The eccentric Duke Special now features as a new gallery on JonathanBourke.Com. This is a repost of an earlier Flickr based Gallery as I slowly migrate my portfolio content to my own website. In this gallery, I try to capture the eccentricity, the motion, and the colour of Dukes’ performance at Dolans that night. Some of the images could be perceived as being blurred… but for me this accurately reflects the feeling of the gig.

Back when I originally posted this I said:

Duke Special wowed the midweek crowds at Dolans Warehouse in Limerick on Tuesday 9th of December. This time he had his band with him, and the percussionist, “Temperance Society”, entranced people with clattering, banging, shaking, twisting, roaring, scraping, and more. He was brilliant. It was a poignant night for Mary and I, as it will be our last concert in Dolans for some time…

In some ways, “Temperance Society” stole the show, using everything from pots and pans, assorted sticks and whatnot to create an eclectic sound. From Wikipedia:

He is most often accompanied by percussionist “Temperance Society” Chip Bailey, who plays cheese graters and egg whisks, a Stumpf fiddle and a Shirdi drone box, as well as the more typical drums and cymbals.

Jack L @ Dolans Warehouse

Jack Lukeman (or Jack L) is pretty much unique amongst the artists I have seen perform… he can hold a venue on the power of his voice alone. I must have seen him perform 10 times now; he certainly ranks as one of my favorites. Check out his music at www.jacklukeman.com.

Mundy in Profile @ Dolans Warehouse in Limerick

I know that I posted this gallery previously, but I am taking the liberty of reposting it as it is now the first collection within my Gallery on JonathanBourke.Com. Please feel free to check it out!

Apart from loving the music, and Dolans Warehouse for that matter, I love concert photography. It is by far and away one of the most challenging genres within photography. One second you are dealing with extremely low light levels, and the next, you are blinded by light. And all the time, the artist is jumping around stage like someone possessed. Compact cameras will not cut it in this environment. They are just too slow.

Digital SLRs with standard lenses might manage one or two lucky shots. Image Stabilised lenses are not going to help either… you might be able to hand hold the lens in the low light, but the rapid movement on stage will still be a blur.

High ISO’s and Fast Lenses are your friends. Most of my concert shots are taken with a Canon EOS 20D at ISO 1600, and a Canon 50mm F1.4. Even then, I am happy if I have 10 shots out of a hundred which are acceptable. My settings are pretty much:

• Aperture Priority, set to something like F2.8 max, sometimes right down to F1.4
• ISO set to 1600, 800 if I can get away with it
• Focus mode set to AI Servo… i.e. will attempt to track moving objects
• Centre Focus point selected
• Metering normally set to Evaluative, but I sometimes use Partial
• Drive mode set to continuous

And here is the kicker, White Balance set to Auto. this is an issue which is often discussed in relation to concert photography; i.e. how do you get accurate colours with all those crazy lights? My response to this is “Who cares?” In my mind, the crazy colours add to the drama and excitement of the event. I would never want to subdue them…

Mundy, introducing a little feedback!

Duke Special @ Dolans Warehouse

Duke Special wowed the midweek crowds at Dolans Warehouse in Limerick on Tuesday 9th of December. This time he had his band with him, and the percussionist, “Temperance Society”, entranced people with clattering, banging, shaking, twisting, roaring, scraping, and more. He was brilliant. It was a poignant night for Mary and I, as it will be our last concert in Dolans for some time…

No, nothing wrong with Dolans, rather the weather, and the self-imposed gloomy atmosphere that abounds. We are of to Oz! January 6th, we will be on an Etihad Airways flight to Sydney. Enough about that for now. Click more for shots from Duke Special @ Dolans…

Mundy @ Dolan’s Warehouse

I just posted some new shots on Flickr from a concert by Mundy at Dolans Warehouse in Limerick. Enjoy!

Yet again, this is the place to be for intimate live music. All shots taken with a Canon EOS 20D using a 50mm F1.4 lens.

Feel free to comment on these here, or on Flickr.