This was one of the most memorable concerts I've ever been to. The lineup was insane and Puff Daddy delivered an over-the-top event in way only he could pull off. I wrote about it for the Dallas Observer.
Concert Photos With The Canon 5D Mark IV
When the Canon 5D Mark IV was announced I pre-ordered it right away. I had been preparing to buy a new camera the whole year and was hoping to purchase a 1DX Mark II but when I saw this I pounced on it because even it were only slightly better than my wonderful Mark III I'd be happy. I was a little worried though because I wondering how much better the ISO performance would be because from the announcement the ISO range wasn't anything close to what Nikon offers with its brand-new line of cameras. So I was excited/nervous to shoot my first show with the camera. But ... from the images below it's obvious that the ISO performance and dynamic range is amazing. I'm so happy with this camera. The most important thing I'd like to point is how sharp these photos are even with heavy cropping because I was shooting from at least 100 yards away. That 30MP sensor is fantastic but if you miss the focus it will make you pay. Also it was great to take advantage of the wifi and transfer photos to my phone right away. So far, I haven't found any issues with this camera.
First Images With Canon 5D Mark IV
This weekend I tested out my new Canon 5D Mark IV at a football game between SMU and Baylor in Waco, TX. I've owned a Canon 5D Mark III for several years now so there wasn't too much of an adjustment other than one new toggle switch on the back to change auto-focus settings. It was also fun playing with the new touch screen that allows you to tap to change settings, swipe through photos and pinch to zoom. Pretty cool stuff.
The new 30.4 MP sensor is awesome. For something like football it really allowed me to shoot action across the field and still be able to crop the photo down for a clean shot of the action that was pretty far away. With the new sensor is you really have to the focus properly on your subject. If you miss the focus it's really apparent and you might notice that in some of my photos. But when it hits it is really sharp even with the ancient 100-400L IS lens I was using. The focus was fast and it's just a matter of user error for missed shots.
Now I know the 5D4 isn't exactly made for sports photography but for me it's the perfect compromise. The only options for "sports photography" are the Canon 1DX Mark II (Just too expensive for me), the Canon 1DX (Too old for me -- I like Wifi and touch screen) and the Canon 7D Mark II (Not impressed with the sensor, dynamic range or ISO abilities). The 5D4 comes in right in the middle with a fair price of $3500, similar auto-focusing system to the Canon 1DX Mark II, great sensor and 7 frames per second, which is one more FPS than I was getting on the 5D3. It's an all-around shooter and everything I'm looking for.
One thing to keep in mind when looking at these photos is most of them are heavily cropped and even at an images size of 2000px these are still pretty damn sharp. I could've used a better lens but I just don't have one right now. (p.s. a couple of these were shot with my old 5D3)
Hip-Hop's Cheech and Chong At Gexa Energy Pavilion
Jhene Aiko's set was really interesting to shoot. She had a ton of bubbles blowing off the stage and they made for some great framing tools. It was fun working with them and trying to incorporate them into my shots instead of avoiding them like some of the other photographers in the pit did. I like some of the results.
These photos were originally published on the Dallas Observer with a review I wrote of the show, which can be found here.
Kings of Pop-Punk
In probably one of the biggest concerts of the summer, Blink 182 and A Day To Remember headlined Gexa Energy Pavilion in Dallas to a massive audience. It was the first time I'd shot Blink 182 and the second time shooting A Day To Remember. The latter has been one of my favorite bands for years and not only was it great to see them play in such a large setting but it was great to see how many fans in the audience were wearing ADTR merch throughout the venue. ADTR have been underground kings for years selling out massive shows at Verizon Theatre and South Side Ballroom and it won't be long before they're headlining Gexa themselves.
I don't shoot too many rock shows but I feel like some of the best rock photography is done with wide angles and trying to capture the high energy of the performances, which is different from hip-hop where the energy is typically a bit lower and the artists are more concerned with looking cool. That usually lends itself well for portrait-esque photography. Here these guys were running around and going crazy so it was easy to capture some good moments. It was great to have an opportunity to shoot two enthusiastic drummers.
