Innocent Bystander/The Golden Mean, December 20, 2008
Daniel Wesley/Matt Mays/Current Swell, December 17, 2008
State of Shock/Mobile/Incura, December 16, 2008
Featherz Edge, December 9, 2008
Anami Vice, December 6, 2008
Incura/Ninjaspy/Versus The Nothing, November 20, 2008
Flood of Fire/Stampede Queen, November 18, 2008
Anvil/Flood of Fire, November 14, 2008
Featherz Edge/Innocent Bystander/Axiom, November 11, 2008
Southern Death Threat/Quartered/Firebrand, November 7, 2008
Agent C and Top Secret, November 6, 2008
Mass Undergoe/Incura, October 31, 2008
Dilana/Murder City Sparrows, October 29, 2008
Throttlecaster/Sugarblade, October 28, 2008
Fighting for Ithaca/Tenant/The Saints Collapse, October 25, 2008
Like A Storm, Innocent Bystander and Floodlight, October 16, 2008
Flood of Fire, October 11, 2008
Greatest Hits
![Featherz Edge, December 9, 2008 : Featherz Edge and Bryan Anderson and The Keys live at The Roxy, December 9, 2008.
Equipment:
Canon 40D
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8
Photo Notes:
This photo shoot was a bit of an experiment for me with remote radio-triggered flashes. I first used them last week at the Anami Vice show at The Bourbon but found that they were far too strong and totally washed out the ambient light. This time around I dialed back the flash power by putting layers of paper over the flash to deaden it. The results were successful in my opinion. I was able to use the flash as fill while retaining the ambient stage lighting.
Bryan Anderson and The Keys was the first act on stage and was a surprise for me. I didn't know what to expect from them and had never heard of them before. Bryan is quite the musician and has a very Steven Page-esque quality to his voice. Visually, it was kind of a boring set to shoot since it was just him sitting at a keyboard, but musically, I definitely recommend checking him out if he's playing at a club near you.
This was my second go around shooting Featherz Edge. The Roxy's generous stage lighting made things easy for me. I ran at 1/160 to 1/200 for most of the set except when I was using the Tamron which needed a slower shutter speed at f/2.8. The flash fill did a fantastic job of keeping faces from getting too shadowy when the musicians leaned over. It also helped out big time with lead singer Tanner Belina since he was wearing a cap which cast a big shadow over his face. Note to musicians: stop wearing hats on stage, dammit!
As always, Kyle Gruninger's guest appearance for "Quiet for the Monent" was atomic, with his thrashing around and dead-on vocals. Again, the flashes made the save as the stage lights were oddly dark during this song compared to the rest of the set and there would have been no way of capturing the kinetic fury of Kyle without them.](http://www.mikechow.com/Concerts-2008/Featherz-Edge-December-9-2008/3098348881b1bfb690a5o/612293819_rRLG7-Ti.jpg "Featherz Edge, December 9, 2008 : Featherz Edge and Bryan Anderson and The Keys live at The Roxy, December 9, 2008.
Equipment:
Canon 40D
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8
Photo Notes:
This photo shoot was a bit of an experiment for me with remote radio-triggered flashes. I first used them last week at the Anami Vice show at The Bourbon but found that they were far too strong and totally washed out the ambient light. This time around I dialed back the flash power by putting layers of paper over the flash to deaden it. The results were successful in my opinion. I was able to use the flash as fill while retaining the ambient stage lighting.
Bryan Anderson and The Keys was the first act on stage and was a surprise for me. I didn't know what to expect from them and had never heard of them before. Bryan is quite the musician and has a very Steven Page-esque quality to his voice. Visually, it was kind of a boring set to shoot since it was just him sitting at a keyboard, but musically, I definitely recommend checking him out if he's playing at a club near you.
This was my second go around shooting Featherz Edge. The Roxy's generous stage lighting made things easy for me. I ran at 1/160 to 1/200 for most of the set except when I was using the Tamron which needed a slower shutter speed at f/2.8. The flash fill did a fantastic job of keeping faces from getting too shadowy when the musicians leaned over. It also helped out big time with lead singer Tanner Belina since he was wearing a cap which cast a big shadow over his face. Note to musicians: stop wearing hats on stage, dammit!
As always, Kyle Gruninger's guest appearance for "Quiet for the Monent" was atomic, with his thrashing around and dead-on vocals. Again, the flashes made the save as the stage lights were oddly dark during this song compared to the rest of the set and there would have been no way of capturing the kinetic fury of Kyle without them.")
