I love a low light challenge!

I'm not going to lie here but my first love (besides my wife) has always been lighting design. It was only natural for me to fall back into photography because lighting is such an important aspect of it. In order to document some of my lighting designs (for theater, concerts and corporate events. You can see what I've done here and also on my main company website for Brilliant Events and Meetings, Inc.) I had to learn how to take photos under mostly low level lighting conditions - without a flash.

Initially, I used a point and shoot camera and would place it on my lighting console, set it to low light and then set the timer. This helped limit any motion blur that occurs when you press and release the shutter. Eventually, after I got serious with my photography again, I started using an SLR on a tripod. I still used a timer though for the same reason and not to mention it's hard to operate a lighting console for a concert AND take photos at the same time. Anyway, I feel this experience has helped me hone my low light skills and if you go to my music galleries you'll see where I got even more experience. Depending on the situation, I mostly shoot hand held but when I can, I try and use a mono pod to keep things steady. Image stabilizing lenses help even further. It's not cheating. It's using the right tools for the job.

Last night, I was back at the Indio Performing Arts Center taking photos for Palm Springs Metromix photographing the hip hop group OFWGKTA. I managed to come up with two favorite shots. It was a rare moment when the right lights turned on at the right time and I was able to get that split second composition to really capture the energy of the artist. The second image worked out great to and also gave me a laugh. The entire time during the concert, fans kept trying to climb on stage and where grabbing the artist. In a brief moment, the artist seemed to have this brief look of... well, judge for yourself!