https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5 A photographic evaluation of top alternative music venues in and around the London/Hertfordshire area. en-us 2019-05-21 08:47:06 UTC 2023-05-15 00:34:14 UTC hello@padlet.com https://imgglb.padletcdn.com/v13/image?t=g_auto&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpadlet.net%2Ficons%2Fpng%2F1f4f8.png sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362102836
Having gone to The Fiddler's Elbow last week, i was commisioned to take photos for the and Houses of Hollow.
The venue is an intimate setting with the stage at the same level as the audience. This made crowd interaction a main focus for the evening with a high energy mosh pit.

]]> 2019-05-21 12:21:00 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362102836 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362105293 2019-05-21 12:28:04 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362105293 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362105462
The decor inside consisted of a wide collection of old rock vinyl and portraits of legends in the music industry creating a music oriented atmosphere. ]]> 2019-05-21 12:28:30 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362105462 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362106083

Adding to the grungy, retro feel of this venue was extreamily dark lighting. 
Coming from a photography aspect, this meant i had to think carefully about my camera settings aswell as what lense to use.


I used a 50mm portrait lense which allowed me to get down to a 1.2f stop aswell as a shutterspeed of 125. This meant more light could get through to my camera, however i was then restricted to taking more close-ups as i risked most of my composition being out of focus.

For shots of the crowd, i used a higher f stop and shutterspeed with flash to achieve a shot in focus with less noise.

]]> 2019-05-21 12:30:04 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362106083 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362108829
Overall this was a good venue for live music and a brilliant night out for live music.]]> 2019-05-21 12:37:55 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362108829 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109442

Much like the gig at The Fiddler's elbow, i used a 50mm portrait lense allowing me to reach a low enough aperture to compinsate for the low lighting. I used a shutterspeed of 90 meaning i had to be careful about how i captured movement. Anything that moved too fast would be blurry but i used this to my advantage by creating centerpoints in some photos like the one below where movement was conveyed in the photo though the contrast between burry and focused areas of my shot.]]> 2019-05-21 12:39:24 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109442 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109496
The inconsistant lighting meant i had to anticipate the movement of the band and audience to set my camera accordingly. ]]> 2019-05-21 12:39:36 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109496 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109574
Being an intimate setting for such a heavy band, the venue hit full capacity and carried a really good energy with all eyes on the band and all intentions of dancing.


A thoughtful touch was the back bar being lit up with fairy lights for easy navigation.]]> 2019-05-21 12:39:47 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109574 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109651 The venue itself was a well thought out setting with minimal decor (black walls ceiling anf floor with all wiring expossed). The stage was raised half a meter above the attendees allowing me to reach more angles on and off stage. 

The music room was low lit with an ultraviolet light on the audience. There were then revolving colours, stobe and spot lights on the band.
 ]]> 2019-05-21 12:39:58 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109651 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109758 I was informed of a band playing at The Horn "Paceshifters" that needed photos taken for their european tour. A big part of this brief was to create an atmosphere within my shots that used the setting to convey their punk ethos.]]> 2019-05-21 12:40:15 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362109758 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362110223 2019-05-21 12:41:33 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362110223 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116075 2019-05-21 12:55:21 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116075 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116348
This venue had a slightly Bigger floorspace due to the size of the pub and the stage being raised. This meant attendees didnt hesitate to form a moshpit. 

The high and slightly aggressive energy of the audience emulated everything the band and its music were about and the bassist even ended up jumping into the audience as pictured here nearly pushing me over.]]> 2019-05-21 12:55:58 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116348 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116451 I again used my 50mm portrait lense as i didnt need to worry about the zoom on my camera but could instead think more about how much light i could let into my camera. ]
I had an aperture of 2.4 as this venue had higher lighting then past venues i had shot in. I then used a shutterspeed of 160 to capture less blur in the movement of this extreamily animated atmosphere.]]> 2019-05-21 12:56:14 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116451 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116536 Being known for its pub atmosphere, i was suprised when i was shown around the music room at O'Neill's. It featured contrasting lighting that was on rotation so the audience and the band would alwas be different ends of the colour wheel. 

This put a really interesting twist on my photos and was an out of the box way of having the lighting still focused on the band.
The difference in the lighting meant that before i even thought about my camera settings, i was thinking about the white balance of my shots. I found a middleground where botht the band and the background could both be seen a and contrasted with the correct saturation setting.]]> 2019-05-21 12:56:26 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116536 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116665 After seeing my work posted by other bands and venues on social media, i was asked by a premoter for local bands to cover the photography for Negative Frame, a metal band based in St Albans at their gig in Watford.]]> 2019-05-21 12:56:41 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116665 sophiafloyed https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116904 2019-05-21 12:57:19 UTC https://padlet.com/sophiafloyed/a7boyhanwod5/wish/362116904