Smoke and Mirrors

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the practice of announcing a venue to be smoke-free and then turning on a theatrical smoke machine in front of the stage smacks of hypocrisy? In the case of a dance show that wants photographic coverage it smacks of failure too.

Thus my  last Saturday's coverage of a dance show in a suburban hall yielded photos that were of...less quality than before. It was not the fault of the hall - it had a good big stage with a proscenium. It was not the fault of the dancers who hoofed it and hip-dropped it with great aplomb. It was the fault of he DJ and the damn smoke machine.

I use flash to capture the stage work - because I know that many of the stages of Perth have no lighting worth seeing. Indeed you struggle to see anything in some cases. The Nikon SB 700 flashes I use stop the motion and brighten the costumes from all the way back of the hall if need be - they are powerful. Canon users can use their 430 and 600 -series flashes in the same way - plenty of light at their command. Fill them with lithium AA batteries and you have 600 shots to capture the show.

Not, however, if someone interposes a smoke screen between you and the stage. the light bounces off he smoke, the dancers disappear into a fog, and you might as well be taking pictures through a bed sheet.

I did find a position that was somewhat away from the smoke and got a few shots, but as they are skewed from the edge of the stage, they don't really show the dancers at their best.

Ah, well, onward and upward. Another show at the end of this week and no smoke machine. I might let off a mosquito coil when I leave, but.