A special Christmas concert from Wibi Soerjadi

I love concert photography

Just like I love creating my own music, working with musicians is always inspiring, and shooting a live concert is the ultimate situation.
The performance, the music itself, and of course, the lighting.
A live concert is continuously evolving and has a boatload of challenges. This blog is about concert photography with  Wibi Soerjadi in 2025

So let me start by clearing something up.
I’m incredibly lucky in my position with Wibi; we’ve been friends for years, and this means I can move around freely during the concert.

And this is probably the biggest problem with live concerts.
In most cases, you’re lucky if you can shoot 3 songs, or if you’re not the encore.
Often you will get an assigned location, and that’s it, for m,e that’s fun too, but it’s also very limited.

I remember the first time I shot the Christmas concert.

A really special concert

The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is already a special place (awesome acoustics), but playing there every year for 31 years in a row is something no one has ever done before.
I still remember the first time. Annewiek and I were sitting with the family and friends on the balcony, and I was shooting with a 70-200, just being able to shoot some “nice” shots of the stage, and with a wide angle, some images from the audience. It was not a lot more than what you can do with your phone nowadays.
The lighting was ok, but standard.

At one point, we started to brainstorm how we could have some fun and great images during this special concert.
And if I remember correctly, I said (as a joke) “Dude, I can get awesome shots when I’m under the piano, nobody does that.”
And yes, that was a joke, you might not realize this, but in reality, I’m a pretty shy guy, so when he said “awesome next time we do that,” I thought he was joking.
He was not.

I did not end up under the piano, but I did end up less than 1 meter away from Wibi on the stage.
Let me clarify immediately that this is NOT allowed in ANY situation except when you have a 100% confirmation from the artists AND the venue.
I still remember a few times being escorted out of the room, after which I was allowed back in again, of course.
Over the years, this has become a lot easier; you get to know the people, and they get to know you, which helps a lot.
If you want one tip from this blog post (besides the photos).

Always be nice to all people (especially at concerts)

You might think you are working for the artist, but always remember that people in the venue paid a lot of money for the tickets. So, having a photographer running around, standing in front, and using a camera with focus assists (beeps and search lights) is incredibly annoying, and it will 100% get you banned, no matter how close you are with the artist.

I have a few things I always follow.
First of all, get to know the security and stage assistants. They will help you move around the venue MUCH faster and easier.
In my case, I always try to know what’s going to happen. Where are the breaks when I can move to another location? Where is the perfect spot for lighting in set 2, etc?
Do your homework.

Respect the audience at a concert

But most of all, earn the respect of the audience.
I will normally start on the stage close to Wibi for the first part of the concert.
If there is an audience there, I will start to introduce myself before the concert. Take some photos of the people with their phones, and just make sure they know I’ll be there working.
Over all these years, I’ve never had a problem, and the fun thing is that a lot of people know me by now and actually help out with getting a good spot, especially at the encore. This helps a lot because at that moment I’m literally in front of the front few rows of the audience.

Of course, there are also video cameras running.
In most cases I will check the display and see when I’m in the frame and mark that spot on the floor.
If there are several cameras, I’ll still try to stay out of the frame but will ask permission to sometimes block the view (but only when necessary, in most cases, you just use a different angle or zoom in just a bit more). But there is more to tell about Concert Photography Wibi Soerjadi 2025

Camera and lens choice

Over the years, a lot has changed with the concerts I shoot for Wibi.
When I started, it was all pretty standard with the lighting. If I started on the stage and moved around the venue ,it was purely to get more variety in the angles.
When I look at the images I shot this year, it’s a totally different ball game, and sometimes I have the feeling Wibi is secretly pushing me to test the limits of my gear.

I’m using the Sony A7RV and as a main lens the 24-70 F2.8 G-master, which is a razor-sharp lens with super accurate and fast focus.
You have to realize that during the concert, I’m in silent mode and have all focus assist functions disabled. I immediately notice the difference when I switch to my backup lens, the 12-24 Sigma, focus becomes hit and miss, and most of the time the camera really struggles. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE that lens, but with these kinds of situations it’s not a lens I trust like the Sony, but it does get me some jaw-dropping results.

Lightroom

Software-wise, I’m using 100% Lightroom.
Because I have to be able to freeze the hands (he’s fast), but the dynamic range is “insan,e” I often shoot 2 stops under exposed, and ISO is often hitting the 32-64K.
Which in the past meant I had to scrap certain images due to excessive noise, great for black and white, but terrible for commercial work.
Nowadays, I don’t really worry about noise anymore. In this case, all images went through Lightroom noise reduction, and when it’s really bad (or if you missed focus slightly) I can always use software like Topaz PhotoAi, but in this case, all was done in Lightroom.

Setting-wise, I’m still using the center focus point, focus, compose, and shoot.
I’ve tried face recognition, and in all honesty, it works, but I feel much more confident doing it manually. There is no way to ask to do it again 😀

Ok, enough talk, let’s take a look at the images

Because I’m allowed to shoot the whole concert, I have a certain idea in my head.
You can focus on just the performance, but often the images in between are much more important for the artist.
These are the shots that are often not published but also not taken by the “real concert photographers” because they do not have the opportunity to shoot them.

For me, the moment Wibi arrives on the stage is one of those shots, but also the moments he bows for the audience, and one of the things I love about Wibi is that he always takes time to explain what he’s playing, and of course , these shots tell the complete story.

In this blog, I show you a very small collection of the results.
In the end, we ended up with 180 commercially viable shots.

The bow and stories

A very important part of the concert is thanking and talking to the audience.
So these have to be in the story, of course.

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Close ups

The first part of the concert I’m shooting from the stage and switching between the wide-angle and a standard lens.
In all these years, I’ve been super quiet, but this year…..
The lens hood of my Sigma is a bit loose, and you guessed it…. I dropped it when switching, of course, during a silent part. In my nightmare, it rolls down under the piano pedal, but in reality, it just dropped down. I thought nobody would have heard it… But you remember that awesome acoustics of the Concertgebouw…..
During the break, I moved to the balcony, and while talking to a nice gentlema,n he asked me “did you drop your lens?”…… no hiding 😀

The balcony

For the second part of the concert, I moved to the balcony.
This is also the first time you get to see the lights as they are intended to be seen.
On the stage, it’s great to be close to the artist (and the sound is amazing), but from the balcony, the wide-angle shots can be awesome.

Moving to the back of the venue

Maybe it sounds a bit boring to shoot so far away, but for the story it’s I think a vital part.
You get to see the sold-out venue and the full spectacle of the light show (they did an awesome job).

And of course, don’t forget the behind-the-scenes shot.

Right in front of the stage

For me, this is the most terrifying part.
It’s the moment I’m really in front of the stage, and one of the things I love about the Concertgebouw is the way the stage is constructed with the huge organ in the back. This is always one of my favorite spots to shoot from.

Conclusion: Concert Photography Wibi Soerjadi 2025

It’s a huge achievement to sell out a concert like this 31 years in a row.
I’m very honored to have been a part of this tradition for over a decade, and I’ve witnessed the concerts going from “great performances” (Wibi never disappoints) to an almost rock concert-like show. If you never visited a Wibi Soerjadi concert, I can highly recommend it, you will NOT be disappointed, and maybe we can meet 😀

I would like to thank the awesome people at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, who always make me feel at home.
And of course, everyone who helped me by not pushing me over the balcony 😀

Hope you enjoyed the images and tidbits in between.

See this post about Wibi’s concert in “De Duif”, also in Amsterdam 

See the images of last years Christmas concert