Aylesbury Concert Band New Year Concert – 2 – St. Mary's Church Eaton Bray

 

     Finally, I have processed the shots of the New Year Concert itself, that took place on Saturday, there are fewer images than there were at the Rehearsal, since my movements were naturally constrained, and the view of individual musicians is more often than not limited by whether they are in the front rows. On occasion I can move slightly to get a clear view of some of those Band members in rows behind, but many, especially those in the percussion section, or the large horn section, it is simply not possible to feature them unless I can take pictures of those musicians at the Rehearsal.

     I also look around to note some details of the venue, that catch my eye (to ensure my hands are exercised and I am alert!) My feet have no difficulty in maintaining movement especially in rhythmic masterpieces, such as the Radetzky March, where frankly it is a challenge to keep my feet still!

     The engineering that goes into musical instruments is a source of great admiration, so there will often be close-ups or interesting angles of certain instruments that catch my eye, both static, or in the hands of the musicians. Likewise details I note at the various venues that I cover, such as on this occasion when  I took a shot of one of the figures in a stained glass window that appears in the Rehearsal gallery, and in this one someone changing their reed, but these are not distractions, but observations worth recording, and my galleries are peppered with these items that ensure my eyes are always actively sensitive to my surroundings.

     One item that gave me some frustration was trying to capture a lady’s hands playing her flute with the Band’s logo beyond, it has now been placed in the image header, to remind me of how difficult it was to capture the juxtaposition due to her hand and flute invariably covering the word ‘Aylesbury’ in the end I stood up to ensure I got the shot! My apologies to those in the audience behind me if I momentarily interrupted their view of the Band.

     I hope that my decision to separate the rehearsal from the Concert proper which avoided a delay in getting shots up to the blog, is not a disappointment, but at least, now that the concert pictures are up, it will have been worth the wait, with those who might well not have featured at all, now able to have some time in the limelight.

     From the packed audience, I think my enjoyment was equalled by all those who attended, so thank you to the Band and the Church for a memorable afternoon.

2019 New Year Concert–St. Mary's Eaton Bray – 1— The Rehearsal

     The Aylesbury Concert Band celebrated their first concert of 2019 at the church of St. Mary’s, Eaton Bray, and as Roadie for my daughter I first drove to Quainton to pick her and the Tenor Sax up, then after a short wait as she collected her outfit and some snacks ‘n’ Sax we set off to Eaton Bray, where we parted, for her to join the Band and set up, and for me to get an idea of just how much light I would have with which to take photos, and also choose which lenses would be suitable. I also had a chat with the Lay Reader, Gordon Gray, who is the de facto head honcho, and asked whether I might be allowed to get up into the Organ Loft to take some high level shots of the Band, because it gives me a chance to have a clear view of every member of the band, and later a good proportion of the audience.

     Gordon very kindly unlocked the door to the narrow spiral staircase that winds its way to the Organ, with its even narrower space, between the back of the organist’s bench seat and the balcony, from where I hoped to get some higher level shots of the event later. I took with me two lenses to check the angle of view with each, the 35mm f/1.4 and the 24-70mm and they seemed a good choice.

     I returned to terra firma, and took a few shots to decide what ISO I would be using and realised to have a decent shot of sharpness, I would be using 3200 or 6400 for the darker shots and 1600 if I was blessed with more light and little movement, or needing only a narrow depth of field! Fortunately, using the EOS 5D MkIII Body I know I can keep control of the noise level, provided I do not have to crop too tightly.

     By the time I had ascertained all this, most of the Band had begun testing how well their instruments were tuned; they perform a rendering of “Cacophany in C” for this purpose as more and more of the company arrive and set up their stands and music sheets, amidst small clusters of those more ready, chatted; and numerous helpers prepared the church itself for the onslaught of the audience and distribute programmes and arrange seating. Having found a suitable seat from which to operate, I was fortunate to have an adjacent seat to place the three most likely lenses within easy reach.

     Because once the concert is in progress, I will be operating from a fixed location, I spend the Rehearsal constantly on the move, so I can capture every member of the Band, so everyone basically is given equal prominence in the subsequent gallery.

     I hope that I have captured the atmosphere of the rehearsal in this gallery, and whilst these images are up on the blog, I will once again put my head down to create a gallery of the Concert proper with slightly less pressure, and since there will inevitably be fewer shots because of my limited view of individual  members of the Band, hopefully it will not be long before those images are prepared. there will be two Conductors for this Concert, Rob Wicks and Chris Doyle.

