It’s a cool thing when you see a band often enough that the lead singer recognizes you at shows and thanks you for coming. A part of me was secretly ecstatic when River City Extension singer Joe hugged me before the show. RCE sometimes feels like they belong to me. I’ve known about them since (almost) the beginning and since then, they’ve actually influenced me to listen to more folk bands. They do have a bit of a cult following in Connecticut, and I often see familiar faces in the crowd at shows.

As a photographer, I have to get over the fact that there will never be a perfect venue to shoot a band. I will always have something to complain about. If I can ever hope to live out my dream of following a band like RCE on tour, I have to get over it because venues like The Space are a touring band’s bread and butter when they’re starting out. There will always be poor lighting, back lighting, awkward stages and fans crowding the band. I just have to get better. I need more confidence because I’m still completely shy about getting in the faces of band members while they’re playing, or in front of audience members enjoying the show. But I know I’m good when I work hard enough at it. When I really think about it, The Space is a photographer’s dream: no photo pit, no 3-song limit, no sound board shooting, no flash restrictions – you could really learn how to be a great photographer in venues like this, if you just work at it.

No full-size images this time around; I played with an extremely high ISO since I recently discovered 2 expansion slots of 6400 and 12800. The downside is that some of the images have a bit more pixel noise, but I expected that. Flash is unruly sometimes. It’s cumbersome, and awkward when trying to shoot an 8-piece band on a tiny stage. I do try, though probably not hard enough. This show did mark the first of what I expect to be many shows with Nick Caito, who recently took over the Sound Check blog. Look for his review and pics of this show. I look forward to shooting more shows beside him, it’s always nice to have another photographer in the pit to learn from.