Documentary Type of Photos on a Recital.
jiro
Registered Users Posts: 1,865 Major grins
NOTE: This is my first time to make a non-formal documentary type of photography for my kids' music school recital. I would really love to know if the set of images works or not. I posted this on the "people's section" of the site but was unable to even get one comment to help me improve my photography skills. If I have violated any forum rules for double postings I would appreciate if the Moderators will delete this thread for compliance. All I want to find out is if the shots have merit on them considering that I only have a Nikon D70 and a 50mm lens with me. Thanks in advance.
2 of my kids was asked to perform for this years Junior Musical Recital at their music school. Both of them would be playing the piano. Seeing this as an opportunity for me to further practice timing my shots, thinking about composition, and trying to learn more about my Nikon D70, I brought my camera to the occasion.
It was breezing cold in town and maybe that is why only a few went to the recital. Nevertheless, The kids were excited to perform their pieces. Most are really nervous. Some are even too shy to talk on the mic as you can barely understand what they're saying about the piece they would be performing but all is well.
The recital was inside the local mall. Of all the possible locations available, they decided to place the stage and the piano at the end part of the cinema alley where all sorts of lightings are available. Great! Another nightmare for the cameras' white balance settings. Neon lights are everywhere, not to mention the multiple fluorescent lights coming from the adjacent stores surrounding the alley. Still, I decided to put the D70 to auto white balance and hope that it wouldn't be that too bad. I used my 50mm f/1.8D lens so I can still get a good hand holdable shutter speed for my shots. I set the ISO of my camera to ISO 800 and again, Due to the multiple lighting sources, I already set my mind to convert my shots later to B&W.
Here are the shots I got. Before I forgot, I initially tried to determine who was the event organizer and asked her permission if I can take shots of the kids while they are performing. She agreed to the idea provided I give her a copy for the school. I happily obliged. I kept both the colored and the b&w versions so we'll see if she'll like both or the other. All images were taken using my Nikon D70 and a Nikon 50mm f/1.8D lens. Exposure is at ISO 800, f/2.0 @ 1/50 second.
First stop was this cute young cowgirl playing the guitar.
The next performer was the guitar duo of this teacher and his student.
The 3rd one was this happy girl who's going to play the piano. Here she is introducing the name of the piece she'd be playing.
Now, the 4th one was this young and very confident piano student.
The next one performing, the 5th one is this fine, young girl with a very nice voice and a good piano player. I was having a hard time with my focusing so pardon the blurriness of my main subject. It's a hit and miss for me on this occasion.
The 6th performer is this young lady. She has the most challenging piece of all. Here, she was playing together with her mentor as the piece is for a duet in piano. They needed the other piano teacher to help them out as their page turner. What a lovely page turner she is.
The 7th performer was this nice little kid. They all really tried to perform as good as they can sight-reading. I knew it was a big challenge for all of them besides the fact that they are performing in a crowd. Luckily, most of them performed flawlessly like her.
The next girl to perform was this little lady. Again, this was a duet in piano. The teacher was also the head event organizer. The piece was really nice though I forgot the name of the piano piece as I was busy trying to find the appropriate angle to get some good shots.
Here they are performing together on this next shot.
And of course, for every occasion like this, there will always be proud parents who wants to record all these nice memories of their kids.
This little girl was the 11th to perform for the recital. Her teacher was really very supportive as she sometimes forgot the notes to play. She was able to finish the piano piece in a good way.
Again, some more proud parents taking pictures and video recording the event.
This fine, young lady performed again with a definitely more challenging piece on her own. She finished playing it with flying colors.
As the event was nearing its final moment, I saw the head coordinator somehow hoping or should I say praying for thankfulness for the nice outcome of the whole recital.
There was still about 5 more kids to perform but the weather outside is really getting nasty so we decided to head home. Before I go, I talked to her and told her that I will be e-mailing the shots so she could see all of them. All in all, it was a nice day of shooting. I learned a lot again from the experience, and still, trying to learn more on how to take good photographs.
