Thax Continues Anti-Flash Crusade
It seems that local indie show cult figure/rhymemaster Thax Douglas is stepping up his crusade against flash photography at performances. RFC Chief Image Coordinator Nicole Chavas reports:
I caught the 1900s and Devin Davis [at Schubas] on Saturday, and this time Thax brought his camera flash proselytizing to the stage alongside his poetry- before both bands! Thankfully, my roommate made sure to take a nice flash picture of him up there. Again, if Schubas didn't want flash photography, they'd put up signs that said "no flash photography." I'm sorry, but wasn't he on hiatus or something?
I also couldn't help but notice that Thax's MySpace headline now reads:
"FLASH CAMERAS SUCK."
He even explains further in his profile...
Flash Camera Suck because they make me sick and I have to leave the show-so I'm laying low until this fad has subsided.watching a show with flash camera is like wathcing a DVD that keeps sticking. It distuibrs[sic] the flow of the show- and since it's usually 2 or 3 people at a show who're takiking[sic] flash photos every 10 seconds, I will be bold and suggest that they don't have the right. I'm hoping clubs will revive the old rule of no pictures after the first 3 songs.
If you want a remembrance of the night-why don't you take some video? Most of those new digital cameras have video.
posted by Brad K at 6/06/2006 02:55:00 PM
6 Comments:
Thax - we luv you - but...if we use video we need light too -one long continious light - if we want pics of the band - for websites or personal use there is no choice.
this is a tough situation, but i'm inclined to suggest restraint for those of us who shoot at shows.
i love taking photos at shows, but more than a handful of flash photos is too much. please be respectful to others and keep it to a few per show. almost no one wants a flash or screen in their face, particularly at a dark place like schuba's. while the bands *usually don't mind (after all, the already have bright stage lights in their faces), many in the audience do, even if they're too timid to say so.
also, unless it's a fast band or you have a bounce flash for some slight fill, chances are, flash shots will be second rate, anyway. the best route is usually a high iso and a fast aperture. some inventive craft will provide much better photos than those flash pics seen on most photoblogs.
Good for Thax.
Concert photos shot with flash always look like ass. And not the fine kind of ass either.
Get as close as you can to the stage, don't use full telephoto, and turn the flash off. You may not have as many sharp pictures but you can shoot all night long without bothering anyone, and the pics that do come out will capture the energy and mood of the show more than four dudes frozen under a blinding light will.
Remember the good old days when you actually needed a photo pass to take photos at shows, and a minimum amount of skill was employed to get around having to use a flash? Things like a knowledge of film speed and how long to keep the shutter open and stuff like that?
Then everyone came along, bought digital cameras and believed that gave them a right to document everything going on in their lives no matter how much it might annoy the people around them.
I don't think Thax is being unreasonable here, to be honest.
While I agree there definitely should be some restraint...get a few good pics and turn off the camera....don't forget that many/most of these pictures are being taken for various online blogs, etc., which have become a pretty important promotional tool for smaller bands. And most don't have the $$ for a nicer camera that performs in low light, or a photographer. Bands, their publicists, and their labels are all glad to see cameras, flash or otherwise....so it seems a bit presumptuous to try to make the rules for a show which is, in the end, theirs. On the flipside, everyone there paid money to get in the door, and photographers should be repspectful of that and keep it as unobtrusive as possible.
Man, if I had the dough to shell out on an SLR camera, I would. Sadly, that is not the case.
I don't think flash should be used willy-nilly, because it's true, most of the time it won't work. But if you are close enough to actually capture something meaningful with it, I say by all means, do it!
I don't like smoking in venues, but if it's allowed (which it isn't at Schubas anymore, actually)and I'm not going to get up on stage and attack anyone who chooses to smoke around me. Even though I may find it as "annoying" as Thax find camera flashes.
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