You might think Daft Punk was playing at my house last night, but it was really just Girl Talk at the Gargoyle. Mash-up extradinare Gregg Gillis, armed with his trusty Dell laptop swathed in cling wrap, packed the house and got the sweat flying all in short order. And it was all fun and games until someone got tased.
At the Gargoyle, there's no photo pit, so I packed in early with all the die-hard fans ready to sacrifice their bodies in the hopes of rubbing up against Girl Talk's bearded self (or at least be crushed against the cafeteria table that supported his setup).
Between a sold out venue, rowdy drunks clamoring to get on stage, and people generally in the mood to cut a rug on a Friday night, the Gargoyle was all riot from the opening beats until the plug was pulled.
Just as raucously as the party started, it all came to and end as one unruly attendee was tasered after resisting arrest. For those following the story, Pitchfork has posted a piece on the event, including some words by Gillis himself on the incident.
Shooting notes:
All plans go out the window when the shooting situation is essentially one big mosh pit of sweating, mildly intoxicated youths and you're in the middle of it.
Lighting:
The lighting for the venue, as always, was dim and dirty. Going into this set, I knew that, even at full power, the venue's lights weren't going to throw enough light on the party to capture what I wanted. Enter the Nikon SB-800 speedlight.
I used the flash off-camera with a sync-cord held in my left hand while I handled the D2x with my right, bouncing off the ceiling. This technique allowed me to elevate the flash above the crowd for cleaner bounces that cleared most heads and upraised hands, making the most out of the white ceiling.
The flash was set to TTL at 1 and 2/3 negative EV compensation, shooting at ISO 1600, f/4, and between 1/25 and 1/50 second.
Lenses:
For this show, I used the Tokina 12-24mm f/4 exclusively and relied on the ultra wide angle lens to photograph the close and clamorous quarters of the event. While this lens is normally far too slow to use for indoor concert photography, the pairing with the flash allowed the unique range of this lens to shine.
