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Call for submissions

Attention concert photographers:

If you don’t know me, my name is Nick Davis, and I am the Technical Editor of PopWreckoning.com, as well as an avid concert photographer.

Today I am announcing the launch of a new site dedicated solely to concert photography: 3songs.net. 3Songs will feature daily content based around what we love to do. I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to participate in this exciting venture by submitting technical concert-photography articles. These articles, called Show Debriefings, will be written from the vantage point of a concert photographer, targeted at other concert photographers.

In return for every qualifying article, you will receive:

• $10 stipend (paid via PayPal when we accept your article)
• A spot on our featured photographer page
• A photographer profile (you must provide) including links to your galleries, publications, and contact information. Please include links to purchase photos if this applies to you.
• Publicity!

A proper article should include the following elements:

• At least 500 words
• At least 5 pictures, with a caption consisting of the ISO, Aperture, and Shutter speed of each
• A description of all equipment used for the shoot
• Technical details on the shoot (where you were able to shoot, lighting conditions, shooting restrictions, camera settings, annoyances, etc)
• Obstacles you overcame for the shoot
• Anything else you find relevant

Additionally, we are seeking content for our Concert Photography tips section, so please send those our way as well (2-3 paragraphs). If you would like to write a feature article on a technique, tip, or an equipment review, please send your article idea to editor at 3songs dot net. If approved, your article will receive the same benefits stated above. Some upcoming features I would like so covered include:

• Getting Credentials
• Sneaking your gear in without credentials
• Bracketing
• Raw vs. Jpeg
• Dealing with common lighting problems (too dim, too red, etc)
• Metering methods
• auto vs. manual focus, and which focus points to use, as well as different AF methods
• Send in your ideas!

[Update: 2008-12-03] I really shoud have mentioned this, but you retain all copyrights to your photos and the article itself. All we ask is for a license to publish the content, and exclusive rights to the article for 1 week from publishing.

Gogol Bordello, Kansas City, MO

On Thursday, Tracie and I went to the Beaumont Club to check out Gogol Bordello. If you’re not aware of them, New York-based Gogol Bordello claims to be a “Gypsy Punk” band. Fronted by the unique Eugene Hutz, who starred in Everything is Illuminated alongside Elijah Wood, the band puts on a kinetic performance that could leave you exhausted just watching.

Since I am now shooting for (partly local) music blog PopWreck(oning), I was able to get in front for the first 3 songs with an official photo pass. To say it was my toughest assignment yet would be an understatement.

The show was packed, much more packed than I would have imagined. The crowd was definitely alternative and punk, heavily tattooed and ready to mosh. My first realization of this was when 6 massive stage bouncers took to the front of the stage. One looked down at me and said “If I tap you on the shoulder, MOVE!”.

With me that night was my Canon 20D with my 85mm 1.8 attached, and my 5D with my 24-70 2.8L attached. Both cameras were set to spot metering, tungsten white balance, 1600 ISO, aperture priority. To be safe, I was bracketing a full stop on the 20D. I would normally have put the 24-70 on the 20D and my 70-200 2.8L on the 5D, but that lens is at Canon now for repairs.

The band took the stage like Kansas Citians take to a buffet. Game on. I perch down and try to get focused, but the lighting was awful. The basic setup was a bunch of red lights, with occastional full-on white lighting. The white balance was fine for the white lights, but the red lights leave everyone very, very red. Most of those shots are the ones in black and white.

I’m used to shooting mildly-energetic indie acts: Singer-songwriters, power-pop, and the like. They’re 90% in front of their mic stand, 10% moving. Eugene Hutz is 93% running, 4% jumping, and 3% flinging sweat everywhere. I’m pretty sure he never stopped moving. In low light he was almost impossible to shoot. I was glad to have that f1.8 lens at times, but it needed to be much wider. When Hutz was 24 inches away, that 128mm (effective) lens was way too long.

30 seconds into the first song, I get the first tap on the shoulder and was guided stage right. Seconds later a body comes flying over the barrier wall. I retake my spot and 30 seconds another tap and another flying body. 20 seconds after that a drink is in the air and it’s raining some liquid substance. Who knows.

So Equene is everwhere, bodies are flying, and mysterious liquids are coming down. Did I mention this was a difficult shoot? Difficult, but a ton of fun. It’s these shoots where I’m glad I had everything set correctly before the gig starts.

For the third song I go stage right just in time for a flying body that actually resists the bouncers. All 100lbs of this girl gave quite a struggle. The bouncers did an admirable job removing her without force, and an even more admirable job keeping a body from falling on me.

After the 3 songs I retreated to the back where I found Tracie sitting. This is a show where you either are up close and moshing with the crowd or you’re way in back. Neither of us had it in us, so we were in the back, which at the beaumont means not much of a view. Oh well, I had mine.