First paid work with the Sony A7. Red Bull Sound Select

I've been itching to take the A7 out and shoot a show and got the chance last night at Empire Control Room in Austin TX for the December Red Bull Sound Select show featuring The Clouds are Ghosts, Ishi and the Ton Tons. All three bands were amazing and Red Bull pulled off another killer SoundSelect show supporting emerging artists. So stoked to be working with this team.

I committed to using the Minolta M-Rokkor 40/2 lens on the A7 to test how difficult it would be to manual focus a show in both extreme low light and with supplemental strobes that I set up on each side of the stage. Additionally I used the Minolta AF 35/2 and the Zeiss 85/1.4 on my A900 body.

It was a tough shoot, with multiple projector screens flooding the stage as opposed to traditional stage lighting so my strobes had trouble balancing with ambient. Some mild shutter drag helped on occasion but I mostly ended up shooting with available light or full strobe.

Enough tech, on to the photos.


Sony A7 with M-Rokkor 40/2 and Minolta AF 35/2

In Brett We Trust

Last night I went to church to hear the preaching of northern California singer songwriter Brett Dennen. Hushed and reverent, Brett's fans lined the pews and filled the balcony to hear his sweet brand of pop folk. Launching his tour in support of the new album, "Smoke and Mirrors", the lanky red head had his fans enraptured throughout the set.

Being There

Last night was special. One of the great American bands, Wilco, played a sold out show at Stubbs BBQ. The band was in town to play to the festival crowds but last night we got to see an almost three hour set played for a much smaller audience.

The wife and I started out the evening with a tasty dinner and cocktails at Justine's Brasserie. Always recommended, Justine's does french cuisine in typical Austin cool with vinyl records spinning in the bar and a tintype photo booth in the side yard. They also consistently serve their meals at the hottest temperature you can imagine. The escargot was actually simmering in the dish.

After our excellent meal, we headed down to Stubbs where the box office sign read "We are seriously 100% SOLD OUT!" Over the years I've had the pleasure of photographing Jeff Tweedy and company on several occasions and even had some work up on their website, so I rolled in feeling excited but relaxed. This was going to be fun.

Early in the set the band pleased the diehards by dusting off the Uncle Tupelo classic "Give Back The Keys To My Heart".

Every album in the catalog was touched but the band really shined and the fans roared when reworking old tunes like "Via Chicago" and "Shot in the Arm".

Guitar hero Nels Cline was as always, a joy to watch and hear. I'm not a jam band guy but watching Nels riff is something special. Even better when Jeff was shredding side-by-side. He doesn't flaunt it, but the man can play with the best of them.

Best of the Fest

Here they are, a curated selection of snaps from weekend one of the Austin City Limits festival, in Austin, TX. Just in time for weekend two to kick-off tomorrow! I'll be taking it easy this second round and skipping the fest on Fri and Sat to enjoy some after shows and heading back in on Sunday to do some documentary coverage for a local band.

Some notes about gear. After ten years of faithful service, I gave up my Canon system and started to use a combination of mirrorless system cameras - I am an official Fuji X-Photographer - and a Sony SLR kit, comprised of an A900, Minolta and Zeiss primes.

For this festival I was hoping to take out the new Fuji 23mm (35mm equivalent) f/1.4 to cover all my wide shots but alas, it did not arrive so the Sony RX1 was put into service. It is a full frame compact that is a marvel of engineering and performance. The sensor in the RX1 is rated by DXO Mark as the third best camera sensor ever tested (behind the Nikon D800 and D600). Low light performance on the RX1 is outstanding and the Zeiss 35mm f/2 pairs nicely to the sensor. While the quality is there, the speed and function of the body can be at times frustrating, but it stood up well to the harsh environment of festival shooting.

On the A900 I exclusively used the Zeiss 135mm f/1.8. Coupled with the in-body stabilization, the combo made for a great shooting tool that provides a look unique to the run of the mill 70-200mm combo you see on most camera bodies in the photo pits.

Enough about gear, enjoy the photos.