13 April 2017 - 19:17
One of the things I really looked forward to in Andra Chansen was the rehearsals since there were a lot of performances that I loved watching from home, so I was very excited to see them live and getting to photograph them. In majority of the performances during Andra Chansen were uptempo/midtempo and had a lot going on in the choregraphy.
I don't know what the other photographers do to prepare themselves before taking pictures of a show, but I like to do some research and study how the artists are like on stage. Since the performances in Melfest are most of the time the same if they get to do it the second time, I could watch the performances and get to know when I need to be ready to get my shot.
I will take the performances in order of how the line up for Andra Chansen was. First out in Andra Chansen was De Vet Du with their funny performance of "Road Trip". It's a very technical performance where the camera angles have an important call in how the performance will get out to the tv viewers.
From watching the rehearsals in Gothenburg, I already knew how the performance are like and what to think about when photographing it. I got quite many good photos of the performance in the semifinal but the only thing that bummed me out was the fact that I couldn't get any good photos of Tor since he's always in the back. My plan and priority for photographing the performance in Linköping was to get photos of Tor. Unfortunately, we had to run off during their rehearsals since we had an interview setup but I manage to get some pictures from the first round through.
As I've said many times before, I have a soft spot for boybands and FO&O is not an exception. The thing is though, when things come around I'm very picky in what there's to like. The bands have to give something extra and show that they have work ethic which FO&O has constantly done throughout the years they have been artists.
"Gotta Thing About You" might not be their best song but I enjoy listening to it. The lyric is stuck in my head whether I want it or not. I was a bit sad that they had removed the platfrom from the performance since it was something extra and memorable. Also, I had already planned out how to take photos of it once I saw the performance back in their semifinal. FO&O was probably the act that was the easiest to photograph for many reasons. They are very photogenic, there's movement but not too hard to capture in photos and I know by know how they move consider I've seen a lot from them throughout the years. On top of that, the lighting was very decent and made things easier for me.
Axel Schylström was one of the acts that really surprised me with his song and the whole performance. The only songs I've heard him sing before Melfest was covers, so I didn't really know what I could expect from him. Once I heard the song and saw his performance, I really loved it. It's very catchy and I like his stage presence. You could tell that he was loving every second he got to be on that stage!
I have split opinions about Lisa Ajax and her Melfest entry. I'm not really a fan of it as much as her last one but at the same time, I like it. It wasn't much for me to photograph during her performance since it was not a lot of contrast in her performance that made my pictures a lot different from each other.
The charming Boris René was as always loads of fun to see perform and I really enjoy photographing him. Since I already knew his performance almost in and out from being at semifinal 1, I didn't needed to rewatch it a lot beforehand. The most challenging part of photographing Boris's performance is the fact that there's a lot of movement and there's many of them so they get out of frame when I want to get all the dancers and Boris in the shot.
Dismissed was one of the debuting acts. Their music and style isn't something that the Melfest audience are used to seeing in the contest but personally I really liked "Hearts Align" and it was a nice contrast to what else that were in the show. It's nice that the Melfest stage has changed and lets different kinds of music get the exposure as well.
It was very difficult to photograph the Dissmissed's performance because of the lighting which had it's own effect to it. I'm not sure how to explain it but in simple terms, there were not enough proper light on the bandmembers except for the singer, which was a bit of shame.
Anton Hagman became one of the new favorites this year quite fast. I really like his song "Kiss You Goodbye". It's VERY catchy, radiofriendly and it's easy to follow along to the lyrics. I just wished there was something more to the performance. It could have been as simple as moving to another part of the stage or leave the guitar and walk out more to the audience in the last part of the song. Just something.
The performance that had everyone talking was of course Loreen! I was super excited to see the performance and hear her sing live. She's a great artist and really thinks about the whole package and puts a lot of effort in the visuals. Her entry was of course one of my favorite this year and I'm so happy she decided to enter Melfest with her statements.
I adore Loreen and she's way too good for Sweden and Melfest. I really hope she keeps working and getting her music out there. She has everything going on for her and she's a Queen. With the right work ethic and the right people around her, I hope she has her breakthrough soon so she can show the world what she got to offer and make more statements through her art.
Photographing Loreen's performance was the most hardest one because of the lack of light. It annoyed me so much specially since I had in mind beforehand that I would finally be able to photograph her with a better lighting than the shows I've been at before with her. I tried to do my best and I got some decent photos to share. But in the end of the day, I was just happy to be able to see it live.
That was about it for this time, I hope you enjoyed this post.
Until next time, ingat!
/Lizel
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