More music photography: Seth Lakeman at The Assembly

I’ve been a fan of Seth Lakeman for about five or six years, since the release of his second CD but this was the first time I’d seen him playing locally (discounting Cropredy festival – if I win the lottery one year, I’ll go!)

So about a month ago I was searching for local gigs, when I saw that he was playing at Leamington Spa. The Assembly is a good venue, with plenty of good sight lines.

This is a selection of the shots that I took that night, starting with the support act, Delta Maid. She was advertised as being a blues singer, but on arriving on the stage she said that she was into country music. I must admit that it’s one area of music that I’m not keen on, and I’m afraid that she didn’t convert me as she struck me as more Liverpool than Nashville although technically she was ok.

Then Seth Lakeman and his band came on and did a 1½ hour set:
This is Seth and, I believe, his brother

This was quite early in the set. He’s not actually playing the instrument – although he is keying on the fretboard, he’s merely striking the soundboard to get the effect.

This was taken just before the band left the stage for the first time, and just before he performed the song which made me a fan: Kitty Jay, where he performs on his own with just his fiddle and a kick board.

The bassist with the Seth Lakeman band. I was trying to go for a chiarusco effect with the stage lights striking his head. Not sure whether it’s been entirely successful!

This image was taken with on-camera flash, which I don’t normally use at concerts but there was a lass behind me constantly flashing away so I thought I’d try one and see how it came out.

Personally, I don’t like it – I prefer natural stage lighting although it can be a pain to capture. I still had to adjust shadows and highlights and then levels.

And finally managed to get the whole band in one shot – admitted by tilting the camera, as I was off to one side of the stage.

Thoroughly enjoyed the gig, hope you like the photos.

All of the images here were taken with Canon Eos 550d with either a 50mm f1.8mm lens or the 18-55mm standard kit lens, including several videos which can be found over on youtube.
If you search for carolpgh, you should find a few videos there.