In high school I attended a lot of concerts. As an adult and busy mother, those opportunities are sorely limited, which is why it’s so amazingly, fantastically, incredible that I’ve seen five concerts in the past five months. Two of them were Straight No Chaser here at Center Stage in Atlanta (the other three were Harry Connick, Jr., The Greencards, and Michael Bublé).
When I got the email on Monday about tickets for Wednesday’s sold out show, I jumped on it. Unfortunately, my husband and older kids weren’t available, so I took my ten-year-old daughter, eight-year-old son, and four-year-old daughter.
The kids had become SNC fans when I did a Christmas CD giveaway. Although I prefer to only listen to Christmas music at that time of year, my eight-year-old son wants to listen to this CD all the time. My ten-year-old daughter was so excited that she drew an I (heart) Straight No Chaser poster that I shared on Twitter.
Imagine our surprise at the concert when we discovered our seats were on the front row!
I’m no Alan Hess (although I do keep his concert camera settings tips on my iPhone!), but I do enjoy concert photography. Those front row seats were perfect for my 50mm lens.
(I would be remiss if I failed to mention that in editing, I was totally blown away by the noise reduction capabilities in Lightroom 3 Beta. Wow.)
Funniest story? This older lady walked up to the stage and handed money to Jerome after a particularly strong performance.
It took a moment for the guys on stage to realize what was happening, but then they lost it (along with the rest of us).
It would be enough that these guys are immensely talented, great performers, and cute as can be, but the best part? They made my kids feel special.
I think they enjoyed looking at the little Straight No Chaser stick figures on the poster that my daughter made; everyone signed it.
At the end of the autograph line, Ryan photographed my three kids holding up the poster and told them he would put it on their website. Believe me, those kids will check until he does. 🙂
If you have a chance to catch a Straight No Chaser performance, do it (tour dates here). You can thank me later. Check out this contest where you can win tickets to see them in Atlantic City!
{Disclosure: Tickets provided by Atlantic Records.}
Did you call ahead to see if you could bring your camera or something else? I get security yelling at me when I pull out my point-and-shoot
Sam, maybe ignorance is bliss, but I didn’t know the venue’s camera policy (and actually was so rushed getting is there that I never thought to check) and just walked in with my camera. It was in my little red bowler bag (there’s an add up in the sidebar with a picture of it), which doesn’t look like a camera bag.
I just popped it out and started shooting. Nobody bothered me…
On the other hand, I knew ahead of time that I couldn’t take my camera into the venue where I saw Michael Bublé, so I just took a few pictures with my phone.
Maybe the size of venue makes a difference? I was able to take pictures of The Greencards because it was a small restaurant that also hosts concerts.
you got some incredible pictures! i’ve never heard of them, but then again i’m not a huge music fan.
.-= melissa stover´s last blog ..Libraries are no place for toddlers =-.
I have never heard of them either but they seem kid friendly so maybe I can go. 🙂 I haven’t been to a concert in forever!
.-= Marsha´s last blog ..Sweet Shot: more lulu =-.
Marsha, yes, they are kid friendly. A woman actually told me after the concert that I was a good mom for bringing the kids to listen to the music. 🙂
Melissa, they’re really good. Ten guys, a capella (spelling?), fun choreography, mostly covers of other songs you know.
I absolutely love these guys, and I just wanted to say that your shots of the concert are incredible!! (Oh, and DR made one of your shots his profile pic on Facebook… Which made me come here.)
Dawn, I’ll have to say first that these pictures are AMAZING. I absolutely LOVE these guys, and am glad someone got good concert pictures. I’ve been a fan of them for a while now, but just got to go to my first concert this past Saturday. They are amazing, and I’m glad that their personalities shine through in all of your photos. Thanks so much for sharing! =)
Sarah Jane, thanks so much for your comments and for visiting! I think I read on the SNC Facebook fan page that since they were discovered via You Tube, they don’t restrict photo and video recording at their concert. I know it’s awfully fun to shoot them. I took pictures at a concert in November, but my seats weren’t nearly this good. 🙂