![Incura/Ninjaspy/Versus The Nothing, November 20, 2008 : Incura, Versus the Nothing and Ninjaspy live at The Plaza Club, November 20, 2008.
Equipment:
Canon Rebel XTi
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8
Photo Notes:
Finally, a chance to photograph Ninjaspy, and what better place to do it than The Plaza Club? Good lighting and a fair-sized stage made for plenty of antics from Joel, Tim and Adam.
The spotlights made for incredible backlighting on Joel's dreadlocks, which themselves made for incredible pictures with the way they were flying around. Flying hair always makes for awesome pictures.
Versus the Nothing put on a solid set, though they had a tough job following up Ninjaspy. Maybe it was the venue or maybe it was the new guitarist but they seemed to be a bit more inspired than I had seen them previously. The last photo of them in this set (which you can see above this text) has got to be one of my all-time favourite photos. It was purely a matter of right place, right time. When singer Ross Archibald hit the floor dead on in the middle of the lone spotlight at center stage to end the set, that was absolute money.
What more can I say about Incura? The guys are probably the most consistently excellent band in town. Lead singer Kyle Gruninger was recovering from a cold and it kind of caught up to him later in the set, but other than that it was the usual Incura greatness with one or two new songs thrown in and an extended drum solo by Jeff Arnold.
The crowd was thick for most of the show which made front shots tricky. I did the bulk of my shooting from the sides of the stage. I wanted to take advantage of the bright lights of the Plaza, so I mainly stuck with my Sigma 30mm and cranked it up to between 1/160 and 1/250 to get those great "frozen moment" shots except for crowd shots where I needed to slow it down for extra brightness.](http://www.mikechow.com/Concerts-2008/IncuraNinjaspyVersus-The/30495163641f57697966o/612292775_aJzGz-Ti.jpg "Incura/Ninjaspy/Versus The Nothing, November 20, 2008 : Incura, Versus the Nothing and Ninjaspy live at The Plaza Club, November 20, 2008.
Equipment:
Canon Rebel XTi
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8
Photo Notes:
Finally, a chance to photograph Ninjaspy, and what better place to do it than The Plaza Club? Good lighting and a fair-sized stage made for plenty of antics from Joel, Tim and Adam.
The spotlights made for incredible backlighting on Joel's dreadlocks, which themselves made for incredible pictures with the way they were flying around. Flying hair always makes for awesome pictures.
Versus the Nothing put on a solid set, though they had a tough job following up Ninjaspy. Maybe it was the venue or maybe it was the new guitarist but they seemed to be a bit more inspired than I had seen them previously. The last photo of them in this set (which you can see above this text) has got to be one of my all-time favourite photos. It was purely a matter of right place, right time. When singer Ross Archibald hit the floor dead on in the middle of the lone spotlight at center stage to end the set, that was absolute money.
What more can I say about Incura? The guys are probably the most consistently excellent band in town. Lead singer Kyle Gruninger was recovering from a cold and it kind of caught up to him later in the set, but other than that it was the usual Incura greatness with one or two new songs thrown in and an extended drum solo by Jeff Arnold.
The crowd was thick for most of the show which made front shots tricky. I did the bulk of my shooting from the sides of the stage. I wanted to take advantage of the bright lights of the Plaza, so I mainly stuck with my Sigma 30mm and cranked it up to between 1/160 and 1/250 to get those great "frozen moment" shots except for crowd shots where I needed to slow it down for extra brightness.")
![Fighting for Ithaca/Tenant/The Saints Collapse, October 25, 2008 : Fighting for Ithaca, Tenant and The Saints Collapse live at The Bourbon, October 25, 2008.
Photo notes:
Going into this show, I was a bit concerned about how my Rebel XTi would handle the overpowering red, blue and purple lights of The Bourbon that had given my point & shoot cameras so much grief in the past. Fortunately, it wasn't anything a DSLR and good, fast lenses couldn't handle.
It ended up being a good card all around with all three bands being energetic and crowd-engaging, which made things fun for everyone. One thing I liked was that FFI drummer Keigan Funk's drum kit is relatively sparse and he likes to set up his cymbals flat rather than angled so it made for much better drummer pictures than I usually get when the drummers barricade themselves in cymbals.
