Fontaines D.C. with Wunderhorse
The land of leisure
Galway’s Leisureland was the venue for my last gig of 22. The last time I was in Leisureland was probably a school tour, so you know… a long time ago 😜
It was, however, my first time at a gig there. It is a great venue with a nice big ground floor and a tiered, fully seated balcony.
Three songs, no flash
This was my first time having access to the photo pit. I could shoot both Wunderhorse and Fontaines D.C.’s first three songs from the pit. For those that don’t know, the pit is the area right in front of the stage between the band and the fans. There are a number of rules to be observed when shooting from the pit.
⚡️
You’re not allowed to use flash. Imagine how annoying and distracting it would be for the performer if there was someone flashing a light in their eyes over and over again?!
3…2…1
You can shoot for the first three songs, then get outta there! The fans pay to see their favourite band perform, not to watch you going from right to left trying to get good shots in front of them for the entire show.
🥷
Wear black, this is not a problem as I prefer this shade on me ;). The idea here is to blend in and not to draw attention to yourself or distract from the performance. Be courteous of other photographers in the pit. Don’t hog a spot, take your shot and move on.
Special thanks to Gugai for giving me this opportunity 🤘🏼
Wunderhorse
Wunderhorse supported Fontaines D.C. on both their North American and UK and Ireland tour. They gave great energy, sounded class and were brilliant to shoot!
GIG Shots
View the gig shots from the night…
Fontaines D.C.
It was wonderful to see Fontaines D.C. outside of a festival and I was really looking forward to the gig. Grian hyped up the crowd and they were quick to respond 🤘🏼
Fans singing their hearts out.
GIG SHOTS
View the gig shots from the night…
The first three songs from Fontaines D.C. were: A Hero’s Death, Lucid Dream and In ár gCroíthe go deo. Their stage lighting was predominantly red, coinciding with the colour theme of their new album Skinty Fia. I embraced the red lighting in my shots and darkened the shadows to make the them pop. In ár gCroíthe go deo used strobe lighting and my camera really struggled to catch focus. It wasn’t until near the end of the song that I came to grips with it. Next time I’ll be ready 🤘🏼
Tools of the trade
I shot both bands using the Fujifilm X-T2 with a 50-140mm and a 35mm lens that I swapped out between songs. For the wider, more atmospheric shots, I used my Fujifilm X100V which played a storm. This camera never fails to amaze me.
Oh and I found out that my camera is beer proof 😅
🍺 + 📷 = No problem for Fujifilm
