bonus: when I wasn’t shooting, I got to enjoy the show with our very own site admin, Nick Davis, and his wife, Tracie, who is totally hot like burning.

As usual, I was using my Canon Digital Rebel XTi set on manual. This was one of the first shows I shot with my Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8. It was a good show for this lens, too. As with most indie rock shows of this particular alt-country flavoring, there wasn’t too much movement, which gave the lens plenty of time to focus. When I wasn’t using the Tamron, I was getting close-ups of Jenny’s hot ass (or her amazing hair, really) with the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. On the whole, this is a nice set-up: a versatile zoom with a good low light wide-open aperture and a decent prime for crisp close-up shots. Primes are also especially easy to shoot with when you have the freedom of shooting in a pit, which allows for more interaction with your subject.

The venue was actually a lot bigger than it looked from the outside, so I was lucky there was a barricade set up for us shooters. Problem numero uno: there were a LOT of photographers in the pit, and it was a small pit. I guess this was to be expected, as there was press from all over the country present for the festival. Granted, it wasn’t the smallest area I’ve ever had to work in, but not tripping over other people while trying to get the shot and be unobtrusive is a learned skill. The second problem was the lighting. If Jenny wasn’t slathered in a red or odd magenta wash, the house lights were way too bright. There was little middle ground. The last issue, which is one that’s usually not too big of a problem, was mic stands and instruments getting in the way. I tend to go for an otherworldly aesthetic with my concert shots. I like to make rock stars look like they are the only thing that exists in the universe of the photo, and when those pesky (but necessary) things get in the way, I get crabby. Then again, I’m a bit of a perfectionist.

In closing, it was a good show and a decent shoot, but I wasn’t as thrilled about the results as I feel I should have been. Check ‘em out:

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