The Photography Thread

[funkydan]

Great stuff funkydan!

Questions eh. I'll go with a couple:

What kit did you take in the end? Which did you use most? How did you find yourself shooting (in terms of camera configuration)?

Thanks Ish. I took most of my stuff but ended up using my trusty 18-135mm f3.5-5.6, dare I say.....with flash! On the first day I used my 50mm f1.8 which gave some nice results but of course lacked the zoom. I also borrowed an 80-200mm f2.8 which I'm afraid to say, I didn't use at all! It was too heavy (it was an old-ish Tokina lens) and although would have been handy, it wasn't mine and I was afraid of getting it wet or damaged in some other way. So most of the shots were with the 18-135mm and I'm pretty pleased with the results although some shots were perhaps unnecessarily grainy due to me forgetting to lower the ISO when using the flash - d'oh! As for my config, I was shooting on shutter priority (1/80th), white balance on auto, and using somewhere between 400 and 800 ISO.

And who was your favourite band?

Great shots Dan, really great

And thank you Tommy My favourite acts were probably Roisin Murphy and this 9 piece folk band from Brighton called Shoreline - but it was all good.

I should add the the Big Chill atmos was wonderful. And the food! Wow, not a single manky burger van in sight!! We ate so well. Also, the toilets and showers were both clean and well maintained. The site itself was very clean as people were encouraged to leave no trace, and it worked for the most part...

[funkydan]

Well, I've just had a bit of a slap in the face - I had contacted Corbis with regards to the Big Chill photos I had taken and he (their editorial contact) basically said that the quality of my shots were 'a long way down on what we would expect from a contributing photographer'. He said he was just being honest and that there was no point beating around the bush but a little bit of constructive criticism goes a long way as well. What he said hit me hard and I am considering knocking the whole photography thing on the head and flogging my gear. I know I'm supposed to stand tall in the face of adversity, and use his comments to say "Right, I'll show them", but he really knocked the wind out of me and I'm not sure if I can be arsed. What's the point?

[EDIT] Flippin heck, what a weird day - I've now received this message:

I have come across your Big Chill festivals photographs and think they are excellent. I wondered if you would like to display them on our website (www.iiinside.com) with full credit and links to promote yourself and your services. Basically we are a new music fashion and creative website who is expanding all the time. Currently we have 2 photographers working for us, one being myself and another who has just photographed the Camp Bestival festival for us. I was at the Big Chill this weekend but unfortunately I had my bag stolen which had my memory cards in with all the weekends photos! seriously not cool! Anyway If your interested going forward we could get you photographers passes for up and coming festivals and gigs plus also we can make you a profile page on our site so you can showcase your favourite photos.

Many thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.
Chris Edwards
Creative Director

www.iiinside.com

Think I might get into that I shan't be giving up my gear and photography just yet

[Ginger Tosser]

"Right, I'll show them"

Learn from it, and maybe have a look at the sorts of images that make it into the press/libraries and adapt to shoot in the similar style. (Sorry can't offer mcuh advice on gig/festival imagery as I've never done anything like it - Yours look great though)

I know a lot of celeb/artist images are on Rex features. It might be worth a punt, but don't get too disheartened if you get a rejection. Everyday I look at my sales (or lack of) on Alamy it doesn't get me down.

[Ginger Tosser]

Oh, spotted this today....



Not as great as an actual moving shot of it.

[Magnakai]

It actually got me in London a few weeks ago. I'm gonna be on Street View, beetches! Wish I'd had my camera out to grab a shot.

[TommyG]

No-way Dan I was just about to respond by telling you never to give up because your shots are awesome and then low and behold when one door closes another one opens. It was meant to be. Learn from it, move on and stay awesome dude

ps. the guy with the dreads holding the guitar, is that Natty? Cos if so I loved them at the BigWeekend festival I went to earlier in the year

[funkydan]

Learn from it, and maybe have a look at the sorts of images that make it into the press/libraries and adapt to shoot in the similar style. (Sorry can't offer mcuh advice on gig/festival imagery as I've never done anything like it - Yours look great though)

I know a lot of celeb/artist images are on Rex features. It might be worth a punt, but don't get too disheartened if you get a rejection. Everyday I look at my sales (or lack of) on Alamy it doesn't get me down.

