Daughtry

Spent Friday night at Stubbs, shooting Daughtry. He's apparently some ex-American Idol contestant that formed his own band and seems to be quite successful. I'd initially signed up to shoot them at the indoor venue at Stubbs, but they sold out and moved to the outdoor stage, then sold that out too.

Haven't shot at Stubbs before but it was a fantastic experience. There's a really narrow pit right in front of the stage, between the crowd and performers - where the security normally are. I had a photo pass for the event which lets me in there. So before each band I had to push my way through the crowd and squeeze into that pit. I'd then get to shoot for the first 3 songs then get thrown out until the next band came on. It is such an intense way to shoot - what a rush. You are crouched down there, with thousands of people behind you, the music is deafening, even with earplugs on then the band comes on stage and the crowd is even louder than the music. The adrenaline kicks in and you start to shoot. They launch into the set and you are shooting like mad, trying to focus in the low light, trying to expose correctly in the wildly changing light, trying to track and compose on the constantly moving performers. Shoot, compose, move, check exposure, shoot, focus, shoot some more. All the time trying to keep low, not get in view, keep out of the way, not trip over a cable. I've shot a few venues other than Stubbs and usually it is a real struggle to get enough light to even get anything sharp. This time around the light show was excellent, really bright and I was able to shoot around ISO800 and still get 1/125s exposures. Focusing and metering are still a fun challenge but at least there was a chance this time! Then it's all over the bouncers are telling you to get out and you calm down, review some of the shots and get ready to do it all again. Great fun.