Back in 1969 Lowell George and Bill Payne formed Little Feat, a band whose music I have loved ever since first hearing it as a teenager. Two years ago I got to meet Bill Payne when he came to the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach with Dennis McNally for a night of music and story telling. You can read about that night here: Storytellers. Fast forward to 2014 and Bill Payne had joined Leftover Salmon, and to make matters even better, they were going out on tour. Last night that tour landed at the Belly Up Tavern and I was lucky enough to be there to capture it, or at least a part of it.
Now photographing a show at the Belly Up can be a real challenge as there is no photo pit and no good way to move around the venue especially when it is packed as it was for Leftover Salmon. Back when I was just starting out, I was told by a publicist that I was never to get in the way of the fans and I have stuck to that, at times to the detriment of getting “The Shot”.
Saturday night was one of those nights. I got to the venue with plenty of time and positioned myself up close. I spent the first three songs shooting from that position then moved out of the front so that the fans could have more space to dance, groove and generally have a great time.
I moved to the balcony and managed to get a good couple of shots of the stage from that angle.
After shooting a few songs from the balcony I headed across the venue to try and get some different angles on the show. It was amazing how crowded the venue had become. I became acutely aware that I was starting to get in the way of the fans so I stated to head towards the back of the room.
All the photos were taken using the Nikon D750 and Nikon D4 camera bodies with the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses.
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