Ludo are one band that's basically a little slice of music photographer heaven: an infectiously upbeat band (with equally energetic fans) who mugs from the first song to the last. And of course, the band always allows photographers to shoot their entire set, so if you're in the photo pit, you'll have the chance to catch it all (light willing).
Photographer's Notes:
I've shot Ludo several times over the last few years and without hesitation, their shows are always one to which I look forward. Silly on-stage antics and a fun atmosphere all around make the band's performance's a blast to cover again and again.
In an age filled with the ubiquitous “first-three, no flash,” Ludo's photographer-friendly attitude is refreshing. Press are invited to shoot their hearts out over the entirety of the band's set – usually about an hour and a half.
Overall, lighting was probably best on drummer matt Palermo, who got splashes of white light from above to break up the red, orange, and magenta washes that dominated the back of the stage.
The rest of the band was largely backlit more than anything else, with lots of lush colored lighting flooding through the haze on stage.
The lighting for the set was dim enough that I broke out the 50mm f/1.4 for this set and shot around f/1.6 and f/1.8 for a good deal of the show, just as I did for Ha Ha Tonka's set.
Due to the combination of speaker monitors and the height of the stage, this wasn't really a “wide-angle” show for me, so in this regard the 50mm was really a quite nice focal length. Tim Convy on the Moog and Andrew Volpe were especially good subjects for the fast 50 due to their positioning on the stage.
In addition to the 50mm prime, I did shoot quite a bit with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8. The 14-24mm only came out for a few more close-up snaps of Convy and Palermo.
End Notes:
Sick of three-song limits limits? Go find a band like Ludo who rocks out and loves photographers.
Big thanks to Tim Convy and and all of Ludo for setting me up for this show.
