Sunday, January 25, 2009

Vancouver's Chinese Concert

Jessie and I seldom go to Chinese concerts after we started to have a busy photography life. This time, Alex (my buddy + long-term client) gave us 2 tickets of a Chinese concert. We like the singer (Hins Cheung) and his songs. Thanks again, Alex.

When you read up to this point, you may think this post is not really business/photo related. Actually... it is related. Please read.

Alex's tickets cost Cad$168 each. We were at Row-K and seats were great. Therefore, we only brought our toy cam, Canon A570 IS. From work experience, I expected to have a strong spotlight which will bring the shutter to 1/100 f/5.6 @ ISO400. So, tiny camera with M-mode should be more than enough. Photos came out ok at the end (see below).

The show started with a video showing a conversation between Hins and an unknown female singer. The video was shot with a standard definition DV without locking exposure. Because of back lighting, we could only see them in shadows. At that time, my mind popped up "OMG". How can the videographer unnoticed about the back lighting? So unprofessional!!! When I was still wondering what was happening, a female singer came out to sing for 15 mins. She was ok... but she wasn't really suitable to sing "Loving You". Horrible.

Hins came out... wait wait a minute! What was that lady's name? LOL... no one mentioned her.

I found out two tripod-mounted Canon GL2 DVs were set in front of the stage and they were very annoying. The usual way was setting main video at the level of performers from a distance and zoomed in. For those at the front should be moving with roller tripods or with Steadicam. I was a bit shocked about this unprofessional setting.

There were two official photographers. They walked/ran in front of $168 area. I knew people were really angry for being blocked by the photographers in their expensive show. (I might do the same when I was new).

The sound system was horrible. Music volume was way louder than vocal volume.

Dancers were my "OMG #2". I was shocked! Their basic skill was worse than beginners. Their arms had no strength, jumps had no height, and kicks couldn't be defined as kicks. They danced with their own paces and own beats like rave party. What a jaw dropping performance!

The best part was security guards. They should have kept an eye on the performer. But their super-slow reaction gave the fans an "all-you-can-go-to-stage" opportunity. Fans went on to the stage to hug and photograph with Hins all the time. When the security guards noticed that, fans were getting down the stage already. I guess it happened for at least 4 times. When Hins shook hands with fans, security guards didn't stand beside him. Why? It was because they forgot that they were actually working rather than enjoying the show! Hins would be stabbed for 10 times before the guards' notices.

The best of the best was that the concert ended after one hour (approximately 10 songs) including the unknown female singer's part. OMG.... $168 for 60 mins???

I read facebook about the lucky draw matter. The winner didn't get the prize. It should be a laptop. At the same time, Alex's "Toy Watch" lucky draw was canceled. The biggest victims should be the sponsors.

Enough for the ultimate experience.

When I started this photo business, I told myself and Jessie... "I am going to give 120% efforts for every penny from clients". We are doing it professionally because we respect our clients and our job. Business will not last long if you treat clients and consumers like fools.

Raymond
www.raymondleung.ca





1 comment:

  1. Hey dude, I concur with every point of your assessment of the concert from the sound to the useless security and especially the length of the concert.

    ReplyDelete