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barninga — On Stage - 18
Published: 2010-03-05 21:31:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 2201; Favourites: 39; Downloads: 12
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Description
It looks like jazz, but it does not sound like jazz.
Glauco Zuppiroli is a fine and elegant double bass player. I took this shot while he was playing in the band of Vinicio Capossela, whose music touches jazz sometimes, but more often visits latin rhythms and melodies, with remarkable pop digressions.
That night in the gardens of Venaria Royal Palace, near Turin, was a very particular night. Calexico joined Vinicio Capossela and the two bands played together for the whole show. Fifteen musicians on the stage. It could be a mess, instead it was perfection, like they had been one single band since ever.
Mr. Zuppiroli, with his unique style and look, was a prominent character indeed.
By the way, to discover some amazing (though absolutely casual) features of this shot, noticed by ~art176 , please see On Stage 18 and Fibonacci .
Glauco Zuppiroli
Jul. 2, 2009
Juvarra Gardens of the Royal Palace, Venaria, Italy
Full view recommended. Thanks for viewing.
Eighteenth image in the "On Stage " series.
Please see the full "On Stage " and "Jazz " series.
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Comments: 39
I have not checked your profile long time
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it is one of my portfolio's favorites too, thank you
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featured [link] I just love the PASSION in this photo!
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Wow, that's simply amazing. You've captured an intoxicatingly evocative atmosphere so brilliantly here! Kudos!
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thank you for the kind and meaningful comment
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You are most welcome!
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Wow, I haven't seen something like that in a while. I really like the light playing with smoke in the back.
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thank you kaja, i am particularly happy with this shot, given the difficult shooting conditions
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thank you for the comment, man. i'm proud of your appreciation (and of the 
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Stefano,
love the color varaition here, between the bow tie, the instrument and the high left lighting, incredible...
Do we want to see if the fibonacci fits here too?
take care bro
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hey bro, thank you, you are too kind, as usual
and... what an eye you have!
take a look at this scrap ...
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wow, what a great capture. I just love the smoke behind.. and the up in your face framing!
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thank you myrna, your appreciation counts a lot.
and many many thanks for the
the smoke softens and lightens the image, i like it too for that.
i'm sorry but due to my weaknesses in english i don't catch what you mean by "the up in your face framing"... would you please explain?
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I mean it is tight on the player. He almost comes out of the picture and into 3 dimensions!
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now it's clear, thank you
i think it's due partially to the pose per se, and partially to the fact i shot at 300mm, with a f/5.6 aperture, from a certain distance. the dof is very shallow.
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Yes, that's it! the dof is what creates it! I should have seen that.
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long lenses are great for portraits. the obvious drawback is that a proper focusing is harder. moving subject, no tripod and less light than needed make them terrible to use, sometimes. however, when you get a good shot, it's far better than it would be if taken from a shorter distance and with a shorter lens, given the same pose.
in this case i think that the dof is helped by the pose, which somehow gives the idea of a movement towards who's looking at the pic.
when i shoot at musicians, i always try to focus their eyes, even if focusing other details (say, their shoulders, or the microphone) can sometimes be easier since they are usually into a better light. i've learned that even a difference of a few centimeters in focusing can make a photograph totally opaque.
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Interesting about the focus. I try for the eyes but so often because of movement, I don't get it. So sometimes I go for the instrument or some part of the instrument. It makes for a different shot..not so much portrait though. I love long lenses because I hate interfering with the music being made. I can be way in the back and still get great shots!
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did you notice that eyes are often in the shadows on stage, since the brighter lighting comes from above? that's why cameras may have problems, focus is usually done by evaluating contrast.
my long lens is a 70-300 zoom. 70 is too short if you can not put your elbows on the stage... but 300 is often too long if you can. however, 300 is short if you shoot from, say, ten steps from the stage: no closeups then.
for this shot, i was two or three full steps from the stage, and the musician was in the back row, not in front of me. at 300mm yet it's not a closeup. one more step back and i would have missed the composition.
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I have noticed that about the eyes. Lighting for jazz (unless it is a great theater or festival stage)is usually bad and difficult to work with.
I have a 70-200 that works well for most things except right up on the stage. I actually love being far back enough so I can get a kind of close up with that lens. Like you said, the long lens condenses the image and gives it 'presence'.. a kind of personal feel. I love shooting music and musicians because I understand the rests, the pensive moments and can know the moment... and what will come next. It's like sports people know sports (which I don't!).
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yes lighting is terrible most of the times at jazz concerts
that's where you discover that sometimes technology really helps. i can get decent shots at 1600 iso with my camera, and the lens stabilizer helps when i have to shoot with long times anyway. a brighter lens, with a wider aperture, would help even more. and that's where you discover that photography can be a very expensive passion....
i think that a 200mm lens would be short for me, but maybe it's just an impression, since i have to admit that very few shots turn out good when taken at the full 300mm of my lens. they are often blurred by movement or out of focus.
i have also a 10-20mm lens i'd love to use, but it would be good on stage where (reasonably enough) photographers are not admitted, not to speak of "unofficial photographers guys with a camera" like me.
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I, of late, have used mostly my digital camera with the 70-200 stablized lens. Still I get out of focus faces as often as not. Mine is a 2.8 and that helps a lot to shoot so I don't get awful grain. (I need a new camera!)
Yes, the very wide is awesome when it can be used. I love mine too but rarely get the chance to be that close
or strangely even have a camera in the place! These guys should know some of their best promotion today are photos posted on various sites... even a fan page with photos is so good.
I often wear a 'press pass' that I got some time ago from a magazine. if anyone took time to check they'd see it's not current...
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no surprise you get out of focus shots with your tele lens... at 2.8 it must have a very shallow dof and this is a drawback when shooting freehand at moving subjects. however a f/2.8 tele is a wonderful lens anyway, put it onto a tripod and you're in paradise.
i think most musicians have no problems about photos (well with some notable and usually well known exception, like mr. keith jarrett). it's their managers who get crazy when they see a camera around. last summer mr. david byrne played near turin. before the show, a security guy noticed my camera and told me in advance that shooting was forbidden, since i had no pass. well, mr. byrne, as soon as he came out, invited people to approach the stage and explicitly allowed to take shots. nonetheless, some song later another security guy told me to stop taking photographs. maybe he can't understand english. maybe he just like to give orders.
anyway, every time i go to a concert, i am prepared to argue and i don't know if i'll be back home with some shot or none at all. great trick the old press pass, i should consider it as a possibility
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You should get some press pass. Sometimes a magazine or newspaper will give you one if occasionally you send along usable photos for them That's how I got mine.
I think you are right, the artists totally get it about the photos but the silly 'robots' don't and the managers are often just behind the times!
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well yes i should, you're right. a press pass in exchange of photographs, seems fair.
about managers, i think they just love to manage their little power.
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On the thumb it looked like a painting. I thought you HAD painted this photo.
Love the passion you captured. along with the smoky atmosphere. Simply gorgeous.
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thank you gloria, your comment is gold to me.
i did want that shot. the security guys did not allow me to approach the stage, so i had to shoot from a certain distance, within a crowd of dancing people, asking my camera and tele lens to do an impossible job. well this is the best of the two or three shots i saved from the 100+ i took of mr. zuppiroli that night.
now, it's a photograph, not a painting. i can't paint.
but you can...
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Even though you shot this from a great distance, it is perfection just as it is.
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