Fuzz Fest X and the Art of Concert Photography
Fuzz Fest, the three-day garage, alt, stoner, punk, psychedelic rock festival featuring eleven bands per night on back-to-back stages, reached a milestone this past weekend: ten years! It is quite an achievement for a festival of any kind, let alone underground rock. It is a testament to the fantastic music we have in Michigan and to awesome folks like Chris Taylor, Adam Wilkerson, and Karl Dickinson, who preserve year after year to put on Fuzz Fest. While Ann Arbor becomes more and more homogenized and way less of the bastion for underground rock, there is still at least one venue that is willing to host a rock festival. Cheers, Blind Pig!
This was my tenth Fuzz Fest. If you are interested in how I got involved with this fabulous festival, take a peek at the Sunday Sip from this time last year -
Sunday Sip - Feeling old and fuzzy
Welcome to the Sunday Sip! Can you believe it is already September? I start to feel like the stereotypical old person when I remark on how time flies. I mean, it is all relative, right? 😀 Today’s ramble is inspired by Brenda’s thoughts from last week
The funny thing is that as I get older, just about everyone else at Fuzz Fest gets younger. It’s crazy, I tell you. So, yes, friends, I’m still feeling older and fuzzier after my tenth Fuzz Fest. While my creaky old knees were hurting just a bit by day three, thanks to the miracle of Advil, I had a pretty much pain-free party.
Since we were heading up to the U.P. (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan for the next ten days, I had to jam on getting my coverage of Fuzz Fest X out. As I’m rifling through a ton of photos to pick the winners and peering through my cryptic notes to shake loose a memory of a band’s performance in the hope of crafting a spicy sentence or two, I had a couple of thoughts. One, I’m so damn lucky. Two, I should share a bit about my craft of concert photography with you.
My gear for Fuzz Fest (and most concerts) is pretty simple: a Canon R5 mirrorless camera, a Canon L 24-70 f/2.8 lens (which has been used at eight of the last ten Fuzz Fests), and a Godox V860III. I used to carry around my Canon 70-200, but most of the time it would sit in the bag as the bands are just a few feet away from me at Fuzz Fest.
The thought process is the same each time around. I’m looking to see the band at the height of their performance and capture those moments. What is the height of the band’s performance, you may wonder? For me, it is when the singer is belting it out. The emotions of their music and the performance are etched on their face. I want those moments. When the vocalist is deep into a tune, eyes closed, expressing themselves in a nearly meditative state, I want those moments.
When the guitarist is grimacing under the weight of a particularly heavy chord or their face is contorted in a scream of ecstasy as they give life to those perfect notes discovered high up on the fretboard, I want those moments. When the drummer stares down each beat with a menacing glare, I want those moments. When the bass player's eyes roll back in their head as they cast that magical spell of a groove that holds the room so completely, I want those moments.
In relation to trying to capture those moments, I’m thinking about perspective. How can I frame my subject to help paint a picture that gives you a bit of the action and emotion from the show? This is probably the most fun aspect of shooting a concert. I’m getting low or going high or coming up from one side or another. All in an attempt to see a moment and frame it in such a way that I hope will convey the spirit of the performance. I’m still working to get this right, but occasionally, I come up with something cool. As the saying goes, even a blind squirrel finds a nut.
Technically, I’m thinking about the constant changes in lighting to get good exposure for the image. At Fuzz Fest, you have a main stage and a floor stage. The main stage has lights in front and behind the band. There is also a liquid light show casting images upon the stage and on the backdrops. The floor stage only has lights behind the band, and while some light comes from the liquid light display, it is typically blocked by people gathered around the band.
While there is some light, in general, both stages are pretty dark. To compensate, I’m opening up the aperture to f2.8 and I’m cranking up the ISO. Generally at 6400 ISO, but I’ve taken it up to 16000 ISO on occasion. The images get a bit noisy, but that can be fixed in post-processing.
However, there are times when shooting wide open with ISO cranked isn’t cutting it. This is where the flash comes in. Now I mentioned this last year, and I’ll say it again this year. If you are a concert photography purist like some of the knobs on various Facebook groups who think it is a sin to use a flash at a concert, you need to fuck off. I know that isn’t friendly, but seriously. Using a flash isn’t against the rules, and unless someone asks you specifically not to use it, why would you leave a perfectly good tool in the bag unused?
Because of the psychedelic nature of many of the bands at Fuzz Fest, I like to employ the flash for something known as shutter drag. When I was getting into concert photography, I boggle at images where the subject is in focus, nicely lit, and there is this crazy swirl of lights around them. After hunting around online, I discovered that the swirling light effect is created by shutter drag.
Shutter drag is a technique that uses a flash to stop the action with a long exposure and then manipulating the lens or the camera body when the shutter is released. I’ll set the ISO to 100, the shutter speed to 1/3 of a second, and the aperture to f/5.6. This seems to work most of the time with tweaks here and there. It isn't an exact science; you have to experiment.
I focus on my subject, looking for one of those moments, then press the shutter button and either spin the camera body, zoom in and out with the lens, or pan the camera body around. The result is a sharp focus on my subject with some crazy light trails around it. It creates some fun images, and I think it adds to the moment that I’m trying to capture.
