Honestly folks, it’s not like I wasn’t trying hard enough.
It’s been quite hectic lately, for sure.
Can’t believe it’s been six bloody months already.
Pretty much all creative photography has come to a standstill.
I blame the Leica, or at least part of it.
And, errr, I wasn’t trying hard enough.
Sure, I’ve been doing quite a number of assignments.
Honestly, where do you lads find the time to update everything so often?
Guess I’m not trying hard enough.
So… is this thing on?
We were assigned to do some shooting during Laundry Day, a mega dance manifest type thing in one of only two large, Flemish speaking Belgian cities: Antwerp. The assignment had a familiar ring to it: shoot some partypeople. The twist: it was broad daylight. So bye-bye to club atmosphere and moodlights. Although, in retrospect, I was wrong about expecting a lack of ambient light. See, I did get plenty of moodlight, but it was from a natural source. Go figure. Oh, there were several stages, some larger than others. Belgium’s premier radio station, Studio Brussel, had one of the larger stages. So did a certain Belgian brewery that goes by the name of Alken-Maes. I’ve been assigned to cover events by each of these rather large players before (though I’ve never dealt with them directly). This time round, it was my responsibility to do a nice little coverage of the Levi’s stand. Yeah, the Jeans folks. The assignment was pretty simple: shoot the deejay, the promogirls, the crowd and the dump truck. Yeah, you heard me.
“The deejay in the dump truck.”
It has a peculiar ring to it.
Then again, it might just be the music I’m listening to right now. Begin cheap plug:
http://somafm.com , commercial-free internet radio. The Drone Zone channel is nice. So is Illinois Street Lounge, among some others. Hmm, I’d better donate some of the filthy cash I’m making to these nice lads.
End cheap, well-meant plug.
So, what was that thing again about a dump truck?
14mm Asph – ISO400 – f/14 – 1/2000s
15mm Fish – ISO400 – f/11 – 1/125s
As one of the British deejays so eloquently put it:
“I’ve played in plenty of strange places mate, but neva’ in a fookin’ dump truck”
I thought it was cool. Compact yet cosy. Like sardines in a tin can, but without the smell of fish cadaver.
85mm – ISO400 – f/9.0 – 1/200s
Did I mention this shoot was for Levi’s?
85mm – ISO400 – f/2.5 – 1/4000s
“For Levi’s? Really? The Jeans folks?”
Uh huh. ’s Right.
85mm – ISO100 – f/2.8 – 1/2500s
“So you were supposed to try and bring out the sponsor in your photos?”
Yeah, sort of.
14mm Fish – ISO400 – f/5.6 – 1/160s
You might be able to tell from the photographs, but I’m not entirely sure.
Allright, enough with the silly running gags already.
Let’s move onto some random shots, I haven’t got all night.
85mm – ISO200 – f/3.2 – 1/2500s
The standard indecisive type. “Hmmm…. where should I go next..”
Nowhere dude. Stay right there and don’t move. Nice glasses too.
85mm – ISO100 – f/2.8 – 1/2500s
The standard “I fit right into a Levi’s commercial” type. My partner-in-crime strongly disagrees. She thinks he’s pretty attractive looking. She reckons he’s more of a Trussardi Jeans type. Doesn’t matter, I shot him anyway.
Please take note of the river ‘Schelde’ in the background. The stage was placed right next to the water. I guess that explains the fence. We wouldn’t want any casualties resulting from a head-first dive into unknown water. It was way too cold, anyway. The icy wind did its utmost best to chill my bones down to unacceptable levels. Anyway the wind blows, indeed. I’m starting to make some sense out of Mr. Barman’s movie title.
85mm – ISO200 – f/1.8 – 1/1000s
More men. This one’s a teddybear. I tried, but I couldn’t find a shot where he’s assertively coming onto one or more of the lovely female attendees. I reckon he’s the type that wouldn’t spot a pair of hungry female eyes if they were parked at approximately two and a half inches from his arty facial hair.
No seriously, the ambient light was pretty relaxing.
