I’ve been interested in cameras from a very young age, although regrettably I didn’t get my first “serious” camera until I was in my early twenties.
My first TTL SLR was a Zenit – 15 which I bought along with a 50mm prime lens and a couple of zoom lenses and that’s when I really started learning about photography, now having the ability to change shutter speeds and apertures. I even experimented with different makes of film in various ISO speeds. I also got into black and white film and had a bash at developing my own film and printing photographs.
After learning about photography with my trusty old Zenit I moved on to Pentax as my brand of choice for SLR cameras. My first Pentax was an SF7 which I eventually traded in for an SFX, then I bought an SFXn (I still have these two camera bodies, although I haven’t used either for years).
From my late teenage years to the present day I’ve sung in a few bands, in my thirties I got more into the music, and with my job as a Precision Engineer so my photography took a back seat. Having my photograph taken hundreds of times while singing in various bands over the years got me thinking that I’d like to start photographing bands myself. And so I did.
Now equipped with five DSLR’s, a K-10, K-7, K-3, K-70 and a KP (all Pentax) I take a camera to as many local gigs as possible. I usually favour the K-3 and the K-70 because they both perform very well in low light, I can take photographs in reasonably low lighting conditions without using a flash. Using a flash can be quite distracting (sometimes annoying) for the people on stage, and for people in the audience too.
Since 2016 I have spent a lot of my spare time photographing a band called The Weird Things (click here for The Weird Things website). I joined them on their first day in Panther Sudios (click here for Panther Studios website), and on two other days later on in the recording of their debut album “Ten Digit Freak.” I have also taken some promotional photographs for them and more recently I’ve been photographing their live performances.
“Ten Digit Freak” is now available to buy through The Weird Things website. Some of my photographs are featured on the cover and inner sleeve of the vinyl and CD versions.
I’m looking forward to the end of this Covid virus so that I can get back to photographing live bands again. I haven’t had the opportunity to try out the Pentax KP at a gig yet and I’m looking forward to seeing some results because the low light performance has been improved since the K-3 and K-70.
Photography by Richie 