Stu Larsen and Paper Aeroplanes

November 21, 2014 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

After shooting at the Lemon Grove for the last couple of gigs it was nice to be back at the Exeter Phoenix for a more relaxed night of music.

As always on The Unplugged Blog I like to give you a couple of images from the night, hot from the editing desk. First up from Queensland, Australia was the very talented and funny Stu Larsen.

Expect to hear more about Stu over on MusicMuso very soon.

The headline act of the night was the very popular Paper Aeroplanes.

Technical Challenges

Shooting in low light is one of the biggest challenges in concert photography. It's difficult to focus the camera and you have to balance your shutter speed against your ISO settings. Upgrading from the Nikon D610 to the D750 has definitely improved the situation for me. Focusing is much more accurate and easier (thanks to group point focusing) and low light performance has been greatly improved.

I have also noticed that the lighting used in different venues varies greatly. I like to see lots of dynamic lighting as this offers a great range of shooting opportunities. A well lit artist is a lot easier to shoot! However, the lighting used is often arranged to suit the type of artist. For example, Paper Aeroplanes were lit most with a constant blue and red light. Great for the mood, but it adds an extra challenge for the photographer. But hey, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it and I love the challenge!

I'm also pleased to say that Adobe have finally updated my primary image editing tool, Lightroom, to version 5.7 which includes full support for the Nikon D750. This greatly streamlines my image workflow.

See you again really soon on The Unplugged Blog!

The Boomtown Rats

November 10, 2014 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

Some nights you leave a gig with the wonderful feeling that you got some great shots and you heard some fantastic music. Last night at the Lemon Grove was definitely one of those nights!

As always on The Unplugged Blog, I'm going to share a few of my favourite images hot from the editing desk. Normally I'd only share one image from each artist but I have so many great images you all deserve to see two!

First up was the exceptionally talented and lovely Polly Money.

I was lucky enough to grab a quick chat with Polly back stage with Steve from MusicMuso so expect to hear more about Polly on the MusicMuso website really soon.

Next up were Exeter's top steam punk band The Mysterious Freakshow. They were colourful, loud and energetic. Definitely a band I will keep an eye out for on the local gig scene.

The main act of the night was of course The Boomtown Rats, and from the moment that Sir Bob bounded on to the stage the place erupted. Now, there is a man that can work the crowd. I really love shooting a band that can work the crowd. There is always so much to shoot!

For those of you that follow my Twitter account you know that I like to live tweet images straight from venue (thanks to Nikon D750, a Nexus tablet, and a phone signal). I tweeted this image last night but just had stick it on my blog as well. I just loved the way he played up to the camera for me. He got a big thumbs up back from me!

And now the star of the show, Bob Geldof, or as I now think of him, rock God!

It was a real pleasure shooting all three acts last night. I've still got a whole stack of images to get through and edit, but I just wanted to share these with you right now! Expect a full write up of the gig really soon over at MusicMuso.

In the meantime I'm going to carry on listening to new Pink Floyd album and I'll see you next time on The Unplugged Blog!

Halloween Zombie Ball 2014

November 03, 2014 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

I knew before I turned up at the Lemon Grove to cover this years Halloween Zombie Ball that it was going to be a BIG night of rock music. I was not wrong. And with at least six bands to cover and an army of zombies to wade through to get from one stage to the other, I had a lot of work to do!

First up were local band Cambion.

Cambion were also good enough to invite MusicMuso and myself back stage for an interview. I always like getting the meet the bands back stage to take some photos and hear the bands story.

Next up we have I Divide who really kicked up a storm on the 2nd stage.

I really like this next shot. The beaming red lights in the background seem to suit the look of the guitarist from Glamour of the Kill.

And the action doesn't stop there. Here we have Kill All The Gentleman.

Running across back to the main stage I caught up with Knotslip.

And my 2nd to last shot for this blog entry is The Dreamer Within.

And finally, my favourite band of the night, the kick ass Skindred.

As you can see, it was a very busy night of shooting, but I loved it. Life is much easier when the bands know how to use the stage and get the crowd going. I just wish I hadn't decided to get up at 5.30am that day to take some landscape photos. Yes, that's right, I do have a more arty side to me as well!