Thanks GT, I've cheered up now after getting the magazine offer. To be honest though, I can see what the guy means as it was my own fault for not lowering the ISO after putting my speedgun on - d'oh! But the pics are still good in my book, so flip him, what does he know

No-way Dan I was just about to respond by telling you never to give up because your shots are awesome and then low and behold when one door closes another one opens. It was meant to be. Learn from it, move on and stay awesome dude

ps. the guy with the dreads holding the guitar, is that Natty? Cos if so I loved them at the BigWeekend festival I went to earlier in the year

And thank you Tommy too, I don't know why I took it so hard. I guess it was because I thought I had done well, and to be told otherwise in a very blunt, yet honest, way was difficult for me to swallow. But then the other guy came along with a completely different opinion of my shots and perhaps saw them for the moments that I had captured, rather than anything else and that sorted me right out and I'm back, happy as a Quahog clam

And why yes, that is Natty. Shame he only got 3 minutes stage time - I **** you not. I've no idea why he wasn't allowed longer than that. But I guess some Natty is better than no Natty. He was followed by the wicked Roisin Murphy and I like my shots of her too, her and her two groovy female backing singers/dancers - they put on a great show

Thanks for your support guys - I really appreciate it!

[funkydan]

Sorry, but I don't think I'm monopolising this thread enough at the mo! Hope you don't mind, but here's a few more Big Chill shots:

Groovy sky, groovy people


Whole lorra graffiti going on




Roisin (ro-sheen) Murphy's backing singers/dancers


Lykke Li's mentalist drummer


Shoreline - I like how this turned out as you can see both sides of the singer


Crazy leopard ladies (who were quite sexy!)


And Bob Fossil, as Ro-butt!

[spagmasterswift]

There were some amazing lightening storms down my way last night, spent the train journey home with my face pressed against the window going 'oooh' and 'ahhh'. Got in and went straight for my camera, kept the lights out and started firing off 8 second bursts hoping to catch the neon blue forks flashing about. Sadly I don't have the skills yet, one day I'm gonna bag me one though, one day...

[Alastair]

I had them too, amazing, drove home from a Flickr meet and it was almost constant fork lightening. I've never seen anything like it in the UK.

Thought I should upload something for a change as it's been nearly 4 weeks since I last did. More experiments with flash.

This is in a dark wooded scene with a watery clearing behind, was a challenge to light.


And this isn't a 'proper' shot but was just a learning experience on lighting a subject with direct sun in shot behind.


Dan, you have to take the rough with the smooth to get better, look at some pro gig togs work and you'll see where you need to get better. I can give you some flickr links if you like? Oh yeah, you've posted the chubby bingo caller twice

[funkydan]

Dan, you have to take the rough with the smooth to get better, look at some pro gig togs work and you'll see where you need to get better. I can give you some flickr links if you like? Oh yeah, you've posted the chubby bingo caller twice

Yeah thanks Al, I realise that now. I think it's because people have always liked my photos and that was the first time someone had been really quite down on them. It just knocked off balance for a moment there but I'm fine though. That said, I'd still like to take a look at some pro togs photos mate, so please send the links to me.

And you're right, Fossil appears twice, sorry 'bout that (have inserted a pic of Ro-Butt instead now)

Nice shots btw, I like that second one particularly.

And that storm was awesome last night - would have loved to have got properly set up for that to take some shots last night, but had no idea what settings to use! Slow shutter speed, on a tripod I guess?

[Alastair]

This guy (called Guy) does music shots but with a lot of music scene photoJ thrown in.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/guyeppel/

Danny is a regular NME contributor and tours with Kaiser Chiefs (shudder) often:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannynorth/

James is a freelance music and editorial tog, check his website through his profile for more images:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesquinton/

[funkydan]

Thanks man, will check those out later

[Cauterize]

Cant believe ive missed this thread... There are some absolutely fantastic photographers in this thread! Im hoping to learn a bit from you all!

I try to do a bit of Video Game Photography every now n then!
Im not that experienced yet. A few months back I took the dive into DSLRs and got the entry level Canon 450D.
Here are a few of my recent shots:









Cheers, Adam

[spagmasterswift]

Very colourful! Bomb looks lonely tho