Two “Fuji X Sisters” for a Rock Concert
I started shooting live shows, rock festivals in particular, and theater performances with a Canon 1100D and a Sony Alpha 3000. When I bought the Fuji X30 I discovered a different approach to this kind of live events.
Suddenly, me and my camera became invisible! No one was concerned with us anymore. A small camera does not look dangerous in the eyes of security and promoters, does it? The X30 hits like a shark: speed of shutter is a deadly weapon.
I recently added a Fuji X-M1 with a 27mm f2.8 lens in my bag. X-M1 almost has the same “invisible” size of my “old” X30.
The first chance to test the two “X Sisters” together was the concert of post-grunge singer and guitarist Kurt Vile at the Triennale in Milan, on July 11, 2017, among the first events of the TRIP Music Festival.
These were my setting mood for the evening:
– X30: P and S mode; b&w + red filter and STD/Provia; ISO 200; exposure compensation -1 and -1 1/3; sharpness +2
– X-M1: P mode; STD/Provia; ISO 100; exposure compensation -2/3; sharpness +2
(The ISO range between 100 and 200, typical for daytime shots, is my choice to obtain frames with no noise and no grain)
For the whole concert I used the X30 as first camera – for both musicians and audience – and the X-M1 as the second one. Fujinon XF 27mm f2.8, a very luminous pancake mounted on my X-M1, allowed me to take close-up portraits from my favorite position under the stage during the quieter moments of the show. When the action was faster, X30 won my attention again.
X30 gave me security.
X-M1 gave me broader margins of creativity and allowed me play with the shades of colors.
In the post production phase, I’ve just added with Pixlr editor some vintage effects to give a 1970s patina to the X-M1 colors frames. In a couple of these shots Kurt Vile looks like guitar Irish hero Rory Gallagher!
Print by Gian Paolo Daldello on HAHNEMÜHLE PHOTO RAG BARYTA 315g, A5 format
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Matteo Ceschi – Milanese street photographer, essayist and journalist, writes for several magazines and has exhibited his shots in various locations. He is a member of f50/The International Photography Collective. His latest projects were in collaboration with English photographer John Meehan, founding member of the f/50 Collective, and with Italian fashion brand Lucio Costa. His latest exhibition “Ko.existence” (with the patronage of the Italian Embassy in Bosnia Herzegovina) was in collaboration with photographer Jim Marshall at Public Room Evergreen gallery in Sarajevo.