85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s
So errrr… let’s switch to girls. No disappointment there, the ladies were nice, generally pretty well-dressed and ready to dance, have a laugh, some free beers and maybe even a snapshot now and then, papparrazzi-style. By the way, in order to place even more distance between myself and the subject, I’ve been looking for one of them disgustingly awesome Canon 200m f/1.8 discontinued models. I assume none of my readers (I hope it’s still plural) has any experience using such a lens? Thought not. Though you might be able to blatantly lie to me and pretend you’ve used such a lens before. C’mon, do me a favour and lie. I’d be grateful because it will give me a reason to justify robbing the nearest liquor store.
I just went from girls to fancy lenses to booze in a timespan of 35 seconds. Any shrinks in the house?
85mm – ISO200 – f/2.8 – 1/4000s
More ladies. The Elvish type. It was still pretty windy. I didn’t spot Mr. Barman. Maybe he was watching the whole scene from his penthouse, who knows.
Let’s switch to more dancing and less posing.
85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s
85mm – ISO200 – f/2.8 – 1/2000s
The ubiquitous can of Red Bull. Oh, and some nice ambient light.
85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s
The ubiquitous teen presence. Teens don’t give a damn, you can shoot ‘em all day and they won’t object. These girls were having massive amounts of fun, regardless of how many people showed up at the stage. I like that kind of mindset.
85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s
Same camera setting, approximately half a second after the previous photograph and about one metre to the right: more teens.
85mm – ISO85 – f/2.8 – 1/2000s
Of course, an event such as this one can’t possibly be taken seriously without the obligatory ‘just hangin’ attitude, preferably with a good ol’ dose of quality Nederwiet. Ah, the influence of our Northern neighbours manifesting itself. In return, we grant them the right to listen to good Belgian music and drink some quality beer with us. We do care about our brothers and sisters in the North, you know.
14mm Fish – ISO800 – f/5.0 – 1/200s
Another knobhead playing with the midtones. This fellow was pretty cool too, he nodded when I came onto the stage to do some a-shootin’ and offered me a drink. In return, I made him look good on photo.
85mm – ISO100 – f/2.8 – 1/2500s
A striking selection of shoe-styles. This fellow was completely into it, no doubt about it. Later on, he bared his pubic hair when I pointed the camera in his direction. I’m sure the female deejay standing next to me (I was standing on stage at the time) must have seen stranger things in her life. Still, he was pretty hairy because I was unable to spot anything else in the immediate vicinity. Maybe it was taped on, dunno.
85mm – ISO200 – f/3.2 – 1/2500s
Exchanging glances. Sun is setting. Slowly.
85mm – ISO200 – f/2.8 – 1/2000s
Getting late. I loved the way the sun illuminated everything. Good thing the people in charge of the stage chose this particular orientation. Couldn’t have been better.
85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s
Here’s a shot from the opposite direction. Last sunrays, summer’s almost over. On an important side note: weather-wise, summer was lousy once again. I’m seriously starting to wonder whether we’ll ever have another summer like the ones I remember as a child. Back then, it always seemed so much more intense and colourful. Plus, I have a whole back of exposed 8mm film to back my claim.
85mm – ISO200 – f/13 – 1/2000s
Exposed to the area of the setting sun. The sun’s positioned behind the girl’s head, in case you were wondering.
85mm – ISO200 – f/2.5 – 1/1000s
One of the coolest VIP areas ever. Right next to the banks of the river ‘Schelde’. Deejays and promogirls hangin’ lazily. It’s been a busy day.
85mm – ISO200 – f/9.0 – 1/1000s
Same place and time, different exposure setting. You know the drill. I have another shot in near darkness, exposed at f/1.2 and featuring some lovely illumination from the industrial complex around the river. But errr, I’m not going to show it just yet. Heh.
14mm Fish – ISO800 – f/6.3 – 1/15s
One last shot of the dump truck. A cute little nightmare, exposure-wise.
14mm Fish – ISO800 – f/5.0 – 1/15s
And what better way to conclude this entry than with a bird’s eye view of some more cheeky teenagers. Reminds me of that song: “do you know where your teenager is at five AM in the morning?”
Fortunately, it was only ten to nine in the evening, so nobody skipped class this time round.
Right, time to move on, I’ve got some catching up to do! I’ll never make it!
Feels good to be back!
G’nite folks,
C.
