Music

For many years I always wanted to be one of those photographers in the "photographers pit" at the front of the stage. Don't get me wrong I used to always enjoy the atmosphere of actually being in the crowd. I have stood and been crushed whilst watching everyone from Slipknot to the Guillemots and even Genesis at Wembley as part of the live earth concerts in 2007.
This image is one of the many I took at the 2008 NASS event in Bath. Its of Charlotte Cooper from The Subways doing her thing. We were warned beforehand that she just doesn't stand still and that I was tasked with getting the photograph of her new hairdo...very trivial but I think I not only managed to capture that but also her passion for her music.
I'm not sure now that I have spent some considerable time in the "photographers pit" that I actually enjoy the experience. You are tasked with getting your shots within the first three songs before you are all removed then it's straight back to the press room to wire your shots off. This results in you missing all the music and atmosphere. In 2008 though I did manage to realise a wish of mine not only to see Groove Armada play live but also to be up close and personal with them. I not only got to photograph them but decided I was not going to return to the press room but enjoy the concert. Fortunately for me the wireless connection in the press room was down so I got away with it.
This year I intend to pick my festivals more carefully and hope to once again photograph at NASS which I have some very fond memories of but also add Surfstock and a few minor festivals around where I live most notably Gosport Folk Festival where I hope to photograph Seth Lakeman again. His set at Boardmasters last year went down a storm with everyone.
For those interested the technical data on this shot is again limited (sorry) It was shot with a Canon 5D with a 70-200 F2.8 L series lens with the aperture wide open. The hair is frozen in time with a shutter speed of 2000th sec. Post production was in CS3 where I sharpened the image and then reduced the colour to remove the purple cast which was being thrown onto Charlotte with a purple tinted spotlight.
This image has done very well for me in competitions winning no less than 3 awards since it was taken. It is available as either a mounted print from me or as a box canvas. (I'm selling here) you can purchase it by contacting me through my website for further details. http://www.lemonsplash.co.uk/