Mattstagrahm

September 1st, 2022 - The Nile Underground

Isaac (pictured above) kindly invited me to shoot a show he was playing with Mattstagrahm in Mesa, AZ. I had been itching to try out concert photography for a little while and it was a great opportunity to try it out, along with my recently acquired Fuji X-T30. I popped on the Meike 35mm F/1.7 and headed out to the Nile Theatre Underground.

The Fuji handled the low-light venue with ease and I was able to confidently shoot with a high enough shutter speed to get clear shots without significant noise. I ended up keeping the film sim on Acros with a green filter for the event, while shooting my usual jpg + raw settings. Alas, this paid off, as the set lighting locked into solid red after the band’s first song and left a flat and boring color situation.

I decided to keep the set primarily in black and white, as the flat red was boring after only a few photos. I kept a few of the red, as well, to have some variety in tone for Isaac, who commissioned the shoot. It was unfortunate that the lighting was locked in for the majority of the set, as I was looking forward to playing with the various colors on stage.

I had a great experience shooting a live show and am interested in doing so again. I am hoping that I am able to get a show with dynamic lighting that allows me to play with colors in post and contrast in-camera. I will likely reach out to a few bands in the near future that I see are performing near me and see what opportunity comes my way. I will quite possibly bring both my Fuji and FM2/T - a roll of Cinestill 800T pushed a couple stops could be excellent for a stage show.