I mentioned earlier that I’m lucky. Because of Fuzz Fest, I’ve met a lot of awesome people. Some of them have become great friends, which is a wonderful gift. Because of Fuzz Fest, I get to hone my skills as a photographer and a writer. Because of Fuzz Fest, I get acknowledged for doing my best and sharing what I love with others. You can’t get any luckier than that.
Upcoming Events You Won't Want to Miss
Our events calendar on Life In Michigan is curated with a treasure trove of events we’ve scoured the interwebs to bring to you. There are a ton of great events coming up. From that list, here are a few highlights:
The Inaugural Detroit Vinylfest at Eastern Market in Detroit on Sep 5
Spawned from the creators of the Detroit Festival of Books comes Detroit Vinylfest. Sadly, I’ll never be able to attend as this is the same weekend as the U.P. Beer fest. I’m sure I’ll be sad that I can’t go, but you should.
16th Annual Michigan Brewers Guild U.P. Fall Beer Festival in Marquette on Sep 6
The cream of the crop in terms of beer festivals is the Michigan Brewers Guild U.P. Fall Beer fest. It doesn’t get much better than hanging out at the harbour in Marquette and drinking beer with your beer family. Take a look at the fun from last year!
Hear.Say One Year Anniversary Party in Ann Arbor on Sep 6-7
A gem of a brewery with an improv theater, Hear.Say Brewing is turning one year old. This is a fabulous space, celebrate with beers, food, and fun.
11th Annual Oktoberfest Celebration at Batch Brauerei at Batch Brewing in Detroit on Sep 12-14
If you can’t make it to Munich, you can’t go wrong heading out to Batch Brewing for their Oktoberfest. The beers are magnificent and true to style for Oktoberfest. With traditional music, food, and a Stein holding competition, it is indeed a grand party. We went last year and had a blast!
Eclipse Yoga and Wolverine Pickleball - GIG Fundraiser in Ann Arbor on Sep 14
The wonderful folks at Eclipse Yoga and Wolverine Pickleball are helping us raise money for GIG - The Art of Michigan Music Visual Arts Experience 2025!! The yoga session is open to all levels. We’ll relax, stretch out, and afterwards chill on Wolverine Pickleball's patio, enjoying beverages from their wall of taps!!
In Other News
It was a scorcher at Fury For A Feast at Witch’s Hat Brewing in South Lyon, but all for a great cause. They raised over $15k for local food banks!!
Brenda has a great story about our adventures with the Detroit History Tours at the renovated Michigan Central Station.
Fuzz Fest 10 was a blast with so many excellent bands
Life In Michigan Podcast
On the Life In Michigan podcast, we chat with Mary Stewart Adams, star lore historian and passionate advocate for dark skies. We learned so much talking with her!
Seeking the Stars with Mary Stewart Adams
In this enchanting episode of the Life In Michigan podcast, we’re joined by Mary Stewart Adams, star lore historian and passionate advocate for dark skies. Mary shares her incredible journey from studying English literature to becoming a cultural storyteller of the night sky—and how a serendipitous encounter on an airport tarmac led to the founding of M…
Substack Restack Attack
Substack is where it’s at. Check out these other superb publications:
Great post on following your heart with your photography by Birgitte Brøndsted.
Mark White shares a fantastic story of wandering in New Mexico with paper maps.
A wonderful history of bowling and the Recreation Building in Detroit by HistoricDetroit.org. Sadly, they tore down the Recreation building and put up a parking lot.
Adventures Yet To Print
Brenda told me this week that my UFOs (Unfinished Projects) are developing mold. Seriously, I will get the Manistee hiking and Detroit Vinyl stories done. Our adventures in the U.P. will take us to Grand Marais, for a walk on the Mackinac Bridge, over to Eagle River (in the Keweenaw Peninsula, aka the Rabbit’s Ear of Michigan), and to Marquette for the U.P. Beer Fest. I’m sure we’ll have a ton of stories to share.
What Are You Reading?
I’ve got a little ways to go, but so far I’m very much enjoying Confess: The Autobiography by Rob Halford. For those that don’t know, Rob (aka The Metal God) is the lead singer for Judas Priest. He tells the story of growing up near Birmingham in the UK and becoming the lead singer of Judas Priest - a band that would become one of the founders of heavy metal music. Rob also relays the pain and heartache of being a gay man and being unable to live his life in the open. Something we heterosexuals take for granted. It is a well-written and very revealing look into his life and the history of Judas Priest from his perspective.
What Are You Spinning?
I’m out of time this week to give you a rundown on what's spinning at Marshall Media Studios. However, I will say that everyone should get a copy of Crush The Sun by Carbon Decoy and A-One From Day One by the Dusty Rose Gang. I picked up both of these albums at Fuzz Fest, and they are fantastic—a note on the cover art: the Dusty Rose Gang cover photo was taken by the fantastic Doug Coombe.
Crush The Sun cover art by their drummer, Casey Rowe.
That’s A Wrap
As my buddy Sturgill once said:
“Keep your head out of the clouds
And remember to be kind
And just stay in school
Stay off the drugs
And keep between the lines.”
Thank you for reading. I hope your week is awesome! Don’t forget to kick out the jams!
Now, here is your moment of zen:
Love the inside track on your process here, Chuck... that shutter drag!!! 🔥
Thank you Chuck Marshall for all you do. 🎸💜