Kevin Devine crowd, Soundwave 2008

The other week, I did something novel. I paid for, and went to a show for fun. And doubly novel? Took my film camera along. (NB. I do quite often go to shows for fun, I’m not that jaded! Though often my ‘fun’ shows are friends’ bands and I don’t have to pay)

I hadn’t touched a film camera since photography class in high school (2001, for those interested), and I’d only recently become confident enough in my digital skills to take the whole game back to film. Jeff Martin’s show at the Fly By seemed a good starter. Guy sitting on a chair for the whole set, static lighting…easy right? Kinda.

First lesson learnt, within about ten minutes: if you’re using a camera without the ability to adjust the diopter, don’t forget your glasses. Not only could I not see my compositions properly, I couldn’t read the light meter at all. Great. My idea to rely on the spot meter and let the camera do a bit of the work didn’t work too well either, cause due to the blindness I couldn’t see where the center focus point was properly and kept locking on black hair instead of fair skin.

Felicity Groom, Fly By Night

Andrew Ryan & Felicity Groom, Fly By Night

Felicity Groom, Fly By Night

Gambled on spot metering for the support act, Felicity Groom & the Black Black Smoke with mixed results. Most were over-exposed like the top two, but the third photo is pretty much the only one that was on the money. It’s probably the ‘best’ photo of the night, nothing special in terms of composition, but I was really only aiming to get ballpark decent exposures for my first outing, not 36 captures of utter brilliance.

The first few photos of Jeff Martin were awfully overexposed. I could feel that they weren’t working, but I was slightly hesitant to switch to manual without the safety net of the light meter. I had three options: continue how I was, and potentially end up with a roll full of crap; not take any further photos; or switch to manual, cross my fingers and make educated guesses on what shutter speeds I needed. The third option seemed like the best way to go.

 
Jeff Martin, Fly By Night

Jeff Martin, Fly By Night

Jeff Martin, Fly By Night

I flicked between 1/30 and 1/40, for no other reason than the fact they felt the best. I’ve always tried to teach myself to be a little intuitive about lighting and the corresponding settings, so this was my first real opportunity to try it out. The last photo is probably my favourite. It looks a lot nicer in the print I got from the lab, but not as good in that scan. Go figure. Is a little underexposed regardless, but I like the slightly longing look in his eyes (which you can’t really see properly in this small version anyway!)

The verdict? Very good fun, good learning experience, something I’d definitely do again. I’d forgotten what it was like waiting to pick your prints up at the lab, and then feeling quite chuffed when you found a couple of gems among the photos. One of my favourite things (as can be seen a little in the Soundwave photo up the top), is how much detail is retained in the shadows. I’d heard film shooters talking about it, but had never really paid much attention. On the downside, I’m not too fussed about the grain. Unfortunate by-product of using digital cameras where the noise is reduced to the point of being a non-issue. I shot on ISO400, and it was grainy enough to bother me. I’m now very pessimistic about using the ISO1600 and ISO3200 rolls I bought! Looking forward to getting some ISO400 B&W film in the future though, that’ll look pretty great, grainy or no.