Episode 1.7 “Mayor, Masicka and Making Magic”
So I’m writing this at 4:30AM. Yea, I know you might be thinking this is prime time for sleep, and I think so too, but I just got in from a concert: Caribbean Vibes, which featured St. Kitts born Rapper, RB the Mayor and Jamaican Dancehall Artist, Masicka, alongside a bunch of other talented artists. I did some work for the event promoter before, and I guess he kinda liked it (go figure), so he hired the team to photograph the event as well as some other itinerary events preceding it.
Now to be honest, there are a ton of other photographers on the island that shoot these types of events all the time. In fact, I’m pretty good friends with quite a few of them. As for me, I tend to usually lean into the more production related jobs, you know: promotional photography, portraits, architecture, magazine stuff. The kinda shoots where you use big studio lights, precise setups, backgrounds, posed subjects, etc in a pretty controlled and stable environment.
Events, especially concerts and shows, are a totally different beast and not usually one I’m eager to tame. At a concert, a good shot lasts a millisecond and then it’s gone forever. It can be nerve-racking, unpredictable and a million things can go wrong (mostly bad lighting) within the environment that can truly mess things up.
Did I mention that bad lighting really is a pain in the hind-side?
Anyway, we were given the job and Kisheen set out an hour before to start taking shots.
“How is the light up there?” I texted
“It’s ok.” she promptly replied “You gonna show up?” she continued
“Of course!” I said, getting excited at the thought of maybe taking some nice shots.
So I kissed my warm bed good bye, threw the camera bag in the back seat and set off to see this ‘Ok’ light.
Got to the venue and flashed my important looking badge/ID at the gate and went in like a boss (which I kinda am). Unpacked, grabbed a lens and fired away. And guess what? The light was awesome! It was actually really good, and coupled with the fog machine and background screen, it was magic. The talents were also really energetic, the music was pretty good and the crowd was into it, which made my job surprisingly quite enjoyable and actually a little fun. Special shout out to the folks in the front.
