The Rifles @ Mercury Lounge, NYC – 9.24.09

Last month, The excellent UK rock band The Rifles paid a quick visit to Eastern North America. I’ve been listening to the band heavily for at least a year now and was really looking forward to seeing them perform songs off their new album “Great Escape.” I decided to go to their first, early night show at Mercury Lounge in NYC. I shot this show for Prefixmag.com.

To check out my full concert review, visit ReadJunk.com! To see photographs of the opening band Useless Keys, click here.

I haven’t been to the Mercury Lounge before so I liked that I didn’t need a photo pass, even though I was granted one. I guess that’s good to know in the future but just have to be wary of the lighting. The lighting is limited and you’ll definitely need some prime lenses or a flash. I don’t like doing flash so I avoided that. I just don’t like to bother the audience and the band with flash going off every 2 seconds. I was kicking myself for leaving my spot I had when I first got there, but I wanted to sit down instead. I was still up close but in the wrong spot because I couldn’t get a shot of their bass player Rob. Luke was in front of red lighting so it was tough getting shots of him at times. But I got the most photos of him of the night.

Honestly, I’m not happy with the photos I got but I tried to capture the show as best I can. I probably would have given up if I wasn’t shooting for Prefixmag.com. I like clubs that don’t have a security pit but if you’re not the first one by the stage, it gets tough to shoot unless you’re a giant…and I’m not. For this show, I used all three of my usual suspects. the 18-70mm f3.5-4.5 for wide angle shots, and 50mm f1.4 and 70-200mm f2.8. I only used the telephoto once or twice just to get some closeups.

The Entire Gallery

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Tags: 18-70mm f3.5-f4.5, 2009, 50mm f1.4, 70-200mm f2.8, Concert Photography, Great Escape, mercury lounge, mod rock, music photography, nikon d300, nyc, prefixmag, rock, september, the rifles, uk