Titus Andronicus was one of the most buzzed about bands at this year’s SXSW Festival and after seeing them burn through a tight set of propulsive and explosive indie-rock on Friday, it was easy to see why. Plus, lead singer Patrick Stickles has a very impressive beard.
This was not your typical D.C. rock show. First of all, it was held in a church, St. Stephen’s on 16th and Newton Streets in Columbia Heights. Their concert room is actually very nice with a large, waist high stage. Lighting, however, was a little tricky. There was a row of lights spanning the stage hanging directly above the front lip of the stage, but the band set up directly under it, so their faces were not lit at all. I started out stage left trying to get some natural light shots with my 50/1.4 but that proved fairly fruitless. Once the mosh pit started up i looped back around the crowd and made my way stage right, where there was a staircase and a small part of the stage I could plant myself on. This of course cut down on my angle but it elevated me out of the crowd, so I put my flash on and shot the rest of the show from there.
Even though I generally hate shooting with my flash, it really came in handy for this show. I didn’t like the shadows it caused in some of the shots, but I can live. Be sure to check out Dave Malitz’s review over on the Click Track blog on washingtonpost.com.
Check out the full photo set below. Follow me on Twitter to see what I am shooting next.
Titus Andronicus @ St. Stephen’s – Images by Kyle Gustafson
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