The ‘Fries Straat Festival’ is a two-day street festival in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. During these days, there are a ton of theater and music performances throughout the city. I reached out to the festival organization and offered to photograph the acts during the event.
The energy was amazing and I had so much fun taking photos and experimenting with different angles and camera settings. Event photography is a challenging job, since you have to deal with a continuously changing environment of people and lights moving around. However, I managed to capture the mood and atmosphere of the festival and most importantly, had a lot of fun doing it. Check out their website for more information about the Fries straat festival.
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Doing research
Before going to the festival, I did research about the program and which performances caught my personal interest. There were a couple bands and acts I listed, but I wasn’t able to view them all. The selection of photos is from five music bands and two theater acts. Mostly I enjoy shooting and improvising on the go, but quickly I discovered the challenges of photographing performances.
Three tips to photograph preformances
First of all, you are part of the experience – the fast-moving environment of people, lights and action. Every moment is unique and can come and go in seconds. Therefore, you have to be looking everywhere at any time. Knowing your camera and settings will allow you to capture a moment on time, in focus and with good lighting.
Secondly, daring to be involved and putting yourself out there. Especially when there is a big crowd, make sure to find the best and safest spot to stand and shoot from.
And thirdly, I found it important to not be not noticeable, I wanted the audience to experience and enjoy the acts without being distracted by me. Also, the artists themselves shouldn’t get distracted, no matter how used they already are to cameras.