Photos: Cage The Elephant @ The Pageant

Cage The Elephant performing at the Pageant in St. Louis on December 13, 2011. (Todd Owyoung)

This show was a bag of hurt. Cage the Elephant's Matthew Shultz moves around the stage like a man possessed, thrashing around with hair flying and arms flailing. Mix into this non-stop motion a little relative darkness, and this shoot was three songs of pure punishment.

Cage The Elephant performing at the Pageant in St. Louis on December 13, 2011. (Todd Owyoung)

Cage The Elephant performing at the Pageant in St. Louis on December 13, 2011. (Todd Owyoung)

Cage The Elephant performing at the Pageant in St. Louis on December 13, 2011. (Todd Owyoung)

Cage The Elephant performing at the Pageant in St. Louis on December 13, 2011. (Todd Owyoung)

Cage The Elephant performing at the Pageant in St. Louis on December 13, 2011. (Todd Owyoung)

Cage The Elephant performing at the Pageant in St. Louis on December 13, 2011. (Todd Owyoung)

Cage The Elephant performing at the Pageant in St. Louis on December 13, 2011. (Todd Owyoung)

Photographer's Notes:

Cameras Used:

  • Nikon D3
  • Nikon D700

Lenses Used:

I saw a lot of new faces in the photo pit, and after shooting Cage the Elephant's set, I had to wonder why people would ever want to be a music photographer after a gig like this. Three songs shooting Cage the Elephant kind of feels like the photographic equivalent of blindfolded target practice.

Still, it's hard to say that shooting a band as difficult as Cage The Elephant isn't a thrill, because in adversity there's always the excitement of a challenge.

For this set, I shot exclusively at ISO 6400 with my f/2.8 zooms. While I was also packing my Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Nikon 85mm f/1.4 primes, I wanted the fast focusing of the f/2.8 lenses, even at the expense of the light.

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