After I bought my first semi-pro camera, a D5200 (nikon) kit with an extra 50mm, 1.8f I took it to a festival. The festival, Keltfest, in the Biesbos was a smaller sized festival focussed on the Celtic theme. The best thing about this festival is that they had no requirements for bringing your camera, except to be a decent well-behaved persoon.
It was a two day event but I could travel back and forth from home, so I didn’t need to worry too much about charging extra batteries or anything like that. I had my camera bag with some extra SD cards, both kit lenses, and extra battery and a whole bunch of motivation with me.
At home I had tried to use the camera a few times, stubbornly starting at the manual setting, trying to get some decent shots out of it. And to my happy surprise, it worked half decently. My poor cats were many times the victim of having to play model. Because things seemed to work half decently well for me, I was motivated to try my hand at photography at this festival.
Keltfest was a known location for me. I had been visiting the event for a few years already and knew a handful of people there. The photographer community at these festivals are in general really friendly. They are open to new blood and they are very helpful when it comes to helping a newbie along the way. This was key to my development as a photographer there.
Arriving there with my new gear in hand, the tips and tricks started to flow in. People started to show me how my camera would work, explain things about lights, about how to use my lenses, what settings were smart to use and what to watch for. It was all very helpful and very overwhelming. I felt like a sieve that got a lot of warm water but it all flowed out again.
I think the only tip that really remained ingrained in my memory was that of a goof friend, Don…
“Don’t forget the drummer, they are always forgotten.”
So that first weekend I got two days of playing around, trying out my first camera. I had no obligations to perform, except for my own perfectionism. There was no platform needing pictures, no bands wanted a shot the next day, or what ever. Just having fun and trying to learn. It meant that when I got home the first night and uploaded the pictures, the pictures weren’t high class shots. There were a handful of good ones, but I shot in Jpeg and didn’t have any editing program that I could use to save anything of them… Still this is what I shot:
Band: Mutefish - Festival: Keltfest
I couldn’t really complain, as it was the first time I ever tried the camera in a concert situation. And I still cannot complain. It was a moment of learning, growing and having fun.
The second day of the festival it started to rain. For a festival, rain is never fun, but for my new gear, it’s not the best either. A bit of rain most camera’s can handle but the whole day, not so much. However, for my start as a photographer the rain was a gift.
I hadn’t bought any rain-covers, and I really didn’t want to shelter from the rain or just give up and go home either. So by advise of another photographer I used a plastic bag as a rain cover. Pull it over the lens, secure it with the lens hood, and cover the body, make a hole where the viewer is. Stuck my hands in the bag and hold the camera. The result I couldn’t see the buttons without getting the camera wet but still could take pictures.
It took a while to get the hang of it but after some time, I could take pictures, change the settings when needed and change the focus points all without looking at my hands what I was doing. Thanks to the rain, I learned in one day how to operate the camera and lens in the dark. Till this day, I am still thankful for it because in darker venues, I don’t need light to get my gear working, I can do it on touch.
My thoughts with telling you this story is simple. Don’t expect professional work on your first time out with the camera, make sure you are having fun, try to find a supportive community to grow in, and most of all, deal with unfavorable situation with creativity and knowledge of more experienced photographers.
In the end, every unfavorable situation, like rain at a festival, can teach you something new and something very useful.
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