Monomad: Composition struggles and inconvenient lighting

Have you ever attended an event in which you think the composition and lighting in the space has plenty of potential to create great photographs? Well, it happened to me a few hours ago. I attended a really beautiful concert on the Armenian composer Komitas. A composer that coincidentally suffered great struggles as a result of nearby conflicts that are still present to this day in the nation. It's also the anniversary of Armenia's genocide which took place way back in 1915 and ended in 1923. Such an event does not disappear in the minds of Armenians, and the nation is plagued with heartbreak and anger over events that seem to keep taking place. I think it seemed fitting that one place in particular chose to enjoy the music of a composer that had once suffered through these problems, using the beauty of music as a method of dealing with it all. The Komitas name is one I have heard of a lot, though only due to the locations in which hold the name in Yerevan. So I was curious as to how the music may hold up; of course, I couldn't help but take the camera along with me. Inevitable, even.

The concert itself was beautiful, lasted around an hour with one song after the other. Four individuals were playing wonderfully in a relatively small hall that was designed very well, but also had seen a bit of neglect as the years went on. I assume this hall isn't as active as it could be. Though none of these were issues at the concert, instead, it was that the photography potential had dwindled. Thankfully, I had my 85mm lens to capture some of that beauty still.

The seating arrangements for the musicians basically had them in a circle. It was an odd arrangement that made them very close together, and at many angles blocking the view of each other. This meant I only saw just one of their faces during the entire event. The other three, I saw one from behind and the rest were totally blocked. I really wanted to photograph their emotions and techniques, something I love doing at such events because of the raw emotion that is ready to be captured. It was certainly a challenge with only two people I could photography, from a fixed perspective in my seat in the second row. There was no option to move to another seat due to the nature of these types of events; and the seating for the audience was something that was not priorly chosen upon ordering the ticket. Though the place of seating for me was generally pretty good, just not for photography. I can't really complain!

Next up was the lighting. It was far too dark to really be able to capture the emotion. I had to use a slower shutter speed and bump up the ISO quite a bit, adding in a lot of noise but knowing that I'd have to edit the photographs a little later on to pull out a little more information in them. A 640 ISO did the job with F1.8 and a shutter speed that altered between 125 and 350 depending on the speed of the playing.

I had to try to be a bit more quiet with the camera, not letting the screen get too bright in this dark space that it might bother the others around me. So shooting portraits was next to impossible, though funnily their hired photographer moved around for a few minutes without a care in the world, capturing about four photographs in total before standing idle in the corner on his phone. Really motivated me again to see people getting such work while I mess around doing this stuff for fun with so much more effort. No doubt that these pictures ended up being of higher quality. Sometimes I notice this a lot, perhaps it isn't always a healthy mentality to have: that idea that you are better than most. But in many cases, it's really evident that I am. Moving on! I really enjoyed the few pictures I did manage to take, I still tried to stick to the more cinematic, emotional capturing that I tend to pursue.

I think these photographs came out well as a result. There's composition, emotion and a bit of story to them. And that's generally what I go for in my photography. That pursuit of something that really conveys some story to it. And that can be hard in shooting people sometimes as you really have to wait and notice those little moments in expressions in order to convey them.

I definitely want to attend more events like this, preferably with a little more freedom over how they can be photographed. I'd love to openly be able to roam such a space and compose the shots how I like, capturing the gestures and emotions with any perspective I feel is best. It's always great fun to be able to run around people in this regard. I love this type of photography where it feels so run-n-gun, not really having time to perfect things, being at the hands of time knowing that each second that passes is one that leads to the end of the event. That timed challenge to come out with the best you possibly can. I think it hardens your observational skills as a photographer, to be able to navigate a space quickly and notice the moments that are really worthy of capturing. Not just holding down on the shutter and taking thirty photographs of the subject all at once, then later choosing which ones may be good.

I think this was hammered into me through my initial shooting on 35mm film too, knowing I was limited with the frames I had, and instead just carefully noticing moments rather than being able to run around and take as many as I like, then just deleting the ones I don't. Carefully noticing the right moment just feels so much more natural to me.