Thank you very much for looking at this post up to the end. :thumb
2 of my kids was asked to perform for this years Junior Musical Recital at their music school. Both of them would be playing the piano. Seeing this as an opportunity for me to further practice timing my shots, thinking about composition, and trying to learn more about my Nikon D70, I brought my camera to the occasion.
It was breezing cold in town and maybe that is why only a few went to the recital. Nevertheless, The kids were excited to perform their pieces. Most are really nervous. Some are even too shy to talk on the mic as you can barely understand what they're saying about the piece they would be performing but all is well.
The recital was inside the local mall. Of all the possible locations available, they decided to place the stage and the piano at the end part of the cinema alley where all sorts of lightings are available. Great! Another nightmare for the cameras' white balance settings. Neon lights are everywhere, not to mention the multiple fluorescent lights coming from the adjacent stores surrounding the alley. Still, I decided to put the D70 to auto white balance and hope that it wouldn't be that too bad. I used my 50mm f/1.8D lens so I can still get a good hand holdable shutter speed for my shots. I set the ISO of my camera to ISO 800 and again, Due to the multiple lighting sources, I already set my mind to convert my shots later to B&W.
Here are the shots I got. Before I forgot, I initially tried to determine who was the event organizer and asked her permission if I can take shots of the kids while they are performing. She agreed to the idea provided I give her a copy for the school. I happily obliged. I kept both the colored and the b&w versions so we'll see if she'll like both or the other. All images were taken using my Nikon D70 and a Nikon 50mm f/1.8D lens. Exposure is at ISO 800, f/2.0 @ 1/50 second.
First stop was this cute young cowgirl playing the guitar.
The next performer was the guitar duo of this teacher and his student.
The 3rd one was this happy girl who's going to play the piano. Here she is introducing the name of the piece she'd be playing.
Now, the 4th one was this young and very confident piano student.
The next one performing, the 5th one is this fine, young girl with a very nice voice and a good piano player. I was having a hard time with my focusing so pardon the blurriness of my main subject. It's a hit and miss for me on this occasion.
The 6th performer is this young lady. She has the most challenging piece of all. Here, she was playing together with her mentor as the piece is for a duet in piano. They needed the other piano teacher to help them out as their page turner. What a lovely page turner she is.
The 7th performer was this nice little kid. They all really tried to perform as good as they can sight-reading. I knew it was a big challenge for all of them besides the fact that they are performing in a crowd. Luckily, most of them performed flawlessly like her.
The next girl to perform was this little lady. Again, this was a duet in piano. The teacher was also the head event organizer. The piece was really nice though I forgot the name of the piano piece as I was busy trying to find the appropriate angle to get some good shots.
Here they are performing together on this next shot.
And of course, for every occasion like this, there will always be proud parents who wants to record all these nice memories of their kids.
This little girl was the 11th to perform for the recital. Her teacher was really very supportive as she sometimes forgot the notes to play. She was able to finish the piano piece in a good way.
Again, some more proud parents taking pictures and video recording the event.
This fine, young lady performed again with a definitely more challenging piece on her own. She finished playing it with flying colors.
As the event was nearing its final moment, I saw the head coordinator somehow hoping or should I say praying for thankfulness for the nice outcome of the whole recital.
There was still about 5 more kids to perform but the weather outside is really getting nasty so we decided to head home. Before I go, I talked to her and told her that I will be e-mailing the shots so she could see all of them. All in all, it was a nice day of shooting. I learned a lot again from the experience, and still, trying to learn more on how to take good photographs.
