JUMP BOYS!

I may have mentioned before that I recently had the pleasure of shooting Billy Doherty of The Undertones for Cycling Plus magazine. Billy is a keen rider - and it probably helps to be fit for hammering out three minute power pop tunes on his tasty sparkle finish Premier drum kit!The band really looked after us and it was great to see the faces of a fired up crowd that knew the words to every song. From a technical shooting point of view gigs are always tricky. Low lights (I hate using flash, for anything except dragging the shutter for creative blur) and constantly changing colours make life tough. Bands (well, drummers to be more accurate) shot on my old Nikon D2x needed a little attention in post production to clean up the noise associated with high ISOs.  But my D300s handles scenes like these with much more aplomb. Nevertheless, I found my trusty 50mm 1.4 prime lens useful in a pinch. The stage was pretty cramped so it was task to eradicate mic stands and assorted gig paraphenalia. 

Still, out on the floor I could use the 70-200mm lens to good effect for this image of the lead singer Paul McLoone who does a very good job indeed of filling Feargal Sharkey's shoes. (alas no Parka)

It's been a while since I shot any live music and I came home a happy chappy. The portrait images of Billy will appear in an issue very soon. Can't wait. Until then, I've got the 'tone's greastest hits in the car annoying the heck out of my daughters. Isn't that what music is for?