Kathleen Edwards - Burlington, VT 03/31/08

[skifurthur]

Every once in awhile I get to shoot in a small venue. While I expect the lighting to not be of arena quality, I wasn't quite ready for The Higher Ground's Showcase room. The stage was bright enough but the layout was like this. 8 front of stage red gelled cans illuminating the front of the stage. To make matters worse, the gels where of various vintages...some new, some old with color burned out of them. So, there where hot spots all over the front of the stage. Lighting of the rear stage was 9 cans gelled with red, blue, green and white in no particular order. Ugh.

The artist is current Alt-Country darling, Kathleen Edwards. I've been playing with the RAW files for a few days now and think I have a solution, but only because Kathleen has a timeless beauty thing going. Yea for Canadian women. Black and white looked good, antique greyscale in LR gave the captures something extra to my eye. Feedback is very welcome on this one.

Such a pity, Kathleen was an engaging performer and is not at all unpleasing to the eye. I wish I had better lighting to make her look her best.

The first photo is to give you an idea of what the actual lighting looked like.

1.
http://www.amsaddler.com/kathleen_edwards/IMG_0629.jpg

2.
http://www.amsaddler.com/kathleen_edwards/IMG_0613.jpg

3.
http://www.amsaddler.com/kathleen_edwards/IMG_0655.jpg

4.
http://www.amsaddler.com/kathleen_edwards/IMG_0685.jpg

5.
http://www.amsaddler.com/kathleen_edwards/IMG_0690.jpg

6.
http://www.amsaddler.com/kathleen_edwards/IMG_0718.jpg

7.
http://www.amsaddler.com/kathleen_edwards/IMG_9746.jpg

8.
http://www.amsaddler.com/kathleen_edwards/IMG_9756.jpg

[datadump]

i absolutely love kathleen ... awesome performer. her latest cd is amazinggggg..

some really challenging conditions to shoot in indeed.. i like #6. but i personally dont like the sephia-look.

#8 is great capture but a pity it was a bit OOF...

[DwightMcCann]

Well, I'm in love now, too, sigh. Excellent treatment.

[René Damkot]

I like the B/W, not the "sepia" (bit too much IMO)
Some nice images, some a bit too soft.
Difficult lighting.

[Nick_b]

Kathleen is the best.

[ThomasOwenM]

This is a terrific set. I especially like #2. You caught some wonderful vulnerability. The set makes me feel intrigued by this artist whose work I've never heard. It makes me feel like I want to check out her music.

I like your conversion to monochrome and think you should have converted the first one also. There's way to much devil-red glow. The sepia didn't bother me, though I think these shots would work just as well in black and white. I think it worked to leave some graininess in.