Photography challenge – Mayhem Fest
I’ve been photographing concert photography for almost 20 years now. When doing so for that long, you really have to find ways to challenge yourself. Of course, each show can been a challenge as you never know what the lighting will be like, or other types of obstacles that can be thrown in your way last minute – for instance finding out that you’re only allowed to shoot from the soundboard minutes before the band goes on, or that you only get to photograph one song instead of the standard three, meanwhile your “one” song is a crowded photo pit, 2 photographers deep sandwiched in with no room to move…
But over time, things become second nature and you have to push yourself in new ways to keep things interesting and fresh. For me, I find doing experimental type photography to help. When I shot film, that meant picking up a roll of infrared film (Color Infrared and Black & White Infrared), trying to do some cross processing, maybe pick up a new filter or even rent a fisheye lens. This time around, I decided to push my photography skills even further.
I was going to the Mayhem Festival to just see Hellyeah and King Diamond. (I had sprained my finger and didn’t think I could go all day working, so I skipped requesting to cover the show as press). Since the tour allowed you to bring in point and shoot cameras, I decided it was a perfect opportunity to challenge myself and see if I could get professional looking photos with only using a new point and shoot camera. I picked up a Nikon Coolpix L830 – a 16 megapixel camera that retails for about $300 (I got it on sale at Best Buy).
Going in, I knew I had to quickly learn the limitations of my new point and shoot and figure out a way to work within those limitations to create the photos I desired. The one thing I didn’t foresee was the lag time from after you clicked the shot, until it finished recording through the camera and onto the memory card. On my professional cameras, you never really see any hesitation except if your using a slower memory card. So I learned quickly that the “decisive moment” was even more critical as at times, it took a good 20+ seconds to record. I tried staying within those first 3 songs, but I did carry over a little into the 4th.
PHOTO GALLERIES:
HELLYEAH Gallery
KING DIAMOND Gallery
RESULTS: Overall I was really happy with how they turned out.
FROM A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER PERSPECTIVE: I think that even though the time lack, and the images weren’t as crisp as I’m used to, I was still able to get in pretty good shot that still come across more professional than some images I have seen taken by professional cameras. However, you can tell that there is a difference in quality from a point and shoot 16 megapixel camera and a professional 16 megapixel DSLR. The images are not quite as sharp (could be the glass/type of lenses). Also, shooting I was a good 4 rows back or so, shooting over heads, so if I was closer, would it pick up more detail?? I don’t know. That would be a good test to see if it’s part of the point and shoot’s limitations. The noise quality almost reminds me of my first digital images, taken on a Nikon D70.
FROM A FAN ATTENDING A SHOW PERSPECTIVE: I think the camera was really easy to use. The images came out great for a point and shoot and the camera definitely takes better concert photographs than any camera phone. Overall I was happy with the Nikon L830 and believe it’s a really great and affordable cameras to bring home memories!