Thank you very much for looking at this post up to the end. :thumb
Sitting quietly, doing nothing. Spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
0
Comments
Wishing you the best,
Tom
As I was evaluating my work, I am beginning to see a pattern. I am beginning to notice that I tend to really like taking pictures of people in their "natural" location hoping to capture their expressions doing what they do. Most of what I have learned about photography are from books and from looking at magazine images then try to understand what makes these images work. Primarily, the reason why I am posting my images here is not to get cocky about what I can do but rather to solicit honest opinion if my work is heading on a certain favorable direction or am I still lost in the middle. It would really be nice if some good souls will take the time to comment on my work. However, what I forgot to acknowledge is that this is a public forum and all participation are voluntary. Probably, I was just too eager to solicit some opinions as to how I can make my photography better considering the meager photography tools that I have. Still, I will try to pursue this kind of photography as I really like taking pictures of people. I may not get compensated from it but even without any profit involved, I guess what drives me more to do this is the satisfaction that it gives to me as a person trying to learn photography. Who knows, probably someday I may be able to buy myself a better camera body and lens to create better images.
As always, thank you very much for looking at my images and giving me your unequivocal support, my friend.
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
I can see why people on "people" may have been a little unsure on how to respond to your post
This is right up my alley and some of my favorite style of photography. My greatest photography endeavor thus far has been documenting my kids little league summer travel season. I also mostly used my prime 50 and though I set my AWB to Auto, I processed in RAW to help convert. The summer sun as it's setting and the flourescent lights on the field were hell sometimes.
So if I may:)
I think you did a great job in documenting the event.
An initial perusal of your images reminds me of some of the trouble I had which is, you want to try and get as many of the kids as possible so no kid/parent is left out, but for the viewer who doesn't know the kids it can become mundane to view so many performance shots. Having said that, the parents and the school will love these because they know the kids.
Of the performance shots, I do really like #1, all alone up on the stage with the proud/doting teacher looking on next to the stage.
#9 becasue I like the angle you got, both sets of hands on the piano and the look of concentration on the childs face.
My absolute favorite is the last one! Love the body language on that one, though I wish you could have somehow gotten the performer in the same shot even a tiny bit of them (but I know you were limited with the 50mm prime).
For next time, if possible try and see how you might incorporate the audience into the same shot as the performers. Was there a way to stand off behind but to the side to get both? Might not have been possible.
This is a personal preference and if Rainbow were commenting here he'd disagree, but I wish there was a little more contrast in the black and whites, not so much grey, but that's a personal preference I think.
Jiro, overall, I think you did a great job and can pretty much guarantee that all parties involved will love your shots. I think it's great that you are stepping out of your comfort zone to try new things.
EDIT: In looking back again, I feel like something is missing. You documented the performances and a little of the audience. To me a performance is also about the getting ready or the interaction between the students, or their anxiety before the performance, you didn't get any of that, so I think the documentation is not complete.
Initially in my documentary shots of little league, I was getting the kids sliding into home, pitching, batting (performing if you will), but it didn't really shine until I got the kids interacting w/ each other and the coaches, some of the tears, the joy.
AS I keep thinking about it, this is lacking some feeling/emotions other than the teacher.
Still they will love it, so you need not worry about that.
But I knew there was something I was missing.
_________
The thought of photographing the audience really came to me, Liz. However, with me learning from my previous experience shooting a year-end school program for elementary kids, I became hesitant to shoot much. That experience was really something. To give you the gist of the story, I was approached by 2 moms fro the crowd. One of them strongly asked me - "Are you the official photographer of the school? Why are you photographing the kids?" What she did not know was that i asked permission to the principal prior to me taking the pictures of the performers. Also, my intention is to give the full copy of the shots to the school so that those parents who probably missed the occasion and those who don't have a camera can still obtain a picture of their kids from the program. I was a bit edgy at that time. It's as if I was branded as a kid offender by these 2 moms. I simply told them "No, I am not the official school photographer nor do I work for the local newspaper. If these two categories are the only photographers allowed to take school pictures shots of the kids, I think you should asked the school principal first if she gave me the go signal to take the pics or not." I can understand their concern. What is so repugnant about these two was the way they delivered their statement to me. later on, I made a personal investigation of these two moms and true enough, I was able to find out that they belong to the elite member of the local community with voices to move the crowds. If I were them, I would probably use my common sense first and approach the principal and ask information about this jobless thug taking pictures at the school. I am not ranting here, Liz. I'm simply sharing the typical judgmental attitude that I have frequently seen on my side of the pond.
