This was my sixth year taking photos at the Meredith Music Festival and once again a multitude of eclectic acts graced the stage over the weekend. This is a shot of Explosions in the Sky guitarist Munaf Rayani taken on 9th December 2011. More official photos up at 2011.mmf.com.au and aunty meredith’s flickr page.
The 20th anniversary of the Meredith Music Festival heralded some great performances from ‘oldies but goodies’ such as Custard, The Dirty Three and Neil Finn alongside newcomers Kimbra, kyü and El Guincho.
These are the three custom settings I pre-programme when shooting where the available light can range from full sunshine to dark in a matter of minutes. I’ll often adjust these slightly depending on the conditions but find these a good place to start.
Most of the time I use two cameras, one with a 70-200mm zoom lens and the other with a 16-35mm and switch between the two depending on the type of shot that presents. For a shallow depth of field effect I’ll use a 50mm f1.4 or (as I was fortunate to borrow for the Dirty Three set) a 85mm f1.2 lens with its crazy halo effect when shooting into the light.
Most of the shots get some sort of curves/saturation/dodging/weaving treatment in Adobe Lightroom to help make them stand out or focus attention on certain aspects of the composition. Turning a shot black and white while adding extra contrast helps if the original wasn’t colourful or dramatic enough.
I was able to get few backstage band shots during the weekend including one of Custard who turned out to be more than happy to be photographed, especially since it was only their second gig in a decade.
It’s always interesting seeing different interpretations of the festival from other photographers perspectives and worth checking out Kristy Millikin’s festival photos and also the review from Mess and Noise along with photos by Leah Robertson.
For the first time in a few years the weather played nice and afforded everyone the opportunity for a pleasant Meredith experience. The festivities were of course helped along by the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Eddie Current Suppression Ring, Tumbleweed and many more.
It was gumboots galore this year as the rain in Victoria seemed to fall mainly over the shire of Golden Plains. Not that it seemed to diminish anybody’s enjoyment of the likes of MGMT, Regurgitator, The Datsuns, Muscles and the City of Ballarat Municipal Brass Band. More photos on the Aunty Meredith Flickr site.
The picturesque surrounds of Point Nepean hosted thousands of music aficionados and boating hanger-ons as they were entertained by the likes of John Fogerty, Mavis Staples, Keith Urban and KT Tunstall.
Thousands descended on the Sidney Myer Music Bowl yesterday for Good Vibrations 2008. A little bit of Melbourne drizzle didn’t dampen the spirits as headline acts Kayne West and Cypress Hill rocked da bowl. More photos here.
