Last year I started posting some of favorite photos from that year and some of the stories behind the shots, well here’s the 2010 version. I was quite blessed this year and had an opportunity to photograph just over 130+ bands / DJs. It was definitely a busy year for ya boy here. After sifting through thousands of photos here a few of my favorites. If you want to purchase any of these as posters email me at mr.davidthai [at] gmail.com.
The shot above was taken during a February concert from City and Colour. This was during the Olympics, so getting accreditation for shows during this period was incredibly difficult. But we were lucky to be placed on Dallas’ list, actually we ended up sitting with his wife and family during the show. I, off course, didn’t even notice til Alicia pointed it out to me.
This shot here is from the Calvin Harris show also during the Olympics. I actually have a ton of epic shots of all the DJs from that night, U-Tern, Burns and of course Calvin Harris. Since I pretty much had all the time in the world to shoot from stage i tried all sorts of angles. I put on the fisheye to go mad wide and placed my camera right on the corner of the DJ stand and just waited for the lighting to work in my favor.
Another solid DJ gig this year, although The Twelves essentially did all their remixing live on the spot, extremely cool to see in person. Another DJ that I remember doing something like this is Breakbot, but I digress. Having photographed quite a few DJ gigs this year I took what I learned from previous gigs and applied it to this one again using the a fisheye. The lighting was touch and go for this whole show, but I could see that limits could be pushed a bit with B&W, so I went that route.
This Public Enemy concert actually took place just before Sasquatch! Music Festival, which they were suppose to perform at as well. I wanted to photograph them before I headed down so that I could fit in other bands / DJs down at the festival. That turned out to be a good move as Public Enemy actually restricted who could photograph them at the Festival. The concert was amazing and Flavor Flav really knows how to play to the cameras by holding his poses. This shot wasn’t one of those. On a close-up zoom, he’s actually looking right into the camera.
Last night the 16-year old in me felt complete as Robyn rolled into town. Myself and another friend got to meet her before the concert where we interviewed her. During the interview I was also given permission to photographer her as she was doing the interview. Real candid type shots, nothing fancy at all. That interview went incredibly well, she actually wanted to extended the interview and we found out afterwards that that wasn’t something she did for anybody else, so that felt pretty…well, awesome.
Afterwards we caught her show and it was amazing. First off, the venue was waaaaaay too small, she could’ve easily filled a bigger venue, but at the same time, it was great because it felt quite intimate, even with this huge sound coming out at us. No standard photography pit at this venue, which is common for this place, so I went in early and suffered through some suspect openers. The lighting in general for her set was decent, this venue is also known for it’s not so great lighting. Generally tons of dark blue and reds, but they had some decent white light throughout the show which helped quite a bit. The main lens that I used during the shoot was my 50mm 1.4, but I had it at 2.0 for the majority of the night. I did have my 17-55 on my other camera, but it wasn’t used much as I wasn’t in a position to catch a super wide shot. The shot above is my favorite and really captures the night, home girl did not stop moving from beginning to end. Check the gallery below.
Saturday night saw Red Bull take over the W2 Storyeum for their Megahurtz event which saw 14+ acts perform. I couldn’t stay for the whole event but I was able to catch the end of Skratch Bastid’s set, which is always incredibly entertaining. First thing I noticed was how incredible the setup was. The main room with the big staging area and then the second room with a more chill vibe and 3-D visuals playing on the wall, though I’m not totally certain they were working properly.
The first act to hit the main stage was Vancouver’s own Love & Electrik. I love these guys, not cus I happen to be friends with them, but I just love their tunes. It always reminds me of my childhood and my mom always playing the music that obviously inspired Love & Electrik. Shooting the band was easy, the lighting for the most part was decent, although there were times when I wished they had more lighting on both Kevin and Roxane, especially for the few times that they came together. Overall I was pretty happy with the photos that I ended up getting.
No slowing down after L&E, it was Lunice that came on. Dude was pretty animated and you could definitely tell he was feeling the vibe, especially when he was breaking down a dance for the folks. I felt like the lighting on Lunice was incredibly dark, so shooting from in front or from the crowd wasn’t really an option. I hopped up on stage just off to his side and was able to grab a few shots that I’m totally pleased with.
The final act I caught before I had to dip out was Black Milk. There was no way I was leaving before seeing this man perform. C’mon son! I was positioned just right of the stage by the drummer, I knew I should’ve brought my earplugs, I thought my head was going to explode at certain points. Black Milk came out and it shit was bananas. I was in direct lighting which sometimes can present problems when shooting, but I shifted around and used the lighting to my advantage. You’ll see quite a few shots where there are light halos / starbursts coming in from behind Black Milk. Tons of personal favorite shots from this shoot. Great lighting throughout on the set, white lighting is king for photographers. So with that check the gallery below.
