It’s Saturday night at Joe’s on Weed, and I’m here ready to rock out some good ‘ol Red Dirt country music with the Josh Abbott Band.   Live music is always fun, but this venue is small enough that you feel like you’re part of the show…. And that is quite literally true when the opening band, Mockingbird Sun, comes out to the crowd and serenades us from atop the bar.  Even from 3 feet away,  I can’t hear anything they are singing, since they’ve left their microphones on stage.  However, I’m pretty sure that he’s talking about me when he says that the “prettiest girls in the bar are standing back by the bar.”  No problems with self esteem over here.   

Josh Abbott Band does not disappoint.  These Texas frat boys turned musicians put on a great show- who doesn’t love a little live banjo and fiddle action?  Captain Morgan , doing what he does, has convinced me that I’m a rockstar too…. So I belt out my favorite songs- the lyrics partially correct, partially made up,  partially jibberish mumbles . 

All in all, a great Chicago Saturday night… But really, would you expect me to say anything else, considering  my love affair with this great city!?

Photography

I drink far too much to lug around any legit gear on this outing, so I have to resort to iPhone-tography.  Also, I’m still trying to make friends in this city, and I don’t really want to be the weirdo blogging a concert.  Oh wait…  Anyways.   Concerts are a rough go for iPhone-tographers.  The low light is a known challenge for the iPhone.   Even as Apple adds in bajillions of pixels with newer models, it still sucks at low light.  To shoot in low light, you need a camera with an aperture that can open up really wide, allowing in more light.  Not possible here.   (Check out this Snap!torial on aperture, in case that’s a new or confusing concept)

The distance from the stage also presents challenges.  Especially factoring in the low light.  You use that zoom and immediately, it’s a pixelated, grainy POS photo that’s not Facebook-suitable (and let’s be honest… largely the reason you need to photograph a concert is to show your FB friends how cool you are!). 

Additionally, the flash on the iPhone isn’t going to be sufficient in this size of venue.  It will actually ruin the photo by adding in light to the foreground (the people standing in front of me), and distort the exposure on the desired subject (the band on stage).    In large venues, turn that flash off. 

Some other tips to help improve your iPhone-tography:

• Hold the camera/ phone with 2 hands.   Especially in low light, you might experience a slower shutter speed than ideal, so steady the photo with 2 hands.  As my middle school band teacher used to say- nothing with feeling ever comes from just using one hand.  Not real sure how that was applicable to band.
• Using zoom will increase shakiness, blur, and in low light situations, pixelation.  Try composing your photo wide angle, without zoom

Happy Shooting!