Click here to see a larger version of this photograph.
Greg Abate is one of the finest jazz saxophonists in the world. That’s a cold, hard fact Jack.
If you haven’t seen him perform then I strongly urge you to do so. The man is truly an amazing musician. If you are unlucky enough not to be able to see him play then buy his CD’s here and thank me later.
I have never done much live music photography. Some photographers specialize in it and make their living that way. I find it a bit unnerving to engage in this type of photography because while the musician is performing and people are watching the show, there I am walking in front of the stage and distracting folks from the performance.
In order to capture really great pictures you essentially have to divorce yourself from your surroundings completely and not care about whether you’re ruining the show for the audience if you want the best shots. It also depends on the type of show you’re photographing. A well behaved audience that takes their music very seriously such as the folks who watched jazz musician Greg Abate (shown above) perform live in Providence Rhode Island at the Waterfire celebration do not enjoy the distraction of a photographer walking all over the place in front of the stage during the show. This is why many performers give photographers three minutes to shoot at the beginning of a concert and then it’s time to pack your gear and go home.
The photo of Greg Abate posted here was the best of a series of about 30 photos I took that night of him performing. I had to expose manually due to the ever changing lighting so I had to take a few test shots and check exposure until I got it right. Then came the difficulty of getting a sharp photo of a moving target. Not easy. On top of that you need to catch an expression that works. The expressions a jazz saxophonist makes while playing can be odd looking when frozen in a photograph. The one posted here looks appropriate and mirrors well his presence that evening.
Shooting photos such as this is difficult and requires a very fast telephoto lens. In this case I used the legendary Canon 135 f/2 prime lens on my full frame Canon 5D. A slower lens will render blurry photos. Making things that much more challenging was shooting at night.
If all of the above mentioned photographic technical difficulties are overcome, and luck is on your side, it is possible to pull off a shot as fine as the one published here.
It’s the greatest shot of a musician performing that I ever took.
I’m glad it was a picture of Greg Abate because his ability as a musician is phenomenal.
A classic photograph of an amazing musician. It’s all good.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Very nice! Top notch.
Many thanks Vanie.
This is such a wonderful portrait. You really captured his love of music, love of his instrument. You are right to be proud of this one!
Thank you Bob.
I can attest to the fact how hard it is to shoot in such conditions. But you really nailed this one Tom. Perfect exposure, perfect expression, and black and white makes it a classic.
Eric Kim´s last blog ..Midnight Silhouette in Apgujung
Tom, great shot. really well executed.
I do have to take a bit of exception w/ this statement though:
“In order to capture really great pictures you essentially have to divorce yourself from your surroundings completely and not care about whether you’re ruining the show for the audience if you want the best shots.”
I think you can be discreet and not in the audience’s way and still deliver the goods…in fact, it’s pretty much expected from any concert shooter. If you are ruining the show for others, you won’t get very far in this line of work.
Tim,
I defer to your judgment here due to your incredible portfolio and experience. I’m grateful to you for commenting here and I will be sure to heed your advice.