MORGAN MOLLER

Hi gang!

Been a busy weekend last week. Trying to juggle the whole work/social life thingy, and the 50/50 balance is very thin. But I like it!

On the 27th of March, Leningrad, which is a fantastic group where a lot of my close friends play in had a concert at the Duvel Brewery. If you aren’t familiar with Duvel, hop out the door and enter any ‘big’ bar, and they’ll probably have it. It’s one of Belgium’s most famous beers, and you find it quite often.

Laurent, Lead Guitarist, Nikon dSlr, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8, ISO-800, 1/25th

Their sponsor is Duvel (how great for a band right?) and this was a private concert, between intimitate friends to enjoy their music. Free drinks all night long made it even sweeter.

More on the south side of the equater…

Preppin' the Room, Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 @ f/4 , ISO-800, 1,25

I was asked to shoot their concert and some promo shots for upcoming events and such. Sadly, I found myself out of time to go check out the scene beforehand, to have an idea of what you can shoot where and stuff, and to be able to prepare for the shoot. However, on this shoot I had to improvise.

Alec, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 @ 2.8, ISO-800, 1/15

These guys truly make good music, food for the soul some might say. I find them friggin’ fantastic. You can check ‘em out @myspace.com/heyleningrad or www.this-is-leningrad.be

I’m always amazed at how sharp Nikon lenses are. I shot the whole evening with an old version of the Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 telezoom lens and most of my pîctures were much sharper then other, non-nikon lenses. I’m not saying Sigma, or Tokina or whatever lenses are bad, but i’m always amazed by the glass quality of Nikon.

Mélanie, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 @ 3.2 , ISO-800, 1/100

Mosquah, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 @ f/8 , ISO-200, 2"

The band also asked me to do some promoshots of them. As I said before, I didn’t have time to scout the location beforehand and so I had to improvise on the spot. If you’ve read my article that was published on Digital Photography School you know that I take lights with me almost always. This time, once again it paid off.

We came across these old Duvel delivery trucks inside a shed, and the moment I saw these old, vintage trucks I knew it was going to be there. The problem was, it was in a shed, which, as most sheds, was really, really dark. I popped up a gelled speedlight behind the truck, and put two more in front of it. One with a blue gel, and one it a CTO through an umbrella.

Leningrad, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 @ f/8, ISO-800, 1/100th

Had to get the whole band in there, and the two last members arrived a tad later, so recomposed the shot and made it happen. Same lighting setup.

Leningrad, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 @ f/8, ISO-800, 1/100

I think I can safely say that once again, these speedlights really saved my ass as I wouldn’t have been able to get these shots if I hadn’t brought them. Just reinforces my belief that you can’t afford not to pack them always in your bag.

So, that’s about it for this week, I’ll be back with more blogging stories, and video’s!

Cheerios, and don’t forget to follow me on twitter @morganmoller

Morgan