Bella Kalolo at Jellicoe Park.

Bella Kalolo on stage at the Music in Parks event in Onehunga yesterday.

Great to see Bella on stage again yesterday and judging by the audience's response I wasn't the only person who enjoyed her music.

I must admit to finding the Music in Parks events challenging in a different way to the low light shots I usually take of the bands.  Now the issue is more of "interest" in the shot than available light.  What with tents, parked cars and plain white tents for a backdrop there's not a not of interest really!  Also, all those things that often blend into the background are now quite well illuminated by the sunlight.  Under a tent the light is diffused and very even, so contrast levels are significantly different to the artificially lit shots in bars and events centres.  I try to keep the lens wide open to blur the confusing backgrounds, but this can cause focus problems.  The shots in this post were taken at f2.8 with a 200mm lens and you can see in the first image that Bella's left eye is nowhere near as sharp as hr right.  Quite different to shooting in the studio!  Here the "model" is in constant motion and correct focus with shallow depth of field is challenging.


The aim for me yesterday was to get a few shots of Bella.  I'm still going through the images and trying to decide if there's any worth keeping.  She's a very attractive lady and puts a lot of emotion into her songs.  I need to be careful that the emotion from the singing and her natural beauty is not lost or confused in my images.  Perhaps let me know what you think of the three shots in this post?  It's always helpful to get comments from people that can help me do a better job next time!

Anyway, I'll keep working through my images, but really wanted to share a few with you and encourage you to visit Bella's website.  Who knows, she may be visiting somewhere near you and it'd be such a shame to miss her.

Bella Kalolo in monochrome again

This time you can see Bella in colour.  Any preference?

Music in the Parks ...

Wonderful hat design at the park today!

A few folks grumble about the way Auckland Council performs, but the Music in the Parks initiative is something that I think is something quite special as well as something for which they should be congratulated.  During the summer months the council provides free concerts in its parks at which some web know New Zealand artists perform.  It's wonderful, and judging by the people at today's event on Onehunga, well liked and appreciated.

Today's event had Bella Kalolo supported by Funkommunity and was really very good indeed.  Such a relaxed atmosphere, easy parking, very family friendly and best of all, great music!  I'd not heard Funkommunity before but was quite impressed with their performance.  Perhaps checkout their website as there's options to hear their performances on there.  To be honest, I'd popped along to see Bella.  Such a gorgeous voice and quite an entertaining lady on stage too!  I'm still sorting through the shots of Bella and her band and will post those in a subsequent posting.  for now I'll leave you with a few of shots of Funkommunity.