See you next time on the Unplugged Blog where I will be bringing you images straight from the Boomtown Rats gig. Bye!

Sivu and Nick Mulvey

October 10, 2014 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

I was at the Exeter Phoenix again last night to shoot the hugely popular Nick Mulvey. Despite the gig being sold out, it felt like an intimate affair with subdued lighting and the fans crowded right up to the edge of the stage. Not ideal conditions for great concert imagery but it did make for a great night of music.

Supporting Nick was the very talented musician Sivu. Here he is working his magic on the stage:

One of the really cool things about shooting gigs is the back stage access. I've been lucky enough to meet some real characters back there and they always have an interesting story to tell. Some of the kit the crew turn up with is also amazing. Just check out the mixing desk below:

The person manning the desk lost one of his custom ear buds and I helped him find it which is was really grateful for. I think it was something to do with the £500 price tag. And that's per ear!

And finally, here is Nick doing his stuff.

See you next time on the Unplugged Blog!

Save Your Breath and Kids In Glass Houses

October 07, 2014 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

I love going out in the evening to shoot gigs. Sometimes you'll be familiar with the band, maybe even a fan, but more often than not you're going to see them for the first time. Good preparation demands that you research the acts you are going to shoot so you can position yourself for the best shots. My research for this night quickly revealed it was going be a loud night of rock and I was looking forward to it!

As always on the Unplugged Blog, here are a couple of shots from the night that caught my eye in the virtual darkroom.

First up on the stage at the Exeter Phoenix was Save Your Breath.

Without a doubt these guys from Wales really got the crowd going and warmed up for the main act of Kids In Glass Houses.

Kids In Glass Houses - Aled Phillips doing a little solo number.

I managed to capture some great images of the night. It always helps when you shoot artists that know how to use the stage.

Keep an eye out for a full gig review over on MusicMuso.

On a technical note...

As I mentioned on the blog last time I was unable to process the RAW files straight out of the camera. This was hampering my workflow. I'm pleased to say that I can now at least convert the RAW (NEF) files to Adobe's DNG format. While this increases the length of the image workflow, it does mean I can now extract the maximum amount information from the image. Which is always a good thing.

Steel Threads and The South

October 01, 2014 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

Well it was another very busy night at the Exeter Phoenix last Saturday. Together with Steve from MusicMuso we covered two most excellent bands. As always on the Unplugged blog, here are a couple of sneaky peak shots before they appear on MusicMuso.

First up we have the rather awesome Steel Threads...

And the for the main act we have The South. This picture is of long term keyboard player Damon Butcher. It was a real pleasure watching him work his magic.

You can read a full review of the gig and see more photos over on MusicMuso.

On a technical note...

This was my first gig shooting with the brand new Nikon D750. This camera replaced my Nikon D610 mainly because of D750's improved autofocus system and low light shooting capabilities. It also has built in wireless so that I can pull (JPG) files straight onto my tablet and send them live to my Twitter feed during the gig. A huge improvement over the shots I used to send to Twitter from my Nexus 5 phone.

While I'm very impressed with the image quality, I couldn't use my normal Adobe workflow to process the images as Adobe Camera RAW doesn't yet support the D750. I had a little less control over the images than I normally have and it took me longer to process them, but that is the price you pay for being a day one adopter! I'm sure Adobe will have an update out soon.

It's been another late night of editing, so time for bed. See you next time on the Unplugged blog!

Andreas Moe and Lewis Watson

September 22, 2014 by Julian Baird in Uncategorized

Another busy evening for me last night at the Exeter Phoenix. As always I was joined by Steve from MusicMuso and we were lucky enough to see and meet some really talented musicians.

First up from the camera roll is Swedish singer and songwriter, Andreas Moe:

Want to know more about Andreas? Then check out this interview over on MusicMuso.

The headline act of the night was the very popular Lewis Watson. Here is Lewis in action:

A full review of the gig, and more photos can be found over at MusicMuso!

I'll be back in about a week to show you some images from The South gig. See you next time on the Unplugged blog!