Billy Talent @ O2 Academy, Sheffield

[adam*]

Started shooting for a local magazine which is good as it allows me to shot bigger bands in better venues. It was my first time in the Academy here and I was looking forward to good lighting - unfortunately it never came!

Also got to meet them and take some shots whilst they were being interviewed beforehand which was pretty awesome as I grew up listening to some of their music.

The show hardly went to plan for them - 2.5 songs in there was a major incident as somebody was injured, there was then about a 45 minute wait until the paramedics arrived. I didn't see what was going on but it sounds like they were lying in the middle of the standing area waiting. We were told that we could take no photograph's but we hung around anyway - by the time they came back on we managed to blag one more song which was a relief. Music wise they totally killed it when they came back out, in fact for the whole show. They were recording the show for a live DVD which I guess gives them some incentive!

Full gallery at: http://www.pbase.com/adamgrayphotography/billy_talent

Any comments and critique would be greatly appreciated.

#1
http://www.pbase.com/adamgrayphotography/image/118741010.jpg

#2
http://www.pbase.com/adamgrayphotography/image/118741057.jpg

#3
http://www.pbase.com/adamgrayphotography/image/118741606.jpg

#4
http://www.pbase.com/adamgrayphotography/image/118741018.jpg

#5
http://www.pbase.com/adamgrayphotography/image/118741027.jpg

#6
http://www.pbase.com/adamgrayphotography/image/118740992.jpg

#7
http://www.pbase.com/adamgrayphotography/image/118741021.jpg

#8
http://www.pbase.com/adamgrayphotography/image/118740990.jpg

[trt-reece]

Solid set, I'm liking most of the shots up here! I'm definately a bit of a fan of Billy Talent, and would jump to see (and shoot) them live ;) Good work

[roman_t]

i like all shots excluding #5
nice composing

[Wazza]

Very nice Adam - Great privilege to shoot that
I love the first and last for the raw power shown

[chrismallet]

bomb-diggity, they're from the same neighborhood as me. Why the one colour photo though???

[adam*]

Solid set, I'm liking most of the shots up here! I'm definately a bit of a fan of Billy Talent, and would jump to see (and shoot) them live ;) Good work

Cheers, besides the massive delay they absolutely killed it.

i like all shots excluding #5
nice composing

Cheers, I just left that one in for the energy.

Very nice Adam - Great privilege to shoot that
I love the first and last for the raw power shown

Cheers.

bomb-diggity, they're from the same neighborhood as me. Why the one colour photo though???

The lighting was so bad it led to alot of colour casts, the drummer one was one of the only still useable in colour so I left it as is. I guess I could have converted that one too.

[adam*]

Few more here, just realised I forgot to upload the portrait orientation images as they got batched seperately.

- Slightly OOF but still like it for the raw energy.
http://www.pbase.com/image/118813357.jpg

-
http://www.pbase.com/image/118813384.jpg

- Annoyed I cut the guitar head off but framing and space was tight to avoid clutter to the side of the image.
http://www.pbase.com/image/118813403.jpg

[Nouks]

Hmmm. Don't know. Not too much wrong with it, not too much good things either.

I personally really don't like your BW conversion. It's way too clean and not really adding anything I think. I'm trying to find the right words to tell you what I think about the photos themselves, but let me think about that a bit longer :)

[adam*]

Hmmm. Don't know. Not too much wrong with it, not too much good things either.

I personally really don't like your BW conversion. It's way too clean and not really adding anything I think. I'm trying to find the right words to tell you what I think about the photos themselves, but let me think about that a bit longer :)

Fair enough, i've scored some extra work out of this set so must have gone down alright in the right circles thankfully. Any tips on b+w conversions would be appreciated.. I'm not really a fan of adding grain etc so I kept the conversions pretty 'clean'. They were black and white for technical reasons sadly - not for personal preference. The lighting was all over the place and even white CWB I couldn't avoid quite alot of colour casting.

[Nouks]

I see you've set image editing on ok, maybe it's an idea to share some originals (well, doesn't have to be hi-res...) in color so we could all play around a bit? I'd love to get a better idea of the lighting anyways :)

[kerrance]

Wow a great series. Where abouts in sheff is the o2 academy, i only know where the arena is.

[HOPE-C]

great shots man!

[adam*]

Wow a great series. Where abouts in sheff is the o2 academy, i only know where the arena is.

Cheers. It's pretty central - just up above the train station.

great shots man!

Thanks.

[willy b]

A little late commenting here... I love Billy Talent, went to see them in Nottingham, end of last year. They were amazing!!

Personally, I think your shots are really very good, with the first 2 being my favourite. Although having said that the first of teh second set it also very good, like you say, quite raw!

[britt49]

i especially like 2, 5, and 7, good job! :)