The Tamron 28-75 turned out to be a bit slow for the darker sequences but was great for close-ups. As usual, the Sigma 30mm was my "when all else fails" lens. I ended up using the Canon 50mm a lot more than I expected to.
The Bourbon's unique stage layout made for a good variety of camera angles. You can get down low in front, with photo pit-like angles and shoot at stage level from the sides of the stage.
Equipment:
Canon Rebel XTi
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8](http://www.mikechow.com/Concerts-2008/Fighting-for-IthacaTenantThe/29756180427da657a66eo/612283886_pQhbA-Ti.jpg "Fighting for Ithaca/Tenant/The Saints Collapse, October 25, 2008 : Fighting for Ithaca, Tenant and The Saints Collapse live at The Bourbon, October 25, 2008.
Photo notes:
Going into this show, I was a bit concerned about how my Rebel XTi would handle the overpowering red, blue and purple lights of The Bourbon that had given my point & shoot cameras so much grief in the past. Fortunately, it wasn't anything a DSLR and good, fast lenses couldn't handle.
It ended up being a good card all around with all three bands being energetic and crowd-engaging, which made things fun for everyone. One thing I liked was that FFI drummer Keigan Funk's drum kit is relatively sparse and he likes to set up his cymbals flat rather than angled so it made for much better drummer pictures than I usually get when the drummers barricade themselves in cymbals.
The Tamron 28-75 turned out to be a bit slow for the darker sequences but was great for close-ups. As usual, the Sigma 30mm was my "when all else fails" lens. I ended up using the Canon 50mm a lot more than I expected to.
The Bourbon's unique stage layout made for a good variety of camera angles. You can get down low in front, with photo pit-like angles and shoot at stage level from the sides of the stage.
Equipment:
Canon Rebel XTi
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8")
![Like A Storm, Innocent Bystander and Floodlight, October 16, 2008 : Like A Storm, Innocent Bystander and Floodlight, live at The Plaza Club, October 16, 2008.
Equipment:
Canon Rebel XTi
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Photo notes:
This was a much easier photo shoot than Flood of Fire at The Cobalt for several reasons. The lighting was much better and more diverse, the stage was more open, allowing 180 degrees of viewing as opposed to a narrow front view with the sides blocked by speakers and also it helps when you don't have to dodge flying bodies from the mosh pit.
It was also interesting in that the three bands had different styles which kept things from getting dull. Like A Storm's big emphasis on flashy visuals made for great "rockstar" shots. Innocent Bystander was a more subdued band apart from Wayne's occasional hijinks and Joel's hopping around. Floodlight was sort of the lukewarm water to the fire and ice, with a steady stage presence but with great connection to the crowd, as demonstrated by the bras on the microphone stand.
As a concert venue, The Plaza Club is sort of a middle ground between larger places like The Commodore and smaller clubs like The Bourbon. You get the feel of a larger room, but without the rigidity of the additional rules that usually go with it. For instance you can see well-known bands like Nashville Pussy or The Supersuckers without having to deal with zealous security (usually, anyway), barricades and strict camera rules.](/photos/random.mg?AlbumID=9176201&Size=Tiny&AlbumKey=3xvhK&rand=7253 "Like A Storm, Innocent Bystander and Floodlight, October 16, 2008 : Like A Storm, Innocent Bystander and Floodlight, live at The Plaza Club, October 16, 2008.
Equipment:
Canon Rebel XTi
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Canon 50mm f/1.8
Photo notes:
This was a much easier photo shoot than Flood of Fire at The Cobalt for several reasons. The lighting was much better and more diverse, the stage was more open, allowing 180 degrees of viewing as opposed to a narrow front view with the sides blocked by speakers and also it helps when you don't have to dodge flying bodies from the mosh pit.
It was also interesting in that the three bands had different styles which kept things from getting dull. Like A Storm's big emphasis on flashy visuals made for great "rockstar" shots. Innocent Bystander was a more subdued band apart from Wayne's occasional hijinks and Joel's hopping around. Floodlight was sort of the lukewarm water to the fire and ice, with a steady stage presence but with great connection to the crowd, as demonstrated by the bras on the microphone stand.
As a concert venue, The Plaza Club is sort of a middle ground between larger places like The Commodore and smaller clubs like The Bourbon. You get the feel of a larger room, but without the rigidity of the additional rules that usually go with it. For instance you can see well-known bands like Nashville Pussy or The Supersuckers without having to deal with zealous security (usually, anyway), barricades and strict camera rules.")
