I shot the Voltaire and the Skeletal Orchestra show here in Houston last week. This is something different for me. I normally shoot in the studio where I control everything, but I’ve been trying to branch out.

I’m friends with the guy who brought them to town, Marc from Seraphemera. I’d had the chance to shoot Voltaire last time he was in town, but wasn’t as pleased with how the images turned out.

I’m pretty happy with these.

I shot the opening band using some flash, but those images just look flat. So by the time Voltaire got on stage, I had cranked the ISO up to 800 and just shot with the stage lights.

My Fuji S3 impressed me again with the quality of its high ISO. I realize that new cameras go up to 64000, but the S3 is over a generation ago where high ISO was a no-no on digital.

I’d also rented the Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR lens and got some great images as a result. I love this lens and will probably buy it soon. It truly serves the art.

I normally shoot on manual, but things were changing too fast for that. I started out with Aperture Priority because I like to control the DOF, but even with a VR lens, there was too much shake. So I ended up shoot mostly with Shutter Priority.