On this occasion, I really see to it that I try to find out first who was the event organizer and ask her permission. I was really glad that she's the approachable type. The kids who are going to perform are actually beside me on my right waiting for their turn. Although I wanted to take some impromptu shots, the memories of these judgmental people in town made me hesitant to take the shots. Maybe, in the near future, I will be considered as a normal guy with a camera photographing some community events. And maybe, too by the that time, they would realize that I really love photography and that I am not a bad person. The problem is... I am not going to stay that long in the neighborhood. For me, all of these are simply my chance of trying and finding out what is really that type of photography that I really like. As I have shared before, I am really beginning to realize that taking pictures of people in their environment is the thing that interests me a lot. I knew this type of photography is somewhere between people and street type of photography. My problem is - I was shooting inside a mall! Are the moderators going to add a forum category under "Mall Photography" soon?
Thank you very much for taking the time to view my work, Liz. I really appreciate it. Cheers.
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
But now I am very comfortable and I think it shows, same as with street shooting. If you act the part, most often you will be left alone. If you are uncomfortable taking the shots because of your previous experience then it will show through and people will pick up on it and..... You gotta fake it if need be "the feeling comfortable part".
I know I'm a woman and we have have it a little easier, specially where taking photos of kids is concerned. I had zero problem in little league because I'm already known, I've sort of earned it slowly, you won't have that since you are moving and will have to start again. But I too have been on the receiving end of the aggressive inquisition. I was hired by a friend to shoot a lesbian volleyball tournament. I started shooting some of the players then some of the interaction on the sideline and out of nowhere infront of the camera I see a woman in a badass cowboy hat approach me head on "why are you taking photos of us?" all in my face. Took me back let me tell you. Have your answer ready.
I'm looking forward to seeing what you document next, this style of photography is addicting, at least to me.
_________
It's great to see that you have turned your talents on photographing people, not little plastic toys
These are very good and I'm sure that the school and the parents will be delighted. As a documentary series, what's missing for me are some wider shots that show the whole scene, audience, stage and all. Liz's comments are spot on concerning looking for interactions before the performances. Sometimes the best shots are off-stage, and she's great at capturing these. Like Liz, I tend to favor high contrast in B&W, but I didn't find it a problem here. You did a good job on the horrible lighting problem.
As for the insane reaction to taking pics of kids, I suppose it's something that everyone just needs to deal with. Well, all Americans anyway--people are a little less uptight about it in Europe. Having the appropriate permissions is essential. With that--and a prepared answer in case you are challenged--you should be good to go. Carrying samples of your work and offering free copies is also a good idea.
series of photographs of an event or outing. For example, a Pop Warner football game,
wrestling practice, a trip to a farmer's market, or a birthday party.
I try to always include a "title shot" that features something that identifies the particular
event...the scoreboard at a football game, a placard advertising the event, or some scene
that memorializes what was going on when the photographs were taken.
Someday, in the future, someone will be looking at your series of photographs and not
have any idea why you have photographs of a bunch of kids playing instruments.
Something in the first image that identifies the reason the kids were all there that day
will explain that. Preferably, something with a date on it.
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/
Yeah, taking pictures of real people is much, much harder and challenging compared to my stationary models.
Given the constructive ideas and suggestions I got from you guys, I will definitely try to be better next time and I sure do hope that my shots would be more varied than this. I want to ask the music director if they still have some recitals left for this December that I can take pictures with. Stay tuned.
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
Orv
Thomson, Ga. USA
www.Osalisburyphoto.smugmug.com
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/