Dodger Stadium Blues

That's what I experienced yesterday: Dodger Stadium Blues!

"Why is that, Jimmy?" you ask? Well, I was hired for another corporate job by the same company that hired me to shoot at the Long Beach Convention Center last week. This time, the venue was Dodger Stadium where "The Police" were about to perform and my employers-for-the-day were contracted to provide floor-level security and gate-attendant staff personnel. Cool, right?

Yes and no.

It was cool the company hired me again. (They really liked the pics from the first day so I was there to shoot more images for their company's marketing brochures.) And I was paid well for the gig, with a check in my hand before I went home. (How cool is that?) But here's the rub: I had to leave the premises the moment the first band took the stage!

Yep. I sh*t you not!

The promoters, it seems, decided there'd be no cameras and/or photography during the concert, although I'm pretty sure "The Police" had their own shooters there. Although I was given a badge to wear around my neck that proclaimed, "All Access," that access was limited and only good until the concert began.

Bummer.

I did get to see and hear "The Police" for a short while. They performed, "Message in a Bottle" when they took to the stage to rehearse. But I was warned not to even think about pointing my camera in their direction while they were on stage, a mere few feet away from me, rehearsing. Sheesh! (The "Foo Fighters" were also appearing but I didn't get to see them rehearsing.)

Anyway, I was there for about four-hours shooting away. The image above was snapped by an innocent bystander whom I asked to take a pic of me. I look absolutely thrilled to be there, don't I? It was baking in the sun which is why, like a dork, I was wearing a ball cap AND a sweat band. I hate dripping sweat off my forehead and onto my gear, especially while chimping, even though that was nearly impossible in the bright sunlight. (I could just barely see the histogram, though, even in the sun.) I probably would have looked way more thrilled in that pic, baking in the sun or not, if I knew I could have stayed for the concert and snapped some pics.

Photographically, the day was somewhat challenging as the natural lighting conditions--from bright sunlight to dark shaded areas depending on where I was standing--were all over the map. (Exposures from f/4 to f/11 shooting ISO 100 with a shutter speed of 200.) I'm not one to shoot in any of the auto-modes so I was constantly taking quick meter readings and making even quicker decisions whether to turn my Speedlite on for fill, i.e., when my subjects were close enough for the strobe to have any meaningful effect.

I guess I shouldn't complain about not being able to stay for the concert: After all, it's always a good day when getting paid to hold a camera and shoot pictures... even when there's no pretty girls strutting their stuff in the viewfinder or a notable band playing some cool tunes.

(Note to Photo Camel Forum members: If you're wondering if that's a Photo Camel tee-shirt I'm wearing, you're right, that's what's on me.)