BREWFISH; photo Andy Ortega
Even in SoCal, a February outdoor concert can have its risks with the weather but this year, you couldn’t have asked for anything better at the One Love Cali Reggae Fest. As a concert photographer, if there’s any chance of rain, I’ll need to bring some plastic bags and rubber bands to protect my camera. No need for that this time!
The One Love Cali Reggae Fest was held on the grounds of the Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor. I parked at one of the designated areas, then took the free shuttle to the event. Getting in was smooth and quick thanks to the staff and organization. I went to pick up my media and photo passes. From there, I was directed to go through the VIP line and then through security.
The first show I covered was Long Beach’s own BREWFISH at the Flav stage. Since it was still midday, taking photos was a little more tricky than usual. See, when you’re outdoors on a mostly cloudy day you may need to deal with moving clouds. Moving clouds means changes in brightness. I had to change my settings every so often but they were mostly set at f4, 1/1000th ISO 200.
FORTUNATE YOUTH; photo Andy Ortega
After that, I headed to the main stage to cover FORTUNATE YOUTH and MATISYAHU. Fortunate Youth did a wonderful job to get the mid-day concert goers dancing and moving. Then came Matisyahu. The photo pit had more photographers by now so I had to practice photo pit courtesy and carefully squeeze through them, sometimes while ducking, when I needed to change my spot.
J BOOG; photo Andy Ortega
Another challenge when shooting an outdoor stage comes during sunset. During J BOOG‘s set, I had to update my Nikon’s settings every couple of minutes. Shutter speed goes down, ISO goes up. By the time night has settled in, I was at f2.8, 1/250th, ISO 2500-3200 and stayed there for most of the night.
COLLIE BUDDZ; photo Andy Ortega
For the rest of the performances on the main stage including COLLIE BUDDZ, IRATION and REBELUTION, the photo pit was much busier. It always helps to say “hi” to other photographers and introduce yourself because we’re only able to stay in the photo pit for three songs (unless you have a coveted all-access photo pass) and it’s much easier to work among friends instead bumping and squeezing around strangers.
I’ve got to give it to the One Love Cali Reggae production team. My experience this year was perfect! No photo pass issues, easy entrance, clear and standard photo pit rules, and great security. There was no confusion from staff or security, which happens at large events sometimes.