Photographing live music, particularly Jazz, is one of my “passion” subjects, so I was moved to take these images of the Shai Maestro Trio appearing at the New Morning in Paris this April, in an effort to evoke the passion of the musicians as they lose themselves in their own form of artistic expression.

Copyrighted Digital Photograph Copyrighted Digital Photograph Copyrighted Digital Photograph

Cameras Are Terrible

Professional cameras used without flash in the dark of a club are heavy, awkward, noisy, short-sighted and might be declared legally blind, if they were human beings. Equally, the musicians and the paying audience have no interest in being disturbed by flash, the noise of single or multiple shutter movements, or the photographer squirming around to find good position. Taking images in available light - usually garish stage lighting at that - forces the use of the widest possible aperture, gives no room for focus error and frequently offers slow shutter speeds that oblige the photographer to choose split seconds when subject movement is minimal.

Timing Is Anticipation

All of which comes down to getting the moments when the shutter is pressed exactly right. Of course the joy of digital is the opportunity to use “machine-gun” image capture and choose one image that works out of dozens of duds. Unfortunately this is not an option for me, given:

a)   my preferred camera is not a sports model shooting at 12 frames a second, but an art version that can “only” achieve a burst of 5 frames per second and

b)   the shutter noise would disturb the audience and/or the musicians. The "silent" option on some models clearly meets engineers' standards, not concert goers' ones.

I have therefore developed my own technique, which is based on general familiarity with instrumentalists' movements, sensitivity to the flow of the music and learning from observation during a show how the particular artists operate. I then concentrate on anticipating emotional moments by a fraction of a second and “firing” a burst of 2 or 3 images, maximum.

If all of the above can be distilled into the perfect moment, I am able to limit my photography to chosen instants, where the camera noise is covered by the music, the zone of focus is well chosen, the artist is demonstrating passion and the pose will be stable enough to limit movement in the image to, say, the musician’s hands.

Perfection Is Not Required

A subject for another day might be “Don’t throw away imperfect images without thinking about it carefully”. What is “imperfect” anyway? The artist’s job, in my view, is to draw attention to the aesthetic in everything, both when it meets “the rules” and just as much as when it does not. "Thinking out of the artistic box", so to speak. I often find sections of images that are interesting in an otherwise “useless” capture.

That said, what defines acceptable imperfection? In this case of event photography, I am frequently defeated by strong lighting and colour choices, which “blow out” the resultant image so much that they really are useless. Using “spot” metering can help in eliminating the worst of ambient light issues.

The constraints of camera and circumstances clearly lead to missed opportunities and having to be satisfied with very limited rendition of what I envisioned to be worth capturing. The overall quality of focus rendition will be average to poor.

All of which said, such “atmospherics” combine to make for happy compensating results. The poor level and artificial coloring of the lighting create unique effects which enhance the moodiness. A sense of immediacy, urgency and improvisation oozes from blur in the image. Above all, the excitement of the music and the engagement of the musicians is the key element engaging the interest of the viewer in the image capture decision of the photographer.

The Result?

This is my intent: how can I share with you, in a silent medium, the excitement, joy, risks and achievements of an ephemeral sonic performance? Am I am truly sharing with you what I felt, what I saw and what I heard? Does it move you too?

Data

Camera: Nikon D800

Lens: VR 70-200mm zoom f/2.8G

VR: ON

Focus Mode: AF-C

Aperture: f/2.8

Shutter Speed: 1/250s

Auto Focus -Area Mode: Single

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering: Spot

ISO Sensitivity: 6400 and +2EV 6400

Mounted on monopod braced mostly against my stomach

Copyright Paul Grayson 2014