ENEMIES OF CONFUSION

Enemies of Confusion, at Smokestack, downtown Dubuque, Iowa

Last Friday the Enemies of Confusion, a local band from Dubuque, Iowa, had a record release party in the ”Smokestack”, an event bar downtown Dubuque. Their new album PUBLIC ADDRESS is now officially out and their well-crafted, garage rock and blues infused Rock ’n’ Roll, with a great guitar sound, rocked the house that night. I know two members of the band and wanted to see them since a long time.

Brandon Duccini, vocals, guitar

I shot part of the band already in 2007, when they were the All-Night-Riders and backing band of acclaimed blues player James Kind. It was only my second concert photography shooting ever and I had fun looking at some of the old pictures. My style today is much different and people that know only my wildlife and landscape work may ask, what the heck is he doing here…?

Ray Otis, drums, backing vocals

I don’t make images of people very often, but I enjoy shooting photos of artists, and in particular musicians. I asked myself, why is that, and I guess it is because they come back with an expression in their face, or a certain gesture during their performance without being asked for it. The picture comes to you, if you just wait for the right moments…

Bryan Freisinger, vocals, guitar

My technical approach for that night was simple. The camera was set to monochrome so I see already in the viewfinder the outcome of a desired picture. If I would later change my mind and want still a color version of a particular image, no problem, the RAW data of the picture still hold all color information. My monochrome pre-setting in camera includes also a high contrast setting, a look I like in concert photography. I came with only one lens, the Nikon Nikkor AFS 70-200, f/4, and I shot the whole night wide open with f/4. Almost all pictures that night were shot between ISO 4000 and 10000, a few images even at ISO 32000. Sure, with the limited light in a concert venue there is digital noise introduced to each image with such high ISO settings. Thanks to camera technology and Topaz De-Noise reduction this is all manageable, something I would have never written a few years ago. Alright, let’s forget all the technical blah-blah and I hope you get a kick out of this selection of some of my favorite photos from the ENEMIES OF CONFUSION record release party.

Tony Moline, bass, backing vocals

This young man, the nephew of one of the band members, had his chance during the first break the band took after about an hour. His solo on the drums got him some big applause   by the audience.

Brandon and Bryan

Is that the manager behind the band, thinking, I can do that better…? 😉

AGAIN: 10 OF SOUL (PART 2)

Hard to believe it was already five weeks ago when the band 10 OF SOUL from Minneapolis, MN was in town, playing a concert for the “Dubuque and… All That Jazz!” concert series. I promised to show a few more photos from this great event. Well, it took me a little longer than I thought, but here is finally my second post with portraits of the musicians. If you missed the first post back in August with more details about this concert, here is a LINK that will open it for you. 

AGAIN: 10 OF SOUL (PART 1)

People know me maybe as a nature photographer, and I guess my love for music and performance has been in the second row, at least here in the blog. Last Friday I couldn’t resist. Dubuque hosted again “Dubuque and… All That Jazz!”, a concert series that takes place downtown once a month during the summer. Great bands , well organized, and a good way to finish the week. The act last week was 10 OF SOUL from Minneapolis, MN, a band I had photographed already in 2014 and 2015. Eleven musicians played soul, funk, and blues. The crowd enjoyed their performance very much, many people danced and it was a great party atmosphere again.

I waited until it almost got dark before I took the camera out of the bag. No dealing with buildings, antennas, or wires in the background this way. Other years in the past the SIGMA 150, f/2.8 was used but last Friday I had the Nikkor 70-200, f/4 on camera. Yes, this costs a full stop of light, but I really like the versatility, and looking at the metadata at home revealed that almost every focal length between 70 and 200 mm was used this evening. I shot the lens wide open at f/4 the whole time and just changed my exposure compensation according to what scene I had in the viewfinder. The light intensity and color changes constantly during a concert, depending how crazy the guys behind the mixer work. I prefer to process the images in black & white for my concert photography. It appeals to me more than a crazy color mix due to ever-changing spot lights.

Special thank you to the members of the band for letting me shoot from every direction, including the backstage area!

Six photos today and maybe a few more later this week of this great music event…

GAELIC STORM AT THE IRISH HOOLEY

I’m on a business trip in Denver, CO this week and my posts are a little bit behind ”actual”… I talked about an eventful weekend in my last post, and yes, we had some really good time last Saturday at the ‘Irish Hooley’ outside of the old Star Brewery in Dubuque, Iowa. Our friends Jeanne and Dave had invited us and we enjoyed the concert of Gaelic Storm, a chart-topping, multi-national Celtic band, as they call themselves on their website. We have seen them before and they did a great performance again.

I admit, photography was not a priority this evening. We just enjoyed the company of our friends, perfect weather, great music, and some good beer and food. Live was good… Thank you Jeanne and Dave!