Strange Weekend

I'm having a strange weekend so far, strange in a good way perhaps, but certainly unexpected.

Friday (of course) we were at The Perfect 5th. 3 Bands were playing, neither of whom I'd heard of, or particularly wanted to see necessarily, but it's a night out and an excuse to use my camera. I had planned on Saturday to take some pictures anyway, so Friday I could treat as a little warm up.

So the first band on Friday were The Hitchhikers, who are a local band. They are a four piece that have been together for about 2 years, and two are now in college, one is taking a gap year and the other (I think) works in the region. They were pretty good, and still young, I quite enjoyed it. So of course I tried a few shots, different angles, some experimentation.

Once the set was over, I was standing by the bar waiting for the next act, when this lady came up to me and asked who I was taking picture for. After a little conversation it turns out she is the mother of the lead singer, and didn't bring her camera and wondered if she could see my pictures. Sure why not? If she'd never asked me they still go on flickr just the same so why not send her the link?

For a while now, following a conversation on facebook, I've been thinking about taking commercial assignments. I've had a front page on the gazette, a half page inside and three other smaller images, so there must be some value in my shots. But does this 'value' translate to people actually handing over money? After all it's easy to like something free. So I've been wondering about trying to recoup some of my costs, especially as I've started taking film pictures now. (Which reminds me I must blog about the F5 story). So this lady coming up to me gets me thinking, firstly I decide to ask her theoretically speaking, would she considering commissioning someone to do a shoot like this, how much would she be happy to spend, and if she had commissioned me under those circumstances would she be happy with the images I've supplied? Secondly, can I try and make a little money selling her prints. Even if she does download from flickr, they are still inferior images to what I could supply Peak myself, so there is still a 'value-add' in coming through me. And if I can make a few pounds it's all good.

So I process the Hitchhikers images first and let her have the link. I know so far that she like them, and given my visitors tripled today after a stagnant week, I'm thinking she must have shared the link. So earlier today I'm was happy just to let that run and see what happens.

Now of course it's Saturday, and earlier tonight Harry and the Hecklers were scheduled to perform at the 5th. I saw two of them, just Rupert and Tom, play at the Open Mic months ago when it first started. Their music is maybe not mainstream, but they do sound good and Rupert has an undeniable personality. And they have absolute bags of style and persona. So I really want to get some shots, and some film shots. I bought some Ilford Delta 400 with them in mind actually. If I can get it right, I think the images would look awesome.

We got the the 5th and I let them get a couple of songs out. I always prefer to miss the first couple of songs and just let the band get settled in, and build a bit of rapport with the audience. I was spotted by HATH once I did approach though, and Rupert played up to the camera a little. But some of the images should look great I think. I was using the 85mm and got some nice tight framing. I just hope the exposure was good enough. I really miss chimping.

After HATH had finished, Rupert came up to me and gave me his 'card'. Which was basically his MySpace URL on a bit of paper. He asked if I worked for the 5th. Said "I don't know how this works, do I give you money now," which taken out of context would probably sound pretty strange.

I explained I was just freelance and it was more of a hobby really. And he said he'd like to see my pictures. I said no problem and if he liked them perhaps he could donate something to the Jamie Gordon lens fund, or consider me if he wanted any photoshoots doing. "How about one now?" he said? "A shot of the band we can use as a better profile image" he continued. Okay sure, why not.

So there I am, with three uniquely dressed performers, standing in a stairwell, with a lens I wouldn't have chosen for such a confined space, with no strobe, no reflectors or umbrellas, doing what could well be my first paying job.

We'll just have to hope that I got something they can use, and would be happy to contribute towards a future 24-70 f/2.8 or something.

It's all a bit of a blur now really. And I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

Flickr Stats

Oooh, there's a "So far today" in flickr stats now. So I can upload and hit F5 all day instead of needing to wait whole 24 hours to find out how people came to find the image!

Not that with "3 views" it really matters I suppose :p

New Lens

Café Culture
Originally uploaded by Nostromoo

I've recently enjoyed taking photographs in The Perfect 5th club in Taunton. But the lighting isn't great, it's pretty dark, so one needs a fast lens. The first time I went I took my 85mm f/1.4 which was acceptable. I only had to drop to 640 ASA ish and got some nice sharp images. But the focal length was a bit restrictive. It was fine if there was only one person on stage, but there was no hope of getting a whole band in so I needed something wider.

I trawled eBay for some cheap wider angles, I toyed with the idea of the AiS 28mm or 35mm f/2.8 lenses but a gig was coming up and I needed something now and I kept loosing auctions, so I plopped for a brand new 50mm online, but I went for the f/1.8 rather than the 1.4 for price reasons (I needed it the next day really, and could find a reasonably priced 1.4 in time). 50mm it turned out was actually wide enough for my needs so I was very happy with it.

So of course I took the lens to Spain, and I've almost fallen in love. The lens is just amazing. It focuses so close you can almost put the camera in someone's face (if you wanted.) This shot I took across the table from Pixie when she was having a cup of coffee. It's sharp beyond belief, this is wide open at f/1.8 too! Stopped down a little it's unbelievably good.

The things I don't like about it are that it feels like it's made of plastic - it feels very cheap (which it was). And it's actually such a short lens I have trouble sometimes focusing because I can't get my fingers on the focus ring - it's much nearer the body than I grab for after using my 85mm, which is monstrously large in comparison.

But I adore the results. I'm so tempted to get the 50mm f/1.2 AiS now, or maybe the equivalent Zeiss ZF mount.

50mm is actually a really useful focal length, even on DX sensors, and this baby is real pleasure to use. And this lens, even shooting MF and MA, which I do a lot now, you can get some cracking exposures from it.