Tag Archive for "Ed Kuepper"
Following on from their ATP Australia shows, Laughing Clowns returned to Brisbane to play their own show as part of the Up Late season for the GoMA’s Optimism exhibition. It was another excellent performance from the band, and one that was surprisingly well attended. There probably weren’t as many people as at Wolfmother’s gig at the closing night of the Warhol exhibition last year but it was still an impressively large audience.
In the five previous times of photographing Ed Kuepper in his various guises – Pig City, Pauhaus Festival, Don’t Look Back and twice at ATP Mt Buller – I’ve never really got anything that I was happy with. He’s an infuriatingly hard subject to photograph well, as he tends to rock back and forth whilst hunched over and plays with his eyes shut. And from my experience this is usually happening in the dark and/or accompanied with plenty of smoke. Getting photos of him isn’t the problem; it’s just getting something more than the extremely ordinary and mundane.
The winning strategy, as I discover tonight, is to photograph him between songs, when he’s stood at the microphone, eyes open, arms waving and engaging with the crowd. This strategy also has the advantage of being able to watch and enjoy the gig before going into a 30 second photo mode between songs, a nice change from watching a gig through a camera viewfinder. I have used this method before, it can be very useful when photographing in dark venues as it’s easier to get a sharp image of someone at very low shutter speeds when they’re stood reasonably stationary at the microphone between songs.
As a result of using this approach, it was also one of those nights where you push the shutter release button and KNOW you’ve got a good photo; reviewing them on the LCD screen with that sense of excitement at having nailed it and the giddy anticipation for getting the photos downloaded and processed. Of course LCD screens are notoriously poor places to review photos, as it’s invariably followed by the disappointment of viewing them on a proper computer screen and realising that they’re not actually as good as they looked on the camera screen. It was no different this time, with the onscreen images not having the same saturation and glow of the photos previewed on the camera screen, but I was still happy to have finally gotten a few decent photos of Ed.
I read in his Guardian blog that Everett True had his issues with the gig though. Having seen Neil Young twice in four days after a gap of 12 years and Iron Maiden twice in a year after a gap of 17 years I can see where he’s coming from. For me it was about not being able to replicate the excitement and enthusiasm after so many years of waiting and anticipation for the first show in such a relatively short time for the second show. Not having had the luxury of seeing Laughing Clowns back in their original glory days I’d be more than happy to see them anytime soon (although they’re only playing in Sydney and Melbourne in May) and not have to wait 23 years, where as I think I need a few years until I see Neil Young and Iron Maiden again.Â
Some more photos on flickr.
The Don’t Look Back series of concerts finally made it across to Australia this month, although in typical and familiar fashion Brisbane got the rough end of the deal with only one concert – the double bill of Died Pretty playing ‘Doughboy Hollow’ and Ed Kuepper playing ‘Honey Steel’s Gold’ – missing out on the famed Sonic Youth ‘Daydream Nation’ set that even Perth and Adelaide got to see, and also The Scientists playing ‘Blood Red River’. Â
Having now photographed Ed Kuepper three times (solo and acoustic at the Pauhaus Festival, with The Saints at Pig City and tonight), there are a number of things I have learnt:
1. He doesn’t like lights;
2. He plays 90% of the set with his eyes shut; and
3. He constantly rocks back and forth (whilst playing in the dark).
Was also the third time of photographing Ron Peno (both other times with him playing in the Darling Downs with Kim Salmon) and the main reason I wanted to photograph this gig. He may have fallen from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down but there is still something extremely photogenic about him, and as a photographer he gives you a lot to work with.Â
However, it was a pretty disappointing lighting set up with strong backlighting and very little front lighting for the three songs I was allowed to photograph, so most of the photos weren’t that special. A couple of ok-ish shots where the backlighting and silhouetting work well and remind me of the work of probably my favourite music photographer, Herman Leonard.
More photos on flickr.
W/e before last was Pauhaus. No quick way in so had to queue up for 35 minutes so whilst got to see second half of Violent Soho’s set missed my 3 songs to photograph them in. Considering how good the lighting rigs are on all three stages at The Powerhouse the lighting wasn’t as good as hoped it would have been. The main stage had a massive wall of backlighting that just seemed to be in your face all the time and the smoke machine behind the drum kit meant drummer photos were difficult. Then the smoke just seemed to drift at head height across the stage to cover the rest of the band….
Also was feeling tired and uninspired so worst photos taken in a long, long time. That’s just how it is sometimes….
Ed Kuepper was the highlight of the day. Had never seen him before. Really, really want a photo pass for Pig City now…. [Edit: And even more so having seen The Apartments last night]. So if anyone knows of anyone wanting some photos done of the day point them in my direction….
Some photos here and some photos here
Some of the (possibly) better photos…
Yves Klein Blue
Operator Please
Whons Phreely
Macromantics
Dave McCormack
The Panics
Ed Kuepper
The Grates
