SXSW Recap Day Nine+
I need to bring this recap to a close or it will never end.
Day nine started out in Seattle. Well, actually it started in Austin at the SXSeattle party. Haleigh and I got there early but it was already wall to wall people. I was there to see "Natalie Portman's Shaved Head." I was able to make it to the front of the crowd and get a good spot to the side where I wouldn't be blocking anyone's view.
The band hit the stage and put on a great show. They were all dressed in plaid flannel as an homage to Seattle's most infamous contribution to music, "grunge." They had a lot of energy on stage and I was able to capture a lot of it with my photos. Prior to seeing them I mainly knew them by their song "Sophisticated Side Ponytail" that I posted here a while back. It turned out that the resto of their music had male vocals which was okay but it did give them a different sound than I expected. I still really enjoyed the show and would gladly go see them again anytime that they are in the area.
Interestingly, I hadn't sent the band any links to my photos but they found them on flickr and even favorited this one.
When I was taking this picture I actually wasn't focused on the action at all. I was hoping to spotlight the Obama watch he was wearing. Where I normally lock focus on the eyes or face, for this image I had locked it on Obama and had been trying to follow that as he moved his arms around. It was luck that I was able to capture the singer at a vibrant moment at the same time as getting the watch in focus.
This is my favorite image from the shoot. While he does have the mic in front of his face, I love the energy in the shot combined with the angle and the grunge feel. Normally the poor lighting at this venue would have been a disadvantage but in this case I think it worked well.
This image isn't an amazing concert image but I really like the emotion that you can see on her face. She sings lead on the one song and it is obvious that she had really enjoyed hamming it up for the audience.
The next highlight of the day was shooting Echo And The Bunnymen. They were playing the "Bat Bar" in the convention center which is the area set up by Directv so that they can broadcast bands live from SXSW.
Because of the live broadcasting everying was being run very strictly with crowds being shuffled in and out on a very tight schedule. With this being such a high profile venue they were also strict on photography. With a pass I was allowed to photograph the first three songs only and no flash would be allowed. We were escorted to the front and like clockwork as soon as the third song ended security escorted us to the back of the venue which is fairly standard for photography at most large shows.
The concert itself was extremely lackluster. If you have ever seen the movie Galaxy Quest you might remember the scene where Tim Allen's character is unshaven and hung over in his apartment. The aliens show up and he thinks they are wanting him to do an acting bit. He does it but puts no effort into it and acts like he is bothered by having to do it the whole time. That is exactly the vibe I got from Echo and the Bunnymen. They came out, muddled through some songs as quick as they could but had no energy. Seeing them the night before at a more intimate venue would have been a better choice but at least the lighting was good.
While the pictures I got are adequate I think the bands apathy shows through and brings them down.
That night was Japan Nite. All the bands did a great job
I like this image of the band Stereo Pony. They are best known in America for doing one of the end theme songs for the anime "Bleach." I shot this image looking up at her and I love the way I was able to catch her hair in motion to help communicate the movement that was going on. The angles add to the feeling of action in the image and the fingers at odd angles help to emphasize her skill on the instrument. My only regret was that I had to use flash to be able to properly stop the action and get the image. Musicly, Stereo Pony was my favorite band of the night. They have a good rock sound with lots of energy.
This was another favorite shot of the night. It is the guitarist from the band "Special Thanks." I just like the classic rock n roll pose that is reminiscent of The Ramones.
The headlining band for the night is Quaff.
They are a visual kei band from Japan with a unique and interesting look. By the time they went on their were a lot of extremely drunk people in the audience. There was a guy next to me that kept wanting to tell me how they stole their look from Hanoi Rocks and how he wanted to give them a piece of his mind. He did eventually get the attention of one member of the band between songs who he started giving a very loud drunken lecture to and of course the band member just stared at him kind of blankly obviously not understanding much english.
There was also a very drunk frat boy who was sure he was the life of the party. He had on Tom Cruise/Risky Business sunglasses and would climb onto the stage at every opportunity to raise his beer in the air and dance with the band only to be escorted off by security.
The band themselves took it all in stride and put on a great show. Their music came off a little bit glam metal for my tastes but their showmanship was great and they did know how to play to the crowd.
This image shows why many big name bands restrict photography to the first three minutes of a show. By the end they are drenched in sweat and not looking their best. At the same time this is what photographers want to get as it shows just how hard the band worked during the show.
This shot is from much earlier in the show. In this one they remind me a lot of the hair metal band from the eighties, "Poison."
I will end with my one of my favorite shots from all of SXSW. It was taken in concert but seems very portrait like.
This was the last big night of SXSW. Sunday evening we did go see the nerdcore showcase with MC Lars and MC Frontalot but I have already posted some of those pics so I won't repeat those.