Aylesbury Concert Band, St Mary's Eaton Bray 2018

I collected my daughter and her Bass Saxophone from near Aylesbury and headed to the first concert of the 2018 Aylesbury Concert Band  season at St. Mary’s Eaton Bray;  this concert takes place in the afternoon, and on this occasion it was bright with occasional glimpses of a shy sun. We collected some sustenance before going to park at the church.

Even though we were in good time, we were far from being the earliest of arrivals, and the car park is more than adequate and only a short walk with my camera gear and my daughter’s large heavy case. We both then separated to assemble our respective  kit and I investigated where to sit so I would be in a position where I had a good viewpoint and would not be obtrusive.

Once I had decided on what would be the most useful lenses, I then took a wander around to see where I might get the wider opportunities of varied images during the rehearsal since once the Concert proper was in play, moving around was not an option; I would then be reliant on using different focal lengths to suit what it was I wanted to capture, whereas I am able to choose my viewpoints provided I am not a distraction to the players.

During this period of moving around I was somewhat surprised by the sight of a butterfly, and I later learned they are not such a rare sight, as they often overwinter in the church!

I also wondered whether I might be allowed to shoot from the Organ Loft, and I was not disappointed, the gentleman in overall charge very kindly unlocked and switched on the lighting so I could negotiate the narrow winding staircase. The actual entry to the Organ was protected by a glass door which did somewhat surprise me by its presence! Fortunately, no damage was sustained either to the door or myself, but it did come as an unwelcome surprise!

It is a very tight fit for the Organist up there, and it was difficult to get to the centre, so for the empty shots at the rehearsal, I was not dead centre, but later during the first number of the concert, I did squeeze further in to take a few more meaningful shots with the audience present.

I found at one stage during the concert a lovely juxtaposition of one player with the Tuba beyond giving her a well-deserved halo! I also captured a few other light moments during the afternoon, and also found that in one angle from my position I was able to benefit from the blur of intervening musicians that allowed me to play with the differing rendition of that particular musician as the colours were so pleasing.

Although, the scene looks bright, I was quite surprised how high I had to raise the ISO to capture many of the images; I was generally barely a single stop from full aperture, and often shooting at 1/13th of a second, using 3200 ISO! I frequently refer to this type of work as ‘unavailable light photography’! But that’s part of the joy — a challenge!

At one time the gentleman in charge (sorry I do not have the name) spotted I was taking a shot of the Organ and kindly offered to put on a light to improve it further! It is a truly magnificent structure, but it was not featured treating us to its sounds, which was a shame.

And the most enjoyable piece of music from the afternoon — Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite.

New Year Concert – Eaton Bray

The Aylesbury Concert Band returned to a popular venue for this concert, and a pleasant afternoon concert was indeed why it proves popular for both the Aylesbury Concert band and the audience at St. Mary the Virgin, Eaton Bray; it was nearing full capacity by the time I arrived, and I was more than half an hour early!

The main reason I was able to get a good seat was because the front row was almost on top of the players! Because I was so close there was little call for a lens longer than 200mm, so the 70-200mm was on the 7D MkII and the 35mm f/1.4 was on the 5D MkIII. I did originally have the 100-400mm on the 7D MkII, but two shots with that was enough to tell me to take it off. Another really excellent feature of this church was the lighting, which was excellent. The only drawback was that being on the same level as the band meant a number of the musicians were obscured by the music stands. I did ask whether it might be possible at a future event that I might be allowed to shoot from the Organ Loft and was delighted that it would indeed be possible. Now if only I was in possession of a cloak of invisibility such that I could also operate from ground level as well!

The choice of pieces was very much to my liking with a number of rhythmic foot tappers, such as the arrangement for Bach’s Toccata and Fugue, as well as the beautiful and melodious, Romance from the Gadfly with a solo by Erica. One of the highlights of the evening was the irrepressible Rupert Johnston who played the Rondo from Mozart’s Horn Concerto No2 in Eb – for those who do not know Rupert’s story, I suggest you acquaint yourself, because he is remarkable, and inspirational. This is one of the reasons I chose the picture of him playing his solo piece with Conductor Rob Wicks to head this piece. (It is both very sad and yet heartwarming, Google his name to learn more.)

I had learned from my daughter that they had been rehearsing Radetzky’s March, but it was not on the programme – I learned why, when the concert concluded and the audience were told they were to be featuring as the Grand Finale. No one was disappointed!