Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin @ the Pageant — 2007.08.07

Here’s just one shot from the performance by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yelsin, who opened for Peter Bjorn and John back in August.

Shooting Notes:

Like the Swedish Trio’s set, SSLYBY’s performance was dimly lit and greatly benefited from use of the NIkon 85mm f/1.4. With a barricade setup at the front of the stage only as a drink rail – that is, pushed out just far enough from the stage so people couldn’t reach the stage to set drinks on it – the short telephoto provided enough reach to shoot from the thin crowd and pick up this shot of  John Robert Cardwell on guitar and vox.

Though I could have gotten closer, I choose a position downstage from the singer to get a little separation between the microphone and his face. The lighting and musician cooperated for a pretty evenly lit shot; Cardwell’s slight angling toward the lens serendipitously helped make the most of the high front-lighting and save this image being entirely in profile.

The fast aperture of the 85mm, shot just a hair down from wide open, kept up the shutter speed, but still left a little motion blur in the failing light. While this older design suffers from chromatic aberrations and lacks an in-lens AF motor, the fast f/1.4 aperture proves its functionality whenever the light drops.