Wibi Soerjadi live
I always say that my career got skyrocketed after shooting Wibi Soerjadi.
Now for people not knowing Wibi… well it’s a bit hard to explain but let’s put it this way he is a master pianist and was incredibly young when he was discovered, he’s about my age and I remember seeing him in a TV show when I was still watching the cartoons on Wednesday. Through the years Wibi has become of the most famous and recognizable piano players in the Netherlands, but he plays worldwide including Carnegie hallย in New York.
We met Wibi in the start of 2002 and became somewhat of friends, when he wanted new images for some press releases I offered to shoot them and he said yes, I actually panicked because I never shot someone that was this famous and although I knew Wibi it still scared the “you know what” out of me. However it went ok (more than) and the images got used for almost all publications, CDs, books etc. Over the years Wibi used my images almost exclusively for all his releases and promotion and every once in a while we plan a day and shoot a load of images that will keep the promotion machine going for a few months ๐
Now with a classical pianist you might not think about spectacular live concerts, however with Wibi there are always surprises, and because I know him I also know where to stand, and luckily for me I have cart blanche where ever he plays to move around and shoot what ever I want. Yesterday it was time for a very special concert. Wibi is playing 3 celebration concerts in a sold out “concert gebouw” in Amsterdam (which is unique), yesterday it was the second concert called “the Pianist” it was the first we were able to attend because with the first one we were not in the Netherlands. The third and final part will be in January called “the composer”. Now shooting the “concert gebouw” is always special, the light is a nightmare but the ambience is superb, today I’m proud to share some of my personal favorite shots from the concert.
Always doubting between B&W with some of these images, so feel free to give your input.
B&W would be my choice. It focuses my eye on the subject’s emotion more fully.
Still using the sony A99?
This is all with the A99 indeed.
Echt een prachtige serie Frank!!
Dank je wel Lex
Nice shots Frank – did we ever expect anything else? ๐ How high did you have the ISO?! For me I prefer the B&Ws – they appear to have more contrast and the ISO noise looks better.
ISO depends a bit per situation I shot most on manual mode auto ISO so the camera sets the ISO to fit the needs for shutterspeed and aperture I set.
I love the B&W ones too.
Frank, great set of photos. I like the first 3 B&W’s for me the last one does not gain anything from going to black and White. The one with his arms stretched out needs to have the two people in the front row wearing white toned down. I think then that would be a very powerful image. The first B&W one where you are shooting up at him seated at the piano is my favorite. Again great job!
Matt
thanks Matt, I did not want to change anything to the images to be honest but I do agree ๐
Cool, you just proved that no matter what ISO you shoot, a great image is still a great image no matter if its noisy or not, great work ๐
Noise is often “overrated” or in other words people are a bit too afraid of it, shoot with some ISO800 film and you will know what I mean ๐
B&W. Definitely.
Hoi Frank, heb even gekeken naar je foto’s van Wibi en ik ga echt voor de Zwartwit, mooi korrel en net Anoloog.
Dank je wel, ik vind zelf de zwart witte ook erg mooi, maar ik heb altijd moeite om de kleur te “verliezen” op de een of andere vreemde manier ๐
His performance at the Concertgebouw was amazing, incredibly good and divine! Wibi Soerjadi is the best pianist in the world!
He is amazing indeed, we’re going again this week for the final concert, and to shoot of course ๐
I like the bw photos except the last one. The light on the first one is beautiful on his face and hands. I don’t like the colour one because of the red flowers in the bottom right hand corner. I keep on looking to these flowers. In the last photo i miss the light. But these photos are all very nice to look at
Guus from holland
Thanks Guus.
I love the “fire” look of the flowers so I was very much in doubt to leave to color or take it out.
For the first four or so I’d say keep as colour. But the later ones where you put the B&W as an option I like the B&W better: seems to suit the theme somehow.
Thanks Peter.
As mentioned before I’m always in doubt between B&W and color, maybe I will dedicate a blog post to that topic once.
I always love B&W from others but when I do the conversion myself I do love them but I always feel that I “leave color out” it’s a weird thing ๐
As always great images/great eye. I saw you shot a lot at iso 25600 which explains the noise. Did you use any noise reduction software on these photos or are they relatively straight out of the camera? I am surprised you you did not use your MK3 for these shots. Are you still happy with the 99 and do you still think it stacks up well against the MK3. I upgraded to the 99 and have been pretty happy with the camera. Your review pretty much sealed my decision but I was just wondering how you felt after using it for awhile.
I still use the A99, actually I sold the Canon this week.
There is hardly any noise reduction done, in Lightroom I used a little bit of the noise reduction and that’s it. The noise on the A99 looks really “nice” and organic. A bit weird to explain but you know what I mean (it doesn’t look too digital, more like really fine grain).
All the photos capture a feeling or convey an emotion but the first photo is my poster shot. The foreground of poinsettias surround and blankets the performance of the artist. The background of the organ pipes and lighted arches giving depth to the shot. A great photo tells a story with a single shot. This photo does that. You are a true artist.
thanks Scott, I love that shot also.
More importantly Wibi loves them and he is the artist ๐