A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to put a show on my calendar. It was a woman named Lila Downs, who was playing at Symphony Center in Chicago. My first thought was to suggest that we wait until she came back to Chicago, as Symphony Center makes it really difficult to shoot. But I decided to give it a try. I contacted a friend who works for the Symphony, and he had me have the road manager call him. After about a 3 day email back and forth, it was agreed that I could shoot part of the show in an aisle near the front of the audience. Day of the show, I received an email from the road manager saying that the hall wanted me to shoot with a noise canceling device, which I do not own. Once again, I thought about skipping the show. When I got down to sound check, I met my contact from the venue, who was going to show me the sound canceling device that they were going to loan me. Right as he started talking about, the guitar player started checking his guitar sound, while the rest of the band set up. We had to yell at each other from about two feet away from each other. I suggested to him that if one guy was this loud, how would the whole band sound? And would I really need the devive? He agreed that it would probably be unnecessary, and we were set to go!
The show that night was magnificent, and the photos I took, hopefully, captured the beauty of the performance!
Perseverance pays off!!