Voices in the Park 2012

 A couple of weeks ago we helped support Sarah MacLachlan’s school of music by attending Voices in the Park. There was a pretty big line-up of artists taking part. We arrived a bit late thereby unfortunately missing the first few acts, but we did get to see Whitehorse (Luc Doucette & Melissa McClelland), Jann Arden, Hedley, Bryan Adams, Stevie Nicks, and of course Sarah McLachlan. Strangely enough for a music event, Bill Clinton was also there to give a short speech (and I mean really short; probably less than 5 minutes) about how music had profoundly influenced his life.

Being a camera geek I brought my point-and-shoot camera, and considering the amateurish nature of the device, I got some decent shots. The zoom lens on that thing really amazes me sometimes. As long as I can steady the camera against a solid object, even at night I sometimes get good results. As long as people in front of us remained seated I could brace the camera against my knee and zoom waaaaaay in.

Sarah MacLachlan, Luc Doucette and Melissa McClelland

 I photographed Whitehorse, Jann Arden, Hedley (who were surprisingly better than I was expecting; I didn’t really know their music prior to this event), Bryan Adams (acoustic set; amazing!), Stevie Nicks (opened with a Led Zeppelin tune; it got better from there), and Sarah McLachlan closed the show (as well as dueting with almost all the previous acts).

I don't know Hedley's lead singer's name, but he certainly was popular with the teen girl set. There was a group of four of them just to the side of our picnic blanket that were linked arm in arm, swaying in unison, absolutely transfixed by the performance.

Point-and-shooters have to be innovative. That's part of the allure, I think, to try to get the best shot possible out of a cheap camera allowing for composition, overall light level, colour (very important to me), and sometimes quirkiness. For instance by the time most of the headliners hit the stage the sun had set. We were seated quite far back on flat ground, not on the slope. I could sometimes get a good sight line to the stage, but often just as I framed the "perfect" shot, someone would stand up. And sometimes simply the delay of the camera's shutter (or whatever the electronic equivalent is called), that half second delay was enough to miss the optimum moment.

Fortunately now it's common that music concerts feature massive video screens behind, and to both sides of the main stage. If it hadn't been for that, I'd end up with relatively few, if any decent photos. I suppose it's cheating a bit to photograph a projection of an event, but on the other hand I'm no pro, and nobody's paying me for this or any assignment. The stage camera crew tossed me a bone, so to speak, when they hung video cameras above the stage, oriented to record directly above the performers. That became particularly effective for Hedley's set in framing a bird's eye view of the grand piano. And I had to catch the scene in both warm and cold "filters", augmented by the orange and alternately blue stage lighting. 

So you see, I'm not there just for the music; I take in the overall mood, with colour factored in prominently. I'm very impressed by the evolution of stage presentation in recent years. It also helps to be able to bring such a small camera, with instant LCD playback. Years ago hauling around a heavy 35mm was fine for daylight events. I used to do that and got quite reliant on the internal light meter. I was never one to fuss with the art of apertures and focal lengths to a high degree. I learned how to use the light meter to my best advantage, with reasonable success. I pick up my old Yashica frequently and tell myself to dedicate an afternoon to give it a go again, but really, who's got a free afternoon these days? 

To be fair, that's not totally the reason I've ditched traditional film. I lean more towards digital point-and-shoots largely because of my dog. My first priority is my dog. If ever I decide to dedicate a chunk of time to photography it has to revolve around exercising her. Thus simplicity becomes my foremost perogative. With leash in one hand, the obligatory camera must be a one-hander.

Nowadays I approach photography digitally, largely for the sheer simplicity of it. The LCD display is a God-send for one-handed photography, along with the power zoom, supplemented further by digital zoom. However on the occasion of Voices in the Park, I was wishing I'd brought my Rebel. Up to this point I've really been unsure what is meant by "No professional cameras allowed" printed on all concert tickets. I assumed they allowed pocket-style cameras, but not dSLRs. Apparently my Rebel dSLR is no threat; it was probably the camera of choice on site. The professional cameras used by the media these days are all in the $10,000 range and beyond.

The weather obliged by being clear. The sunny daytime portion was nice, but it was surprisingly chilly once the sun dipped below Stanley Park’s western rim. Fortunately, polar fleece isn’t a fashion faux pas in Vancouver. 

The last act I managed to photograph before my batteries died was Bryan Adams. As of late he's been touring an acoustic show. Just him and his acoustic guitar belting out the hits I remember from high school. I'd heard that his show, recently in Vancouver, was phenomenal. The reviews were correct. It's amazing how he re-created the classic guitar solos on his acoustic guitar, choosing only the essential notes. Maybe we just fill in the rest from memory, but it sure was effective. Tom Cochrane has similarly treated his old Red Rider material. I like it.

Stevie Nicks followed, and while she was a lot better than I had been expecting (being a luke-warm Fleetwood Mac fan), I didn't really get why she opened with a Led Zeppelin tune.

Sarah MacLachlan closed the show with an extra long set including two encores. The event did double duty by giving a gift of music to Vancouver in exchange for monetary gifts to fund Sarah's school of music for another year. All-in-all, a highly satisfactory exchange.