Opening in support of VHS or Beta and Moving Units, Brooklyn-based Soft brought a mix of Britpop-inspired tunes that drew heavily from their 2007 release, Gone Faded. Flirting with shoegaze aesthetics in layers of swirling guitars, singer Johnny Reineck's codeine vocals made a smooth start to the night, loosening up the audience for the dance party to come.
Shooting Notes:
With no pit at the Blender Theatre, I staked out a spot just house right of the mic stand and center monitors, which put me in prime position for photographing singer Johnny Reineck and bassist Dino Siampos.
While Reineck was a relatively static subject, with both hands fixed on the mic throughout the set, Siampos was a much more frenetic target in his space on stage, wheeling his instrument around and seeming to enjoy playing in one of the city's finer venues.
Lighting:
Compared to the later sets by Moving Units and VHS or Beta, the house lighting for Soft was relatively simple, with warm frontlighting on Reineck throughout the set, and a fair amount of hot white backlighting mixed with blue and red washes from the back of the stage.
If anything, the abundant backlighting provided a challenge for flare and metering, especially in the instances of the bright white light blaring from the back of the stage.
Lenses:
Due to the relatively abundant light, I shot with the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 at maximum aperture for Soft's entire set, and the range of the zoom left very little to be desired.
Exposure:
The f/2.8 aperture of the zoom was perfectly adequate for the light and I shot at shutter speeds between 1/80 and 1/160 at ISO 1600.
