Judas Priest!
// July 14th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Music, Photography, Writings
Last Thursday, thanks to Hellbound.ca, I got my first big concert shoot assignment – none other than the legendary Judas Priest. Still being a relative photo rookie, I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. I mean, it’s Judas Priest – one of the bands that really began heavy metal. And to have the opportunity at such an early point in my photo “career” to shoot them? Yeah, I felt a bit of pressure (although Sean, who runs Hellbound seemed to have complete confidence in me – always giving me positive encouragement).
With only having one lens in hand (the Canon 50mm f/1.8), I felt it was time to expand my arsenal. With my upcoming trip to California, and hopes of taking some landscape photos of the oceanic coast, I felt a wide angle lens was the way to go. So, after looking around, I ended up picking up this bad boy – the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM – from B&H Photo. With a delay at customs, the lens didn’t end up in Ontario until Thursday, the day of the show. With a sprint up to the warehouse to pick it up after work, I really didn’t have a chance to test it out at all before the show. A bit more nervousness. Great.
Arrived at the show towards the end of the Whitesnake set… can’t say I was at all disappointed in missing them… got my ticket and photo pass without any problems. Met up with a couple other people who were there to shoot the show (I wasn’t the only newbie there, which made me feel a bit better). Shortly afterwards, after discussing the last Priest show with one of the security guards, we made our way to the photo pit. 3 songs went quick…. and here’s what I came up with…
The new lens kicked some serious ass, and am proud to say that this was by FAR, my best concert shoot. Sure, it helps shooting such a great band, and the venue (the Molson Amphitheatre) helped… but I think I had a bit of a hand in the results.
After ditching my camera back in the car, I headed back in to enjoy the rest of the set, and had a blast in doing so.
I think I may just like this photography thing….
Links:
Review on Hellbound.ca
Full set on Flickr
Slideshow on Flickr
Judas Priest.com
