Elvis Lives!

Elvis (Chris Kaye)
1/160s, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 50mm

Elvis' You Were Always on Mind performed by Chris Kaye at the end of the show simply blew me away, knocked me down, I almost shivered. I was standing by the stage with my camera ready but for first few moments I simply could not shoot... mentally. I simply wanted to listen and enjoy the atmosphere. The sound, the voice... Elvis was there and singing! Stunning moment.

I was invited to to shot The Elvis Show and the Blue Moon Band & Countryside Singers in Gerasdorf by Vienna. Definitely something different for my metal roots but on the other hand when you hear Elvis' songs all of a sudden you realize that you know them all, you must have heard them here an there for ages.
I can simply say Elvis lives!
Absolutely awesome event and can recommend any future shows like that. I think next one should take place in October or November. I hope I will be invited again :)

Elvis (Chris Kaye)
1/200s, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 50mm

Elvis (Chris Kaye) kept changing his appearance, started with golden jacket and black trousers for first few numbers, then went all the way black to finally come back after the break with Elvis famous embroidered white outfit full of gold and stones and massive belt with American insignias. He grabbed black guitar and carried on to audience's joy. I cannot recall exactly which songs he sang but I was able to recognize most of them. Here comes concert photographer's syndrome... you cannot clearly remember everything except visual part. During THE MOMENTs you hear the sounds and music, but they simply come in one ear and leave immediately through the other one. You listen and react and anticipate to get the best shot. Ideal situation would be to attend same show three four times, then you could take absolutely everything from it.
Perhaps one day I will get a deal from a band to cover the whole tour... this would be something.

Elvis (Chris Kaye)
1/125s, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 200mm

How I shot the show?
Well, last night was relatively easier for at least three reasons.
- first of all the audience - ladies and gentlemen gathered in the hall were not really jumping, screaming and squashing you. So I had space to move around. Does not happen to often on concerts I shoot. Nobody hit me :) Sometimes even when you are the pit between the stage and audience you can get hurt before security guys jump into action and help you.
- second - lighting situation was quite predictable, it was changing from time to time but not so dramatic. I was able to stay at ISO 3200-6400 with speeds of 1/125 and 1/250s with no issues. Simply tweaking either iso or shutter speed one stop down or up.
- third - since I was invited and band knew I would be shooting I had access and was accepted. Sometimes you can see that performer is not happy with being photographed for too long. You can see it in their eyes. Then you should pack your gear and move your guts away.

Elvis (Chris Kaye)
1/160s, f/2.8, ISO 6400, 200mm

Despite the fact I was allowed to use flash, I did not use it once during the show. Only after when Elvis was leaving the building and getting into his limousine...
Throughout the show I almost exclusively used 70-200mm lens. I had space behind me, I could come closer and walk further away. No need for super wide angles. I did couple of shots with 16 mm but majority are at the level of 100-200. Some from above the audience also.
Another reason for 200mm from relatively short distance is the separation of your subject. I could really frame on Elvis leaving all the rest behind and out of focus.

Elvis (Chris Kaye)
1/250, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 100mm

The only challenge I had to face were the colours. Not white balance, this is easy to fix. 99% of photos were simply set to 2800-3000K - tungsten light. The issue was Elvis himself. At the beginning of the show when he had golden jacket  he nicely stuck out of environment, background so to speak and exposure was fine - nothing over and nothing under exposed. Then he had black shirt and trousers... all black and bright well lit face. I had to play with settings to slightly overexpose blacks but not to over expose the face. Camera metering was going crazy. Then finally when he showed up in his white outfit... it was completely the opposite. Whole Elvis so white reflecting so much light that camera wanted to set me all the way to 1/500s and faster. Had I gone that way... I would have got only the outfit and nothing else. So I had to constantly carefully overexpose. But from the pictures you can notice that especially those pictures when he is dressed white, have much darker background. I did not want to loose him, he was the main subject.

Stunning show and great fun. Next time, come with me.
You can see selected pictures from The Elvis Show <<<-- here on my site JerzyBinPhotography.com

Chris Kaye's Website - http://www.chriskaye.at/

Bass: Roly Lee
Drums: Joe Seven
Piano: Roman West
Guitars: Mikka Stokkinen
Countryside Singers: Petzi Buffalo & Gina Louis

Cheers
Jerzy