I’m probably a bit of a loony, having seen the Griswolds six times now (I’m willing to bet I’ve seen them more than anyone else has). I don’t know – I can’t get enough of it. Do I get tired, no, I don’t, they’re loads of fun, and I just don’t get bored seeing them. I saw them Friday night with The Belligerents and Edens March. Two bands who I don’t really know much about. I bought The Belligerents’ EP because I found them awfully fun to listen to. I had also seen Edens March two weeks ago, but I never remembered their name. I got a free CD on Friday night!

Drummer (Chris) Riley said that no one ever took photos of him, “No one ever takes photos of ME. It’s always the other guys and not ME”. Of course, it’s because the drummer’s always hidden at the back. I feel sorry for them. They should really be at the front and make all the noise. :P This brings me to why I love the band March of the Real Fly; their drummer Cam is also the lead singer and you’ve obviously got to have a clear view of him too. All drummers should be made more prominent, in my opinion.

I got to catch up with Andrew (Hey Geronimo) after he ran away from me several times. He said he wasn’t running away and that he was just busy… yeah right, yeah right. No, instantly forgiven, as friends are. It was good to see him again. I already feel like hey, I should be literally hanging out with these guys. What the hell am I doing at uni studying when I could be out on the road following bands on tour in my c—

Right. No car. Can’t drive. Horrifically embarrassing. Twenty-one year old almost-Master student, full-time web designer, can’t drive. Then again, intense schedule, and that gets blamed instantly for everything. I don’t have time to learn how to drive right now. I did – before I started university, and even through my first Bachelor year in 2009. My licence expired by 2010, at which point I had it taken from me when I had to register for a photo card so that I could get into clubs and the like. I don’t know why I still get asked for ID – I don’t look 21, ever, do I? At least most security guards (um, the ones I have encountered) seem okay… you know, now that I say that, I sort of regret it, because I know for a fact that a good lot of them are not nice at all. Let’s just say I’ve had more good than bad experiences with those kooks.

Well, back to the gig. It was terrific, though I idiotically took my film zoom lens instead of my prime lens, so it was pretty mean when it came to dealing with light. As film lenses tend to be grainy, I got that kind of effect on my photos, which led me to think that next time, I should have shot them in black and white, just as they would have been like on my black-and-white film photos. The effect doesn’t bother me.

I could have gone into Photoshop and removed all the colour information to make them black and white, but I hate post-processing, and I am a firm believer in leaving photos exactly as they are once you’ve taken them (save for an obvious resizing).

Unless you’re on Instagram, because the very nature of that service is to toss filters all over your photos and share your nice prepped-up photos.

I’m not really fond of how people get so obsessed with post-processing that they have it in their mind after they take a photo. I’ve had people tell me that they can “fix up the colours or shadows in Photoshop later”, and I’ve often wanted to retaliate, but decided against it. From a personal point of view I don’t think it feels very honest to show people your photos and say you took them when you did, but you did some editing afterwards. I feel like even cropping a photo means you aren’t happy with the composition, which all goes back to how you took the photo. If you took a little time to compose the shot before shooting it, you wouldn’t have to edit the photo at all.

I could go on numerous photography rants, but the thing that I believe is that you don’t need a good camera to take a good photo. I’ve come to accept the fact that my camera is not one of the best ones out there, but I can use it, I can make it work, and I like it. It morbidly irritates me when someone just wants to go on and on about their equipment and the impeccable clarity of their photos and just NO. No okay no no no no.

I’ve photographed at twenty or more gigs in my life, venues both large and small, and it’s a challenge to take a photo of a moving subject (ie. a singer) in low and artificial light. I have no problem photographing outside in daylight during the day. Because of this challenge I face as part of my hobby, I have realised that some things just don’t matter as much as others when it comes to photography. I believe that in the end, you want clear shots, but you want shots of the action. You’re documenting what’s going on. That’s why when I cull my photos, I keep the ones that show the action, who cares if they have a bit of blur or you can’t see the singer’s face. For fuck’s sake. They’re performing. Obviously this shit is going to be going on. I get rather annoyed when I see photos people take of super close shots of the singer’s arm or guitar or shoes and… my gosh. This doesn’t show me how it was.

I was really thankful that The Griswolds didn’t kill me for jumping all over their stage with my camera to get the shots I wanted (and Riley wanting those of himself, hah), even if they weren’t fantastic.

See, even if they thought it might be cool to print out some super-high-res shot of one of their faces and put it on a billboard, they were still appreciative that I had taken photos after all, even if they weren’t perfect. They were photos from a night that they’ll remember. A night I’ll remember, too.

Okay I’m done. I just like photography. And I don’t want keen future photographers thinking they have to spend loads on a camera when you can get just as much bütz out of one that isn’t a DSLR. And I don’t want people thinking that just because there is Photoshop it means you can ignore all the rules of composition and just go machinegun shooting with your camera.

I’m tired, over again. I have three weeks left of uni and I’m just counting down the days ever so slowly. It’s hard to remember how many assessments are left, but they all suck. There aren’t many left. And really, everything is going to be alright… I’m nearly at the end. I’ve just noticed how less often I blog, and I don’t know if I should worry, or care all that much. I’m very much alive on Twitter, but I don’t really visit my blog much more than to read comments. I barely have a chance to go and read other blogs but I just know I’ll be happy when I have all that time again. I find myself moping to Gillian through text message about how uni sucks, and she feels the same way, and it’s just really stressful. The end of the year couldn’t come sooner.

More gigs, more gigs. Please. They’re like my remedy.