Undercover of the night

Every music-loving photography enthusiast thinks they’d like to be a gig or concert photographer. What’s not to like about combining your passions and taking some (hopefully) memorable shots of your favourite performer? The reality can be somewhat different – constantly changing stage lighting messing-up your metering, musicians jumping around like electrocuted apes, mics and stage clutter spoiling your compositions, other crowd members getting in the way, etc etc... Even getting a prized photo pass for a big gig and shooting from the pit right next to the stage can be a challenge; you’re jostled by other photographers trying to get the same money shots, and get turfed out after only three songs (if you’re lucky). So just imagine what it was like trying to get good gig shots back in the ’80s and ’90s without any of the conveniences of the digital age, like high-ISO full-frame DSLRs, affordable fast telephoto lenses or editing software. And then try to imagine how much harder it would