My GPS Camera Phone

Now for something completely different.

Last Thursday night, I was sitting in the 7th row for a Rush concert. I have been a fan of Rush for about 22 years now and I’ve seen them maybe five times, possibly six. Regardless, I’ve never been so close to the stage. Since the band didn’t seem to mind the hundreds of camera phones, I snapped a few shots.

Of all the photos I took, this one is my favorite. Yes, it’s a bit blurry, but that’s exactly where I’m going with this post.

I learned a few things shooting in an unpredictably lit, concert environment. It’s hard to pull off with a camera phone. But if you try, here’s a few tips:

• Hold the camera steady. It’s dark in the arena and slight motion will blur everything. (Note: consuming too many beers may increase this task’s level of difficulty.)
• Don’t be afraid to turn the camera sideways. Yes, it looks dumb as a wallpaper for your phone, but that’s not the point. Get the best shot and then get it off of your phone for further enjoyment in all its 1200×1600 glory.
• Try to capture your shots while the subject is not moving around too much. Good opportunities usually come while Geddy Lee is singing or Alex Lifeson is doing a guitar solo. Neil Peart never stops moving, so don’t even try. Wacky light conditions + flailing guitarists = blurry photos. Also see note above regarding beer consumption.
• Hold the camera proudly, high in hand.* If the band is tolerating camera phone photography, then hold your camera phone up as high as possible to eliminate as much crowd as possible. To the camera, the crowd is a big, dark mass that will overcome the well-lit stage and possibly confuse your light sensor, resulting in a bad exposure.
• Utilize the projection screens for interesting compositions. It’s a great way to get a neat picture-in-a-picture effect and enhances the photo drastically. In this photo, the foreground subject (Geddy) is visible, but Alex is just a blur. With the projection screen, we can achieve great detail of Alex playing his guitar, giving his overexposed outline some much needed personality. Neil is invisible because he drums faster than the speed of light.
• Know when the pyrotechnics are fired. If you’ve already been to a bazillion of the band’s shows, it’s likely that you know when the good parts will come. Be ready for them.

By the way, the concert was great. Any other Rush geeks out there?

* Name the song I’m alluding to and you win a super-duper link to your blog from my most-awesome PR3 blog. I know, it’s hard to resist.
Congrats to Phred on being first to correctly name the song reference! “Hold the Red Star proudly, high in hand.” Rush geeks unite!

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