As the quiet Swede sits down and begins pluck the first, slow notes, a reverential silence settles over the crowd, and the chapel venue seems entirely perfect.
Over the course of 80-minutes, armed with little more than a guitar and his old soul, singer-songwriter José González delivered an aching acoustic performance at Washington University’s Graham Chapel.
The dimly lit, high-raftered venue could not have have been more fitting for the soft-spoken singer as he wove his calmly insistent music. Framed in stained glass and flanked by the chapel’s pipe organs, González played songs from his critically acclaimed debut Veneer (2003) as well as his sophomore release, In Our Nature (2007).
Personal highlights included González’s rendition of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” and his chillingly bare cover of The Knife’s “Heartbeats.”
Photographer’s Notes:
Every time I pressed the shutter release on the D3, a small pang of guilt shot through my brain.
Compounding the fact that I’m in a place of worship, it’s dead quiet in the chapel aside from the achingly simple music José González is making on stage.
I shot at the front of the low stage, crouching down and trying to shoot as sparingly as possible. I took off my hard-soled dress shoes while shooting to minimize any noise I might make and limited my movements as much as possible.
González’s mic stand cut across from his right, so I chose a position to his left between the chapel stage’s center stairs and the speaker stack house right.
Lighting:
The lighting setup for this shoot was very simple, comprised of four lights in the corners of the stage, which stayed at the same intensity throughout the set and put out a very warm white light. These four lights were all aimed at the center of the stage, where José González sat.
In addition, there was a small light positioned on the stage about three meters in front of González. The fixture’s small barndoors blocked light to the singer’s eyes, so there was roughly a 2-stop difference in the exposure between his face and his hands.
The only change in lighting was the use of the chapel’s down lighting, which provided a very bit of fill at the very end of the shoot. Had these house lights been up the whole time, exposure for the singer would have been a much easier affair.
I talked to one of the techs before the show, expressing interest in the lighting that I’d seen used on the rest of the tour. He told me that they wanted to use other lights, but that the small chapel didn’t have enough juice to power them.
Exposure & Camera Settings:
Due to the very constant lighting, I was able to lock down to one basic exposure: 1/160 and f/2.8 at ISO 6400. This was a compromise between slightly underexposing the face and wildly blowing anything south of the neck.
Lenses & Gear:
I shot with the Nikon D3, using the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR as the primary lens. Due to the positioning, I preferred the range of the telephoto, though I also made use of the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for a few one-off images.
The range of the 70-200mm was quite good for my shooting position, though I can see how the added 1.5x multiplier effect of APS would have been convenient for even tighter shots. Still, 200mm was quite nice for headshots.
End Notes:
Go see this man. I’ve seen some great, great stuff shot on this tour, so if you get the super-ambiance lighting, sweet, but the live show is worth seeing regardless.
12 Comments Add your own
1. Bryan | March 24th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I really like the wide angle shot (this one) with the subtle blue lighting.
2. Todd | March 24th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Hey Bryan, thanks for the pick. I knew I had to get at least one ultra-wide shot of the space after I saw how the organ pipes were going to be lit up.
3. Andi | March 24th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Jup, the wide angle shot is also my favourite this time. Just looks perfect with the blue and yellow church and the small singer.
Cool set in a cool location Tood
4. Todd | March 24th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Thanks for the pick, Andi. I think the wide shot definitely helps show the ambience of the show, simple as it was. The lighting on the pipe organs was definitely a nice touch.
I appreciate the feedback.
5. Andi | March 25th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
You do appreciate ? Well, me too
Would be cool to get some feedback from you on my new series of pictures. Yes I know, you might still not be able to read the shooting infos, but I’m working on the english version of metalfoto.de
6. Todd | March 25th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Hey Andi, just hit up your most recent thread. Great energy in many of those shots.
I wonder if there’s a WordPress plugin for automatic translation? Of course it would be horrible to read, but perhaps better than nothing.
Then again, Google Translate and Babel Fish are just a click away.
7. Shilo Urban | March 25th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Check out previews, reviews, photos and videos of Jose Gonzalez at http://culturemob.com/events/5570012-jose-gonzalez-wa-seattle-98101-triple-door-mainstage
CultureMob.com is the new website all about the Seattle arts and entertainment scene!
8. Andi | March 26th, 2008 at 4:08 am
I think there is a plugin like that. But, as you mentioned, the translation should be quite horrible. The current problem is not the translation itself - I think my english is not bad, although not free from failures - but the site organisation. I could just make a copy from the current blog and have both running on my webspace. But on the other side, there may be a way to seperate those pages I want to translate from those that could stay like they are (the Gallery for example) and run everything in one admin construct.
Well will see what wordpress holds form me there
9. mbg | March 31st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I agree with the popular opinion. The wide-angle with the glass and pipes in the background is great.
10. Todd | March 31st, 2008 at 4:24 pm
mbg: Thanks for the vote. People love the wide angle.
11. Ami | March 31st, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Off to shoot the show tonight Todd, wish me luck
-Ami
12. Todd | March 31st, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Good luck, Ami! Hope you have some interesting light, it seems like there’s a wide range for this tour, from totally atmospheric to more standard.
speak up
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