VelesPhotos

Hey there! I'm not really posting so much on DA these days, though I still use it to browse other people's art. I plan on using Instagram for my main photography social networkery from now on, as it seems to be the best option to actually help my career rather than just get an ego boost from Likes. I just feel I've ended up posting the same photos to a variety of places with not much benefit from all the effort over the last couple of years, so it's time to get a bit more focused.

Anyway, if anyone wants to follow me, here I am: www.instagram.com/velesphotos/

All the best
David

Ooft, it's been a long time. Thanks to health issues over the last couple of years I haven't been able to travel to Glasgow to shoot and the last thing I covered was a local event back in summer 2013, so it was great to get back to The Classic Grand and cover the Scottish date of the Faderhead/Aesthetic Perfection European tour.

It was also the first time I've used my Sony NEX-6 for shooting live music. Although there were a couple of quirks (the shutter button is a little too easy to press fully when you're trying to hold focus, so I may have to look into using rear-button focus for shows, and the aperture dial is a bit easy to accidentally nudge) I still managed to get about the same "keeper" rate as when I was shooting with an SLR and the high ISO performance is noticeably better than my Canon 50D. 3200 ISO is now a useable option rather than a last resort, and I'm interested in seeing how 6400 ISO would perform.

Not to mention it was a really good night. AP really put on a great live show and were definitely the highlight.

Things are really picking up on the gig front after a slow start to the year. Next month I'm booked to shoot Heaven's Basement, Mortad, William Control and, once again, Combichrist. It's nice to be busy again

Follow me on Tumblr: velesphotos.tumblr.com/

or my blog: velesphotos.wordpress.com/

Just a wee reminder you can follow my music photography blog at VelesPhoto.wordpress.com

Aaaah, summer's on its way...and with it more gigs to shoot.

I covered the Fresh and Onlys for www.SonicShocks.com a couple of days back, unfortunately the venue got moved (probably due to ticket sales judging by the small crowd) to a basement bar with some truly awful lighting. Everything was pointed at the drummer - everyone at the front of the stage was in shadows. I had to push my 50D up to its 12,800 ISO equivalent setting just to get a useable shutter speed, so the pictures are noisy as hell, but at least I got useable shots.

This weekend I'm going to be covering the Viewpoint Sessions at Kelburn Country Estate. 10 hours of live bands, a dance tent and a fancy dress theme. It should be a blast, as long the hammering rain showers we've been having clear up by then.

In bad news my Ricoh GRD compact died on me. It's off to the service centre and I'm waiting for a repair estimate, but I'm not exactly loaded right now so if it's too much I'm considering getting myself an older, refurbished point and shoot from Ebay. I will totally miss the excellent user interface and wide-angle prime lens of the Ricoh though.