Those of you who regularly follow this blog have probably at some point collected that I enjoy concert photography very much. I might go so far as to say that it’s my favorite kind of photography, and the one I’d most like to make a living from, although it seems there are not many concert-exclusive photographers in the world who make a good living. This doesn’t bother me too much, as I think working too many concerts would become quite tiresome, and so supplementing it with other forms, such as more classical portraiture, would be quite nice.

At any rate, there is much to love about concert photography. There is tremendous variety in the look from one show to the next, and certainly between venues. You get to listen to (usually) very good music while you shoot, and you get to challenge yourself in ways that most types of shooting can’t. Certainly there are styles or events that necessitate shooting faster, darker, more emotional, or more dynamically lit, but rarely are all of those elements mixed together in such high proportion. I strongly encourage you to take a look at the concert portfolio listed in the menu section of my blog at the top, and take a look to see just how dynamic the settings can be.

At any rate, this concert is largely the opposite of my more commonly photographed concerts. It’s an orchestra, rather than a rock show, and I also had the benefit of receiving a full dress rehearsal to shoot them, rather than trying to operate during a concert itself. Certainly the freedom to move about the stage was welcome, although one still has to be pretty careful not to become a burden or distraction on the group. That being said, they were in their concert blacks just for me, so that probably gave me a little bit of sway if I needed it.

So here for you is the Winona State University Orchestra. Enjoy.

And it’s only Sunday… at 4am. Silly me. I went to a concert last (Friday) night, which was fun. Didn’t shoot at all. Not sure why. Mostly I just enjoyed the evening and the good company. Last night (Saturday), we had the Back Porch which was great, and then went to the ol’ Acoustic Café to watch Tim Johnson play, and then a few of us went up to Circle Six to do an impromptu Red Couch shoot. It was a great time, and some really original ideas were made. You’ll see the RED photos in the next post, but for now, I’ll show you what I shot at Acoustic. I haven’t done any candid shooting recently (or very little, rather), and so my focusing is pretty bad. I’m going to make a point to do more candids. I miss it. Here goes, everyone.

Also, I’m going to start trying a larger upload size. See if it is crap, and you dislike it. For vertical shots, I’ll keep them the same size, but based on my stats, my average viewer has room for wider photos.

It’s wonderful what new technology allows you to do.

I received a 500GB internal hard drive for my Mac Pro today, and so I finally have the capacity to store all of my photos from the past two and a half years in a single place. Better than that, I can store them all inside of Apple Aperture, which makes sortation, viewing, rating/ranking, and batch editing much easier.

I have mixed feelings about the process so far. On a technical level, it’s pure brilliance. Select a bunch of folders, click import, and we’re golden.

On a personal level, it’s a little more complicated.

Two and a half years of missed focus, bad exposures, lame or cliché compositions, and a general sense of ineptitude. Failed experiments.

On the bright side, I’ve come across dozens, if not hundreds, of photos that I had completely forgotten about. Photos that somehow evaded my selects previously, or that I couldn’t use before, but now can because of greater editing proficiency and understanding of the digital processes. Photos that were immediately recognized as excellent quality, but editing had to be postponed because of another project of greater urgency.

The greatest complication though, is Jennifer. I’ll spare you all the story, but the long and short of it is that she and I were together for most of those two years, and are not anymore.

Every dozen or so photos I’ll hit a string of photos of her, or of me that she took. Sometimes it reminds me of really hard times, where she and I struggled, either with each other, circumstance, her parents, or all of the above. But some of the times cannot be described under any category other than the happiest moments of my life.

A truly great photograph will have an emotional impact on anyone who views it. I have a fair number of photos that meet that criteria (well, maybe not anyone, but certainly your average individual. But it’s very strange how great the effect is on the person or people involved. How a simple image can bring back what feels like an entire lifetime that one had forgotten.

All things considered, I think going back in time isn’t so bad.