Shake the Bhangra Booty
Posted on Sun Mar 30, 04:46 PM in Picture This
Pictures from DJ Rekha’s set came out… ok. Lighting was less than I hoped for, though.
Well, as a musical night, seeing DJ Rekha in Madison last Friday was great. So nice to see live mixing and to hear a whole night of bhangra. I had no idea that many people in Madison (?) were feeling this kind of music, but the more the merrier. It was great to see the floor completely filled the whole evening.
As a photography event, I had less enjoyment, but my expectations played a big part in that. It’s been years since I’ve been in the Majestic, and it has been completely rehauled into a club-like atmosphere with two bars. However, two things surprised me. One was the supreme lack of dynamic crowd lighting (there was one tiny floor spot on the right side, but the rest was nearly all black, all the time; the other was the lack of dynamic lighting on the stage. Ok, my lack of experience seeing live DJ shows probably makes me a target of ridicule here, but I do know that some shows spot the DJ and even liven up the stage a little when they spin. Not so on Friday. Well, I worked with what I had. I stayed until about 15 minutes before close (mostly to beat the rush on the bathroom). When pals Eric, Wendy, William, and Chuck took off, I snuck upstairs to the balconies (labeled as “Reserved for the Student Indian Group” or something, but that was only the upper bar), and I’m glad I did, because I think I got slightly better (read: more interesting) shots up there. In all, 10% were good enough to share with the rest of the world (what’s up on Flickr currently), and out of that, maybe 2-3 are solid. Live and learn, I suppose. At least it was music I enjoyed, which made the night go by very fast.
DJ Rekha's setup at the Majestic.
You either love this shot or you hate it. I kind of wish the Majestic had lights like this on the crowd at all times, so in a way, the freak coincidence of capturing flash fill from someone's floor-oriented camera helps me capture more of what the night was like.