Fred Wesley & the New J.B.'s live!

Last Friday night, I said "no" to the parties I was invited by my friends and said "yes" to take my car  alone and drive 40 minutes to see a true legend onstage. I couldn't miss this opportunity to see such a legend of Funk close to my house as I already missed him earlier this year in Paris. But I have to tell you that I also have a special story with Fred Wesley. This kind of story you will always remember... I can only tell you that few months ago I was shooting him in a music studio in Paris for the new album of an artist and I don't have the right to say who is he neither to show you these images for the moment...

Anyway, I paid only 5€ to see one of the most important man related to the James Brown's career. Crazy, right?! No accreditation this time, I was shooting with fans around me, just for fun. Of course I brought my Canon 5D MkIII and my brand new macro lens 100mm f/2.8 L IS to test for the first time this combo in a concert situation. Nothing else to say that it's the best combo I have ever had to shoot portraits, macro, products and concerts. The lens is sharp as hell and the camera is awesome when you go in high ISO. Here is a bunch of photos I did, and here is the link to watch a quick video I shot with the 5D and the 100mm during this concert.

Cheers!

Canon 5D MkIII - 1/200s - f/2.8 - ISO 2000 - Canon 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS

Canon 5D MkIII - 1/250s - f/2.8 - ISO 2500 - Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS

A new singer for Po-Len

French Pop-Rock music band has a new singer. They did their first show with Emilie few days ago during a big student party at Gala Supelec.

Po-Len live @ Le Réservoir

Some pics of the French band Po-Len with my friend Morgane live at Le Réservoir, Paris.

Morgane

Feili

Alain

Joko live @ Sentier des Halles, Paris

Few days ago, just before my trip in Austria, I had to shoot Joko onstage. After shooting some videos for the same music band before (you can see my part in 2 videos here and here), I was finally happy to shoot some still images. Here are some of the moments I have captured.

Digital noise...

"Hey Richard! Do you wanna come to see my new band Po-Len live at OPA Bastille, Paris?" I said to Morgane, the band singer, and a good friend of mine : "Yes, of course, I'm sure I'll have a good moment!"...
Yes, I had a good moment seeing Po-Len live and Kazako, another music band with great singers and musicians. The problem is that I had my camera with me... So I did my job! Oh, wait, I tried to do my job... Because if you know this little pub, called OPA Bastille, you already know what I'm talking about : the stage is really small and the light, for photograhers, is like you were in the dark! Hard job. In these cases, my 50mm f1.4 is my best friend to take some pictures in the "dark". But with my wide angle lens, it's not the same and I had to shoot at 6400 ISO at 1/15sec sometimes. I can tell you that the Canon 7D doesn't like this, at all! If you have one, keep shooting at 3200 ISO max with a good light, or you'll get a lot of noise...

Po-Len // 6400 ISO 1/25sec f/3.5

Video Clip + Rain = Video Clip cancelled

Tonight, I had to take some "Making Of" photos of a video clip in the suburb of Paris. Even if it was cold outside, all was good until the rain came to say hello to all of us! The director was motivated to film under the rain as we could have a really unique ambiance, but the singer didn't think the same way... They finally stopped all, and I think it was the right way. But look at this amazing ambiance!

"Over you" the 2000 fps video clip is online

Two months ago, I was talking about a video clip filmed with a RED camera and a Photron camera which can filmed at 2000 fps in 4K. By curiousity I went to the studio during the shoot as I had a friend of mine who has a short part in the clip (see her at 0'17). A lot of expensive stuff and a lot of people for "just" a video clip!

This is not my kind of music, but anyway, here is the link to watch "Over You". You can see the action below at 1'09 and there is also a couple of dance actions in an impressive slow motion. Too bad it's too short during the clip... The good point is that the guys at Woow, the film production company, are really cool and they do a very good job. Oh, and here is the link to watch the making of.

A video clip filmed in 2000 images/sec!

Two days ago, as my friend Pauline was in a studio waiting for her part in a video clip, I decided to come to see her and to attend the shooting (yes, I'm curious!). The Abel 14 studio in Paris is big, and I've never been in a such place. It was a good surprise to me to discover all these people working on the same project. I don't know a lot about how to make a movie yet, but it seems very interesting.

Anyway, I was there for one hour and I had my camera, so I decided to take a few backstage pictures of Pauline during her hairdressing. As I didn't know the director, I didn't take any behind the scene pictures, except a couple of images to show you the decor. I discovered that the guys filmed with a RED camera and another one I didn't know at all : a Photron. For those who knows, the Photron camera is just amazing! It's just a 2000 images/sec camera. Easy! And it costs only 300 000€. Very cheap! As I was here, I had the opportunity to watch the raw images taken with the Photron. The slow motions are incredible, very fluid and VERY slow with a high definition image. Trust me, it's crazy! Now, I'm looking forward to see the result through the video clip. I'll tell you when it's done.

Pauline backstage