A few images and a short story about Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Tito Auger, performing at Noche Borincana in Melbourne, FL, an event produced by Brincando El Charco.
Not all events happen under ideal circumstances. Sometimes you find yourself in the packed backroom of a venue, standing-room only, with virtually no light, and the stage is a small platform just inches from the ground. With an old camera body with nearly zero low-light capability, the options are extremely limited.
My take: get as uncomfortably close as possible, wait for a stray ray of strobe light that could give me a silhouette, and use the flashlight on my phone as a dim key light. The brightest lights around me were other people’s phones, so I used that as well.
Also cranked up the ISO to the max; a blurry and noisy image of the tension of a guitar string is better than no image at all. All that while playing nice with the crowd, battling with foot traffic from a side door, and a few close encounters with the PA system. (Kudos to good earplugs and yoga workouts.)
Sometimes the photography gods smile upon you. Sometimes it’s up to you to make them smile.
More about Tito Auger:
Official site: TitoAuger.com
Instagram: @TitoAuger
Twitter: @TitoAuger