Portra 400

For this 9th roll of Portra 400 we have another pushed roll (+1). The contents of the roll are the Glass Mansions set on July 21st at Empire Garage and the Me Nd Adam show with Foxtales and KVN opening on July 29th at Antone’s.

Overall, I’m relatively happy with this roll. Looking at it, it’s mostly dominated by the Me Nd Adam set which as I mentioned in a previous post was the one set I knew the least about and wasn’t necessarily the most interested in. However, my initial interest was assuaged and also the number of pictures I take isn’t necessarily indicative of how much I like the music anyways. In general, I would classify this as a pretty narrow kind of roll. It has a lot of pictures that are relatively similar though there are a fair number of variations and differences that I’ll point out.

To start off, I want to talk about the Glass Mansions set. It was a whole lot of fun as a show, but also I really enjoyed thinking about the pictures. As is apparent I went more towards dark images with a strong emphasis on the lighting. In general I think this was the right decision for this type of show. The spotlight setup was simply better suited for these types of pictures and also it’s been a while since I’ve really been at a show with this kind of lighting so I wanted to use that kind of lighting to its best. In particular I think my favorite of this set is the second picture on the roll. There’s very little detail besides the Glass Mansions sign but that sultry glow is very appealing to me. It simultaneously feels dangerous but inviting, it gives that beckoning feeling. As a collection of images I like the combination of dark and sultry with bright, bombastic, and fun. Honestly I feel like as a collection it does a pretty good job of encapsulating the vibe and feel of the set overall.

Moving on is the collection of Foxtales related pictures in the top right. All in all I’m satisfied with these pictures. I’m not gonna say they’re particularly exciting but I like the general vibe and feel of them. More than any other on the roll this collection perhaps feels the most cohesive, both in terms of lighting and also in terms of how they interact with each other. The second and third pictures from the top on the right side for example are a really cool interaction of different sides of the stage with the same image composition. I appreciate that the focus is mostly inverted as well to give another differentiation between them, it’s a small but meaningful touch. I wish that both of the 3 subject line images ended up working out but it’s always a bit of a risk when shooting low light situations. Generally you can assume all of the pictures I take at 800 ISO (400 pushed +1 in this case) have a shutter speed between 1/8 and 1/60 of a second. As a result, between actual in front of lens motion and hand shaking behind it there’s a decent chance that there’s blurriness even if everything is focused perfectly. Honestly I’m actually surprised it isn’t usually worse. To be fair it seems that that 3 subject line picture that I labelled as small is a combination of flaws. It’s blurry because of motion in front of the frame and also a bad focus point so there’s no sharpness anywhere in the frame to offset the blurriness from the motion. For example, had I focused on the main singer or to the back, I think this picture could’ve ended up alright. But as it stands it just has no point to ground it and just ends up messy.

I’ll briefly mention KVN since I didn’t like any of these pictures. KVN is a collection of three local Austin female musicians, Dossey, Lady Heartwing, and Primo the Alien. They have a pretty by the numbers girl band pop type of vibe which is a lot of fun. But I had a really hard time figuring out what kind of pictures I wanted to take. I know that there were fun ones I could’ve taken but I just kinda froze up and none of these really came together. It’s unfortunate but that’s just how it goes sometimes. I think for next year I really want to focus on 3 subject compositions in general. Partially because of this but also because I think it’s a nice and obvious progression from the a/b split type 2 subject compositions I’ve largely focused on this year.

Now for the largest group of pictures of Me Nd Adam. I like a lot of these. I obviously pointed out two of them which are in the middle, but there are a lot of interesting ones here that I think are worth mentioning.

First off is the vertical one just below the Foxtales pictures. Honestly I think this one is just a whole lot of fun and is a goofy moment. I might call it a 2.5 subject composition and it’s largely an a/b split with the main singer just peeking off frame. The question to ask here is would it be better if the frame were extended a bit to have more of him? I’m going to argue no. As is, this picture is really cheeky and fun. Having more of him in frame doesn’t really change that. Furthermore it’d require either a different standing location which could affect the amount of focus separation or a different focal length which could also really mess with the distance separation with the background and include more that could potentially distract. Interestingly I think this is as good as this picture can get and I don’t think I’d change it one bit.

Next is the picture at the bottom to the left of the gap. I’m not exactly sure why the color turned out like this. I assume some of it has to do with the scanner I’m using and how it handles its negative reversing. That doesn’t necessarily explain why it feels more contrast-y than the other pictures. In any case, I really like the dark blue vibe. But more than that I like the pair of expressions on the main subjects and how they’re separated from the drummer to the back. It’s interesting, I feel like I view this more as a 2 subject composition than a 3 subject and I’m not entirely sure why. I think it might be that Adam and Vince are taking up pretty much exactly half of the frame and the drummer is taking up the other. I also think that with the back half of the Antone’s sign in the back it helps draw back as a part of that grouping. However since Vince is partially out of frame he doesn’t pull enough individually so it’s more that he’s an accessory so the pair of Adam and Vince become one group and the back half of the Antone’s sign and the drummer become the other. It’s an interesting thing that is a bit hard to properly understand.

The last picture I want to talk about is the picture in the second row from the bottom and second column from the left. I just really like the setup and idea of this picture. With the drummer’s outstretched hand just barely in frame, it’s a fun and powerful picture. While someone else might say “it’s a bit too exposed the white lights are too bright” I’m gonna push back on that. (Yes I know I’m making an argument that no one’s actually making because no one’s looking at this picture) I actually really appreciate the almost overly bright lighting. While having the lights be more contrasting may make for a more “interesting” picture, I think the bright lighting gives a different feel. With the outstretched hands I get a sense of radiance or not quite divinity. While I personally admit that the lights being more focused and contrasting would make the picture pop more, I don’t believe it’s important. The evocation here is more important than the exact look being as sharp or contrasting.

To close off this post, let’s go over the numbers. Overall, this picture has 22 large pictures and 17 small. This has kind of just become a pretty normal range a bit better than not and honestly I’m ok with that. This roll in particular is full of a combination of specific attempts at things but also some more experimental things. There are things that I haven’t done in a bit but also some more tried and true types. While I would’ve loved to have done better with the KVN pictures I can’t be too discouraged. At the end of the day I go to shows to enjoy music and if the pictures turn out well, great. If not, I still enjoyed the music. If I’m lucky the pictures can come together in collections that are greater than the sum of their parts but I’m not expressly trying to do so.