Such Is Life, 18 August 2011 Part 2

85mm, f/2.2, ISO 2500 for 1/160th of a second

At the end of the show, Such Is Life did an extra song with, as I understand it, their drummer’s father coming up on stage to play guitar. This wasn’t a cutesy thing — he’s good. So I tried to angle some shots of the band members playing with him. Unfortunately, there was no angle to be had of the drummer playing with his dad. Sorry about that, guys. It’s the one shot I regret not getting for the night.

At the end of the set, they had played for 45 minutes, and I had shot 650-ish pictures. I did a lot of bursting, concentrating on nailing a composition and firing away in the hopes of getting one where the facial expression wasn’t bizarre. That, I’ve found, is the hardest part of concert photography: Nailing the shot, but losing it because of the shape the face is frozen in at that moment. People can often look silly in the middle of singing a note, or just concentrating on a chord. I try to avoid that as best I can.

Such Is Life band at Mexicali Live in Teaneck, NJ

Both at 85mm, f/1.8, ISO 2500 for 1/200th of a second

After their set was done, I hung around near the front, just reviewing some pics on the camera and checking email, Twitter, etc. The guy at the front who was taking money and checking IDs called me over.

“You’re here to see MJ Law?”

“Yeah, I’m here for all three, but her, too.”

“She left already.”

“Oh.”

The good news: I’d be home in time to get a half-decent night’s sleep before work the next day. And just thinking that made me feel very old.

Starting on Monday: The Nick Stefanacci Band, at last. It’s a big one.

But first, some final images after the break, though you can see the whole set — more than 50 in all — on the AugieShoots Facebook page: