November 3, 2008 – Bathed in dramatic lighting, the Kings of Leon delivered a thumping dose of Southern Rock to the sold-out house of the Pageant.
Photographer’s Notes:
The first song of the Kings of Leon’s set started off with a deep blue wash. It was one of those instances where I held back, thinking that it would change once the vocals hit. 30 seconds went by, then 60. Still blue.
As it happened, the lighting scheme remained locked in with the mono-color wash until the second song, which flashed to white light from the sides of the stage and the back. Out of the allotted three songs, the second was easily the most photo-friendly, and the vast majority of images in this set where made at that time.
The third song was entirely a deep red wash, with the exception of brief flashes of white on drummer Nathan Followill, which created some nice, albeit short, photo ops.
In addition to the challenge of the lighting, there was a somewhat unusual photo restriction in place for the Kings of Leon’s performance.
Two stripes of white tape marked off the outer quarters of the stage. As I stepped into the photo pit, security informed me that I was able to move along the length of the pit, but that I was not allowed to stop in the middle section as demarcated by the white stripes. Effectively, photo was limited to the outer edges of the stage.
The band’s monitors were set back about a meter from the edge of the stage, making singer Caleb Followill sufficiently distant that I used the Nikon 70-200mm for about 90% of the the allowed time. I made just a few shots with the 24-70mm for wider angles.
End Notes:
Despite the physical restrictions of the set and the limited options for “usable” lighting, it’s hard to argue too much with one full song of white light, however sporadic.
6 Comments Add your own
1. Celso | November 9th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
It’s been a long time since I came back to check your site… Still good to know that the quality of your work is still here for inspiration!
Best Regards from Portugal,
Celso
2. Todd | November 9th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Hi Celso, nice to hear from you, thanks for the kind words. Hope your studies are going well.
3. J | November 11th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I reported a show of theirs in August in London and it had the same photo restrictions. I was told that that they were filming themselves so I had to pick a side…Jared or Matthew!
4. Todd | November 19th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Yeah, very strange!
5. Hari | January 3rd, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Great shots, really impressive. Just wondered if id be able to have larger versions of a couple , for my A- level photography class, we’re doin a presentation on music photography, this would be a welcome addition. If not , no worries, thanks anyway ;)
6. Todd | January 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Hi Hari, thanks for the comment. How much large would the images need to be for the presentation?
speak up
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