Nada Surf @ the Gargoyle — 2007.10.22

Playing a sold out show at the Gargoyle, indie rockers Nada Surf started off the night with their anthemic hit “Popular,” from their 1996 debut High/Low. What followed was a string of more recent material, with a heavy selection from the 2005 release The Weight Is A Gift, performed in relative darkness in the cavernous student-run venue.

Shooting notes:

The lighting for this show was basically non-existent, and what little image-forming light that was produced made its way to the sensor thanks to fast primes, slow shutter speeds, and photographic tenacity. The 17mm focal length of the Nikon 17-55 was employed for the group shots, while the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 and Sigma 30mm f/1.4 picked up all of the rest.

For a technical reference to how dark the Gargoyle was for last night’s show, the following shot was made at f/1.4 with the Nikon 50mm, at ISO 3200 and 1/60 second, a combination that still resulted in underexposure of a stop and a half.

Surprisingly, the coarse “grain” in these shots has been added for effect. No, the D2x, underexposed and at two-stops outside its specified range, is still not quite noisy enough to stir up film-nostalgia and received a little augmentation in post processing.