Tearsheet: Backstreets.com / Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul
Yesterday was my birthday. Yep, another corner rounded in this thing we call life.
As usual, I burned one of my “floating holidays” to take the day off from work and do the day I wanted to do.
And I did. It poured down rain all day, but that was OK. I swung a hammer in the garage on a project I’m working on, had lunch in the local diner with my wife and youngest, shot some pictures and saw that more of my photos – this time from Saturday night – had posted to Backstreets.com.
Shooting the Little Stephen and the Disciples of Soul show was a little different than the previous night. We had orders not to shoot down in the first row, so I had to get a little creative with where I placed myself. Some of the other photog’s there had their 75-300mm or 400mm lenses with them. My max zoom was 105.
But I think it worked out ok. I moved around a lot – I worked the aisles of the theaters and went up to the second level and the balcony. Frankly, it’s part of my style – shoot entire to detail.
Having close-ups are great…but to tell the story, I wanted to show the lights and the dancers and the guy playing the congas stage left. I couldn’t really do that way down in front (and to be honest, once you’re in front, you’re very hesitant to give up that spot. You may not get it back.)
I got a little luckyit…I think Bruce is here…” and “That’s his Marshall amp on stage, I bet he’s coming out at the encore.”
That all helped me plan a head a little to think where I should be when the encore started.
Of course, while I was shooting from the side aisle in the darkened theater, it also helped when a guy brushed up past me. When I looked over it was Mr. Springsteen.
So..yeah…I knew he was in the house then.
When he DID come out for encore…after Little Steven called him out by saying “Where’s my brother from another mother?”…I was ready to get the shot I wanted.
I love this shot because of the Steven’s hand on Bruce’s shoulder while they share the mic. They go back a long, long way and are genuinely friends. I’ve heard a live version of No Retreat, No Surrender where Bruce intros it by saying Little Steven is one of his favorite dreaming buddies. I’m glad I caught it the special gesture.
And I really like the B&W shot that opens this post, and also what Backstreets.com used to open their article. It’s a wide view, but I love how it takes it all in. Entire to detail.
It’s shot with my Fuji X100T set to monochrome mode, since I LOVE those B&W files from the Fuji.
The whole weekend was such a tremendous learning experience for me. I’m still reflecting on it all and hope to share some insights soon.
In the meantime, click over to Backstreets and you can see some of the videos posted of the great night in Asbury Park.
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2017
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I’m not sure I’d have been so cool and collected if Springsteen had ‘brushed past’ me. Fantastic shots.
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