Featured Stories,  Live Performances

How it all Started…Review and Photos of Bright Eyes at the Royal Oak Music Theatre 3/14/2011

I was slow to discover the band Bright Eyes last year, but I’m grateful I did. Not only are they my favorite band, but they helped me to discover a passion of mine-concert photography. Bright Eyes was scheduled to play at the Royal Oak Music Theater in Detroit on 3/14. I had planned to go but tickets were sold out and on Stub Hub they were $100+. UGH. I met a new friend named, Nardo, who said he could get us tickets and asked if I could photograph the event for a local blog. In the past I had photographed weddings, portraits and parties, but never any concerts. After Nardo told me I couldn’t use flash in the pictures I frowned and told him that I wasn’t sure about wanting to do it. We now laugh when we remember how I told him that I wanted to go out and party it up and not work at a concert. In fact, I even said I’d rather pay to go to the show then get tickets for free if it meant “working.” I topped it all off by saying without flash my pictures would look like “shit” and I didn’t want that displayed on any public website. Nardo just smiled and said, “I know you can do this,” I begrudgingly agreed and looked forward to the concert regardless of my picture taking duties.

I was nervous about photographing the concert because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into and I hadn’t been shooting much of anything lately. When we got to the theatre I had to admit that I liked getting a cool-looking Bright Eyes press pass. (Bright Eyes makes the best photo passes that I’ve seen so far!) I shot the opening band and let’s just say I’m glad I got a chance to warm-up. I also was able to get a feel for what it was like to stand in front of the front row right below the performers. It felt like the concert was being performed just for me:)

When Bright Eyes took the stage, I entered  a “zone” and took my pictures. Some were bad, but others were pretty good. Regardless of the outcome, I was in love with concert photography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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