One thing I might have to get used to while being a photographer, is traveling and waiting.
These days it is easy to plan out a journey using train times and Google Maps, so turning up late for something should be a thing of the past. Unless there is snow..
Last Sunday I visited the Distillers pub in Hammersmith to watch and photograph a group of Burlesque ladies performing at Miss Odelia’s Opium Den. I made sure I was there on time to pick out a seat. Due to the colossal amount of snow the UK had been experiencing I was one of the first there.
I met Tallulah Manhattan, whom I have had chats with over Facebook before the event and failed miserably to recognize her.. doh sorry! I was then introduced to Miss Odelia herself and talked briefly about the show and where the performers would come up to the stage.
I had a quick look around choose a spot next to the lighting and sound desk. I had what I thought was a good view of the stage from there. The room in the Distillers is a lot smaller than Madam Jo Jo’s so I hoped the full length of my 55-250 would not be needed. The lighting is a bit brighter as well so some of my shots did come down to iso1600 but the shutter speed never got higher than 1/60. Still I did manage to get some great shots. The stag has a thick black curtain as a back drop which made the performers pop out in a lot of the images, red hair, white fans, green basques all worked against the darker backdrop. You can see the set here.
All the performers were excellent, I also liked the addition of the seldom seen ‘stunt microphone’ which had a bit of a rough night! I also got to meet Violet Blaze for the first time since photographing her winning the Burlesque Idol competition in December.
Once again the lack of available light caused the ISO to jump up to 3200 on many of the shots. This introduced noticeable grain in the majority of shots so I am now looking at getting a faster lens with perhaps a fixed aperture of f2.8. Can any one reading this blog recommend one for a Canon 550d? Maybe something with a range of along the middle ground of 50-150?
Oh and ‘Dumb Arse’ moment of the evening? Forgetting my business cards… idiot..
Cheers!
LITF
Lens in the face 