Wednesday nights Greaseland AllStars at the Grand Dell Saloon is some of the best music in the Bay Area. But unlike the Jam on Thursday night, photographically not a lot happening. The same great musicians playing the same great music which I have photographed hundreds of times. The hurdle is getting something interesting in a somewhat static environment . This type of photography, like street photography is opportunistic, you wait and hunt for images. If a lot of people were dancing, you would have plenty of subjects. But people sitting around listening to music or occasionally getting out of their seat to dance doesn't provide a lot of opportunity. But there are things happening albeit subtle but you have to be on the lookout. As for example two well known musicians of the same instrument but different generations sharing a moment. I shot this a bit soft, then keep watching but the great facial expressions never returned. But even soft, I still like the emotion of the image and I will use it.
Sort of a standard image is the special guest doing his thing, which is this case was singing and playing the harmonica. The emotion of the moment made this image a bit more interesting. I saw the image in the camera but the auto focus wouldn't lock so I waited and waited until I finally had a similar pose with good focus.The fist pump, big base suited what I wanted to capture.
At most Grand Dell musical evenings like this one, there is no cover charge. Periodically the tip bucket circulates throughout the venue and you show gratitude by tipping the band. Often this is on break, or the person walks around without the band close enough to be in the picture. In this case, I saw this image coming and wanted to grab the tip bucket and the band. The guitar player announced the Tip Bucket and instead of just walking it around, it was held up and pointed to. Perfect moment if you are ready!
Finally, the guitar player is the organizer of the event so I wanted to capture him up close. I wanted drummer June Core in the background but the neck of the guitar kept blocking June in the perspective I wanted. So I waited what seemed like an eternity before the shot opened up.
The post processing is a matter of taste. I tend to like black and white unless the color is really important to the image. In the case of musicians, color is not important unless it is part of a costume for the show. I like facial expression, emotion, hand movement, any expression of body language. I'm always looking for those special moments where clear emotion is on display. I don't always see those special moments but I keep looking. It can be as subtle as a distracted facial expression in the middle of some activity. It's all in the observation and being ready to catch the moment.
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