Concert Photography: Clawfinger

If you ever have the opportunity to combine two passions – in this case music and photography – you should definitely seize it. With amiable support by Clawfinger, I was allowed to take pictures at a concert – and not just with my cell phone.

Clawfinger

The friendly guys from Clawfinger have been an integral part of my playlists since the mid 1990s. At a time when most of my schoolmates were hanging out in techno clubs, I was a regular at the only rock and heavy metal venue in the area.

It’s not just the unmistakable sound and staccato-like vocals of Zak that simply put you in a good mood. The guys are in it with heart and passion, and you can see that. The last studio album, “Life will kill you”, is from 2007 – but they are still regularly touring festivals and playing concerts, simply because they enjoy music and having fun with their fans.

Last but not least, it should not be forgotten that there is much more to many of the lyrics than one might suspect at first glance. They are partly socio-critical, partly autobiographical, and tell many great stories. Appropriately, some of the songs are accompanied by really great music videos. Only the mathematics are sometimes a bit off… 😉

Concerts…

Clawfinger Band Photo — Band photo (Source: Clawfinger)

When you have so much fun with music from a band, it is only logical that you go to their concerts. I have no idea anymore when and where I saw them live for the first time. My first memory is from “Rock am Ring” sometime in the late 90s. Since then, I’ve seen them on countless shows, at festivals, as headliner, or as support for bands like Rammstein.

It’s kind of inevitable meeting the same people again and again when you go to the same concerts that often. In the course of the years – now decades – something like a small family was formed. You keep in touch with each other, meet at concerts, or visit each other when you are around.

You also get into conversations with the band themselves – with Baard, Jocke, Zak, André, Micke, formerly also Erlend and Henka, you can have lots of fun not only on, but also in front of, beside and behind the stage. The end of 2019 were the last shows I attended. And now not only the fans, but also Clawfinger themselves are waiting for COVID-19 to be overcome soon, so we all can go to concerts again and enjoy them without remorse. 🤘🏼

…with the camera

Who hasn’t held up their smartphone at a concert and taken a few snapshots or videos? I admit it, me too, though sparingly. Cell phone cameras not only struggle with the strong light contrasts, above all, the typical wide-angle perspective simply doesn’t allow you to get close enough to capture details.

How often did I imagine being at a concert with the right gear… Thanks to Clawfinger, this dream became reality last year. I was allowed to take pictures in front of, next to and sometimes even on stage during a gig in the Essigfabrik in Cologne, really testing the limits of my camera.

The quickly changing lights and the movements on stage were quite a challenge. The opening act gave me good opportunities to not only find the right camera settings, but also where good locations were to work with the wide angle or telephoto lenses. Of course, it helped enormously to know the individual songs and the show as a whole well in advance. So despite all concentration on taking pictures, the fun definitely didn’t fall by the wayside that evening!