Covering a festival with film

[bonatto]

Last year, almost to the date I was invited by a Brazilian friend to cover a 3 day Danish festival called Northside. Since our deadline was quite flexible and I did not have a specific editorial directive (and had the facilities to easily develop and scan my own film) I decided to do it with nothing more than a Zeiss Ikon ZM, a CV 35 1.4, some tri-x, and a small 35mm with built-in flash as a backup/nightime camera.

I rode to the festival on a bike without a bag, camera slung, about 45 minutes away from home at the time, as did another 9000 or so attendants (about a third). On site cycle-park. No car park. You could earn back your ticket price and more if you collected litter. Cash on the spot for empty cups and jugs.

15 minutes (strict) per act in the bullpen between the audience and stage. Sometimes I sneaked away to access some other areas.

Some good music was played on those days.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Nice you took this risk. It is no brainier with digital.

 

[MCTuomey]

Stellar images! Nice concept and I think your choice medium adds feeling. Really like your compositional style as well.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Agree with Mike.

 

[Brian Legge]

So damn good. I'd be ecstatic to come away with these images.

I tend to take too much with me when I go out shooting. A single camera, single lens and pocket full of film... There is something about the simplicity and focus that comes from that - particularly when you get the right camera/lens for the situation - that is an amazing experience.

Great series!

 

[codester80]

This series of photos makes me feel like I'm right there in the middle of it all. I love how you've shown how a simple approach can offer the greatest rewards. Too often I see photographers tangled up with their gear instead of making inspiring photos the way you have. Well done, sir, well done.

 

[DCB]

Great pics. I love the look of film.

I like the 6th pic....all those digital guys holding up their cameras hoping to get maybe the tops of someone head...your down low getting the picture.

Peace

 

[angelopartemi]

Very nice work! I can never get tri-x to look this good for me.

 

[robert blu]

Great idea to take "the film risk" ! Your photos are full of emotion and I really feel the energy from the music. It must have been a amazing experience.
robert

 

[Filzkoeter]

Great pics full of energy!

The Nokton delivers 😎 (the Nokton's signature circular wide-open flare in pic 3 works nice).

 

[Godfrey]

Lovely photos!

Film ... Eh? Unimportant. The important part is that you saw and captured beautiful, expressive photographs. You used your camera equipment very well, whatever it was.

G

 

[bonatto]

Thanks for the kind words guys, I'm happy you enjoyed them.

Going out without worrying about lens changes is certainly restrictive in some ways and liberating in others. Taught me to let go, either there's enough light or there isn't, and either I'm close enough or I'm not.

Regarding the film vs digital, no brainer considering that I had been shooting quite a bit of tri-x at the time, and keeping film and developing consistent it's very easy to know what to expect. Countless photographers worked this way for decades, and I think forgetting a spare battery or having too small a memory card are just as bad as misloading a roll of film. Come to think of it, by frame number 42 you realize something is wrong and pop a new roll in. Can't be said to be the case with a dead digital camera. That's what backups are for anyways though, right.

At the very least this exercise reveals the value of the one camera, one lens, one film approach, to me...and that a Nokton with all its barrel distortion, focus shift, and smeared corners is a perfectly capable lens.
Enjoying the music and the atmosphere is part of it. I had a great time and remember meeting a heavy metal photographer who didn't care much for Land del Rey.

 

[Filzkoeter]

...and that a Nokton with all its barrel distortion, focus shift, and smeared corners is a perfectly capable lens.

I love how people always overemphasize those points in a Nokton 😛
It's a great lens for people who like to shoot and have a small great lens that's capable of terrific results and doesn't break the bank vs. people who will rather sit and read mtf-charts, lp/mm test results or reviews from other people who had the lens for an hour and never ever took a single good photo in their life 😉
It shows in your photos that the Nokton is a great performer. Many lenses would have done a way worse job.

 

[robert blu]

The available light was not easy and you made an excellent job. I'm curious to know if you covered other festivals or was this a single time? Would you mind to share an tips regarding exposure?
robert

 

[bonatto]

This was my first time covering a festival - but I have photographed other stage shows in the past. When there was enough natural light hitting the stage the camera wouldn't meter properly (want to overexpose) as there was a whole lot of black behind the artists. I would meter from my outstretched palm and compensate a stop or two either way depending on overall conditions.
In the night-time shows I would generally meter the bright lights and compensate accordingly.

The available light was not easy and you made an excellent job. I'm curious to know if you covered other festivals or was this a single time? Would you mind to share an tips regarding exposure?
robert

 

[robert blu]

Thanks for the explanations, very kind from you.
robert

This was my first time covering a festival - but I have photographed other stage shows in the past. When there was enough natural light hitting the stage the camera wouldn't meter properly (want to overexpose) as there was a whole lot of black behind the artists. I would meter from my outstretched palm and compensate a stop or two either way depending on overall conditions.
In the night-time shows I would generally meter the bright lights and compensate accordingly.

 

[Steve Bellayr]

That is the way it supposed to look.

 

[Flood]

Great look! Thanks for sharing.

 

[aadi]

Nice set of photos!

 

[BLKRCAT]

Great stuff. Ive covered some stuff as well with that combo. Its great! Nokton is a great reportage lens for events like this.