Bruce Springsteen

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I got to shoot Bruce Springteen. It's a photographer's dream to shoot one of your heros/icons, but it's a lot of pressure too because you may only get one shot at it, so to speak. Actually, I don't remember how many frames I took, but it was over 350, I'm sure.

It was the first concert for the band since the death of their keyboardist Danny Federici.

The show began with a video tribute to him. with a dark stage except for a spotlight shinging where he used to sit.

It was moving and emotional.

We were told before the concert that the tribute would start the show, but we weren't allowed to photograph it. Of course, all of the still photographers obeyed the rule laid out by Springsteen's managers. No one, especially me, would wish to be kicked out for any reason.

During a concert shoot like this, you're typically only allowed to shoot the first three songs. It doesn't sound like much, but if you figure the first three songs mean about 15 minutes of shooting, a professional photographer working for a newspaper or magazine or photo agency can get what they need for publication. I ended up posting about 25 photos to Getty Images for distribution. These are a few of my favorites.

What were the first three songs? I cannot tell you. When I'm shooting like that, it's like being in a zone where you're so focused on focusing, lighting and other technical issues. It's impossible to actually enjoy the concert, even though I was loving being there. The crowd was insanely drawn to Springteen and he and his bandmates to them.

I actually snuck a camera into a concert of his in Tacoma, Washington about 20 years ago and came away with some decent photographs, but I've come a long way with my photography since then. These photos are so much better. Back then I was seated behind the stage, but Bruce is a great showman and had turned around to face the people in the cheap seats behind the stage.

He did the same thing this night too.

Shooting a concert poses some technical challenges. A photographer from Backstreets magazine who has photographed "about 40" of Bruce's concerts gave me some tips before the show. He was right on. Many photographers that you meet and mix with at events are very generous with their knowledge. There is a lot of competition to see who gets the best shot, but there's also a friendly acknowledgement of respect for one another when you meet in the field like this. Chris Zuppa of the St Petersburg Times and I chatted for a long time before the show. He's a great photographer and an even nicer guy and expressed interest in shooting for the www.heartgallerykids.org.

If you're not familiar with it, professional photographers volunteer to shoot portraits of children who are traditionally hard-to-adopt. It's a heartwarming program and successful too. More on that later.

These were shot at 1250 ISO, f2.8 at about 1/125 of a second with my Nikon D200. I was afraid of the possibility of lots of noise from the high ISO, but I think they came out pretty well. What do you think? The lens was a Nikon 300 f2.8. There were probably 7 still photographers there. We stood on a platform beside the sound board.

This is my favorite shot.

Thank you for looking!!

Tim