SXSW 2009 was an amazing experience and I am already looking forward to next year.
Day nine started out in Seattle. Well, actually it started in Austin at the SXSeattle party. Haleigh and I got there early but it was already wall to wall people. I was there to see "Natalie Portman's Shaved Head." I was able to make it to the front of the crowd and get a good spot to the side where I wouldn't be blocking anyone's view.
The band hit the stage and put on a great show. They were all dressed in plaid flannel as an homage to Seattle's most infamous contribution to music, "grunge." They had a lot of energy on stage and I was able to capture a lot of it with my photos. Prior to seeing them I mainly knew them by their song "Sophisticated Side Ponytail" that I posted here a while back. It turned out that the resto of their music had male vocals which was okay but it did give them a different sound than I expected. I still really enjoyed the show and would gladly go see them again anytime that they are in the area.
Interestingly, I hadn't sent the band any links to my photos but they found them on flickr and even favorited this one.
When I was taking this picture I actually wasn't focused on the action at all. I was hoping to spotlight the Obama watch he was wearing. Where I normally lock focus on the eyes or face, for this image I had locked it on Obama and had been trying to follow that as he moved his arms around. It was luck that I was able to capture the singer at a vibrant moment at the same time as getting the watch in focus.
This is my favorite image from the shoot. While he does have the mic in front of his face, I love the energy in the shot combined with the angle and the grunge feel. Normally the poor lighting at this venue would have been a disadvantage but in this case I think it worked well.
This image isn't an amazing concert image but I really like the emotion that you can see on her face. She sings lead on the one song and it is obvious that she had really enjoyed hamming it up for the audience.
The next highlight of the day was shooting Echo And The Bunnymen. They were playing the "Bat Bar" in the convention center which is the area set up by Directv so that they can broadcast bands live from SXSW.
Because of the live broadcasting everying was being run very strictly with crowds being shuffled in and out on a very tight schedule. With this being such a high profile venue they were also strict on photography. With a pass I was allowed to photograph the first three songs only and no flash would be allowed. We were escorted to the front and like clockwork as soon as the third song ended security escorted us to the back of the venue which is fairly standard for photography at most large shows.
The concert itself was extremely lackluster. If you have ever seen the movie Galaxy Quest you might remember the scene where Tim Allen's character is unshaven and hung over in his apartment. The aliens show up and he thinks they are wanting him to do an acting bit. He does it but puts no effort into it and acts like he is bothered by having to do it the whole time. That is exactly the vibe I got from Echo and the Bunnymen. They came out, muddled through some songs as quick as they could but had no energy. Seeing them the night before at a more intimate venue would have been a better choice but at least the lighting was good.
While the pictures I got are adequate I think the bands apathy shows through and brings them down.
That night was Japan Nite. All the bands did a great job
I like this image of the band Stereo Pony. They are best known in America for doing one of the end theme songs for the anime "Bleach." I shot this image looking up at her and I love the way I was able to catch her hair in motion to help communicate the movement that was going on. The angles add to the feeling of action in the image and the fingers at odd angles help to emphasize her skill on the instrument. My only regret was that I had to use flash to be able to properly stop the action and get the image. Musicly, Stereo Pony was my favorite band of the night. They have a good rock sound with lots of energy.
This was another favorite shot of the night. It is the guitarist from the band "Special Thanks." I just like the classic rock n roll pose that is reminiscent of The Ramones.
The headlining band for the night is Quaff.
They are a visual kei band from Japan with a unique and interesting look. By the time they went on their were a lot of extremely drunk people in the audience. There was a guy next to me that kept wanting to tell me how they stole their look from Hanoi Rocks and how he wanted to give them a piece of his mind. He did eventually get the attention of one member of the band between songs who he started giving a very loud drunken lecture to and of course the band member just stared at him kind of blankly obviously not understanding much english.
There was also a very drunk frat boy who was sure he was the life of the party. He had on Tom Cruise/Risky Business sunglasses and would climb onto the stage at every opportunity to raise his beer in the air and dance with the band only to be escorted off by security.
The band themselves took it all in stride and put on a great show. Their music came off a little bit glam metal for my tastes but their showmanship was great and they did know how to play to the crowd.
This image shows why many big name bands restrict photography to the first three minutes of a show. By the end they are drenched in sweat and not looking their best. At the same time this is what photographers want to get as it shows just how hard the band worked during the show.
This shot is from much earlier in the show. In this one they remind me a lot of the hair metal band from the eighties, "Poison."
I will end with my one of my favorite shots from all of SXSW. It was taken in concert but seems very portrait like.
This was the last big night of SXSW. Sunday evening we did go see the nerdcore showcase with MC Lars and MC Frontalot but I have already posted some of those pics so I won't repeat those.
SXSW 2009 was an amazing experience and I am already looking forward to next year.