Sara Evans Performance

Brad and I went to the Sara Evans performance at Ross Bridge tonight. It was a private performance for a fairly small gathering of people, under a tent outside on the terrace of the Renaissance Hotel. What a perfect date night and I was able to snag a babysitter just in the nick of time! The event was held as a part of the Regions Charity Golf Tournament to benefit Children’s Hospital of Alabama. Sara Evans’ usual fee of $25,000 for this type of private event was given completely to Children’s Hospital. Don’t you just love people who give so freely and generously of their time and money to such a worthy cause?!

I’m no music reviewer, but I do know true talent when I hear it. Sara’s entire 45 minute performance was acoustic with just two guitarists and a microphone and her voice was incredible! She’s a great live performer and one that doesn’t need any extra mixing, backup singers or even a band to sound good! It was flawless! She was so transparent with the audience too, sharing funny personal stories about herself and her family! She had the cutest personality and seemed as real and down to earth as you get. I’m a fan anyway, but hearing her like this made me even more of a fan.

I snagged some food and a spot at the first row of tables an hour before the performance so I could get a few shots in at a short distance. Since it was such a small gathering, I didn’t want to be obnoxious and use a flash, so once again I had to crank my ISO sensitivity way up to use only available light.

TIP: When you are photographing your kids indoors and have some available light from a window, or you are outdoors but it is getting dark and you don’t have much light to work with, don’t forget about your ISO! If you are shooting manually, bump it on up until you can hand hold without your camera detecting shake which causes overall blurred images. Also remember that if your shutter speed is too slow, your subject’s movement will be blurred whether your camera is still or not. Some cameras also allow you to set your ISO sensitivity to AUTO so it will adjust it for you as needed for the shutter and aperture settings you choose. Remember the rule of thumb…your shutter speed is relative to your focal length. For example, if you are shooting at 200mm, it’s probably not a good idea to hand hold any shutter speed less than 180th of a second unless you have a VR (vibration reduction) lens that allows you to shoot up to 3 stops slower without camera shake. Or if you are shooting at 70 mm, don’t try a using a shutter speed less than a 60th of a second. Some people have more steady hands than others, so you can try your hand at 1 to 2 stops slower and see how you do, but I recommend testing before you try it on shots that really matter. 🙂

Here are some of the shots from tonight…