I love shooting bands that I've never heard before and don't know anything about. I get to hear new music and study the movements of the band members to fighure out how best to capture them. This is what I did for a long time when starting out with this blog, and all the bands were new to me. But this particular post is going to be about something else.

I've shot both of these bands numerous times, so I know how they move and how to capture their stage personalities. Their CDs are in constant rotation in my car, and I enjoy chatting with them when we see each other out and about. Shooting friends is different than shooting strangers.

Click on a photo to go to the full gallery.



The stage at the Radio Room is also a friend of mine. The lights are usually bright enough to use my zooms and I can get some good angles. I hope it's still this nice when it turns into 11.



It's easy to get close to friends, so I used my ultra-wide angle lens exclusively this night. To fill the frame, I basically have to be right up Irradio's nose. Since they've gotten pretty comfortable with me there, there's a bit more interaction between us- it's not so one-sided.



Even the new guy, Danny, gave me the finger.





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Same thing with A Scribe Amidst the Lions- great music and great people.



For example, Kris jumps around a lot and has piercing eyes. That's what I try to capture every time, but it's easier when there's an element of trust between us.



Adam is a bit more deadpan and I'm trying to highlight that in an interesting way.





Once again, mutual trust is very important. Without it, I would never have gotten up on stage and shot from the band's perspective. This was actually my first time doing it.



They always bring women who crowd the front. If you're going to shoot an audience, it might as well be all ladies.









Speaking of ladies...



I'm not a huge fan of the paparazzi style photographers who shoot the "scene" instead of the band. But, it would be a disservice to not include the fans who I run into at shows. I've been doing more and more of this lately, and it's yet anotherr challenge I'm setting for myself. A lot of those other guys are just shooting the hot girls or hipster fashions as a matter of spectacle. They might make much better money doing that in a trendy club than what I do, but I'm taking photos for the people in them, not for some anonymous reader. Hopefully that comes through in the end.