Sawston Village School Concert at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge was my first opportunity to use the latest lens to my arsenal, it arrived with only two hours to spare before setting off to daughter Catherine’s house in Sawston to watch her twins Holly and Poppy at their second concert for me at this school. It meant that with just the one lens I could gather a range of subjects handheld from my position in the gallery. I would be operating mainly at almost full aperture, handheld at 2000 ISO in the main, but a few shots offstage where I needed 6400 ISO!
I knew it would still be a challenge, and that challenge was met by my right hand and arm, but considering that I operated fully without any additional flash, and still a fair distance away from the musicians and singers, I felt it was very worthwhile.
The enthusiasm of all the children was unmistakeable, they obviously had put in considerable effort to reach the standards they achieved, and were passionately enjoying it. Likewise the parents and friends in the audience were definitely not there just to show solidarity with their offspring, they were there because they thoroughly enjoyed the performance, the applause and the laughter told that story. It was also palpably obvious the staff were proud of the success of their efforts.
Catherine who was up in the gallery with me had to tell me to stop humming along and tapping my feet to the beat on more than one occasion, but coming to an evening like this, my feet and hands have minds of their own, and simply react, I could very easily join in had there been ‘dancing in the aisles’!
Some of the sense of humour involved was such that you know some of these students will make it into show business in future years, there was considerable creativity and talent on display, and I hope I have captured some of that in the numerous photos I have taken and put into the gallery to mark the event. For those not shown I apologise; it is almost certainly the largest gallery collection I have put up on this blog, which is both a testament to the concert and the versatility of the 100 - 400mm telephoto and just how far digital photography has progressed in my time in the profession.
I hope those who go through the shots gain as much enjoyment as I did on the evening. Thanks to everyone who put all their time into the show.
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