The Light Preserve Photography

Musicians

Sights of the Sounds

The visual side of performing musicians enhances the experience of the music. I enjoy trying to capture that aspect of the music, whether performed on stage with a band or alone at home. In a sense, such photos are environmental portraits, associating the performers with their music and instruments.

Bagpiper and Pirate Jam were photographed at renaissance faires. They are two very different situations, revealed with very different lenses and perspectives. A medium telephoto recorded the boy, from about twenty feet, for a calm, loosely framed portrait. The flutist, though, was photographed very close with a 16mm wide-angle lens, getting the frenetic action into the frame and a First Place Award at the Santa Barbara Fair.

The Long Horn was made with a wide angle lens from the edge of the stage and earned a first place award at the California Mid-State Fair. The piano players were photographed at their homes, with two very different moods in mind. Nightclub Blues (in the group below) earned a First Place award and Best of Show at Santa Barbara Fair, and Moonlight Serenade earned a First Place Award the previous year.

Larry Tuttle was photographed at the Grover Beach Stone Soup Street Fair. He is playing a Chapman Stick, a 12-string percussion guitar.

Stage Presence and Connected were photographed at the Topanga Music Festival. The first is all about her expression and the light. That's got to be two of the most joyful eyes on the planet. The other is also about eyes and light, with a different kind of intensity that connects her with her music.

Stage Lights

Is there any doubt that the light matters in photography? In these photographs, the light is focusing our attention on the subjects and relegating other elements to the darkness. Stage lights can add contrasts of bright color, and it defines the environment: a darkened venue with the spotlight on the performers. Flash, if close enough to have any effect at all, destroys the affect of stage lighting. And that lighting is not very bright, adding further challenge to photograph active subjects. Daylight can also be used to good effect by considering the angle of the light and composing the subject against complementary (usually darker) elements.

Three photographs in this section were photographed on stage. The light clearly makes these images sing! It directs attention, adds mood and defines the moment. The photographs achieve a presence similar to the musicians themselves on stage. The lights of His Five String Voice describe the location and focus attention on the musician. The fiddle player, Playing for Rembrandt, gets stage light from outdoor light from both sides of a covered venue at the Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest.

Nightclub Blues earned a First Place award and Best of Show at the Santa Barbara Fair. Sarah Sigman, Center Stage, earned a Second Place Award the previous year. They look like they were photographed under stage lights, and that's part of their impact.

Natural light doesn't get any better than what we see with Gold and Rose, and it doesn't have to. Late afternoon light provides sparkle and definition, and it focuses attention sharply on the strings and hand. It is a simple subject in isolated composition. It's the light that gives the photograph impact. For that, the photo earned a First Place Award at California Mid-State Fair.