Ian’s Soul
Canon 7D, 80mm, f/2.8, 1/100s, ISO 1250
It’s often said that you can see a man’s soul in his eyes. Well, that’s certainly true of Ian McDonald, guitarist and vocals for the extraordinary funk/soul band Monophonics. This was shot in very bad conditions, the only redeeming feature being that I was literally in the band’s face. Don’t know if they liked it much, but I sure did!
Shorty’s Back
Canon EOS 7D, 130mm, f/2.2, 1/500s, ISO 800
In all my history of shooting concerts, I don’t think I’ve ever selected a shot of the artist turning his back to audience as a keeper. And yet there’s something about this shot of Trombone Shorty that I find compelling. Go figure.
Blue Barytone
Canon EOS 7D, 130mm, f/2.8, 1/100s, ISO 1000
Concerts I attend are mostly jazz and rarely benefit from the rich (and disturbing) lighting that rock concerts often benefit from. Trombone Shorty being on the edge between jazz and rock, his concerts have funky lights most of the time. Such lighting messes up a lot of shots but also once in a while gives you quasi-monochrome shots where the musician (Dan Oestreicher in this case) is silhouetted rather than seen. Love those shots.
League Grade Scowl
Canon EOS 7D, 130mm, f/2, 1/100s, ISO 800
Michael League, as my friend Marcus puts it, is the rarest of bass players: he seems to smile all the time. Once in a while though you can catch him scowling like he did here at this Forq gig in Paris last summer.
Nalle’s Grimace
Canon EOS 7D, 310mm, f/3,2, 1/500s, ISO 400
Nalle Colt is the guitarist of Vintage Trouble, a blues/soul revival band that packs a ton of energy. In my early days of shooting concerts I would use a lot of dutch angles, then I stopped doing it. But once in a while, it works quite nicely.
Angelo’s Tenor
Canon 7D, 80mm, f/4, 1/100s, ISO 1600
Angelo Moore is one of the most spectacular musicians I have ever seen live (here with the Madd Vibes Brass Band). That evening he played no less than 5 different saxophones (including the bass sax.)
Steaming Solo
Canon 7D, 80mm, f/2, 1/100s, ISO 800
I haven’t shot a concert in a real long time, but I’m going through past concerts for good photos I never published. This is Nicolas Mondon from the fantastic French big band Bigre!
Ron in the Dark
Canon A2, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/160s, ISO 3200
Film: Kodak T-Max 3200
I have not had much success shooting concerts with film. It’s given me a healthy dose of respect for all those jazz and rock photographers of the pre-digital era. Occasionally though a few shots came through, and this one is one of those. There is something of that old jazz photography in there that really speaks to me even though most of the shot is completely in the dark.
Paul’s Big Sound
Canon 7D, 80mm, f/2, 1/100s, ISO 1250
Paul Robertson is big in every sense of the word: big frame, big sound, big groove. He combines a really powerful vibration with very fluid lines when he plays, a fantastic contribution to the Soul Rebels sound. This isn’t a fantastic shot, but it captures him in action, which I guess is good enough on some level.
Julian in Shades
Canon 7D, 135mm, f/2, 1/100s, ISO 1250
The New Morning in Paris is a tricky club to shoot in. The light is harsh and there’s always something in the background. With the Soul Rebels it’s made even harder by the fact that most of them have one or two microphone stands in front of them. So I was quite pleased with this shot of Julian Gosin in his shades.
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