Last Thursday I headed down to the 229 Bar on Great Portland Street to catch Johnny Lazer and Viktoria Modesta.
I wanted to try something a little off-kilter. Usually it so dark that you either have to use flash or dial in a slow shutter. Flash is great for freezing moments but you lose the atmosphere. If rock'n'roll is about throwing your crotch with enough swagger to make mistakes and get away with it, then the clinical illumination of flash is as un-rock'n'roll as you can get. It's too safe. And although long exposures may faithfully recreate the effect of downing too much tequila, tripping down the stairs and bashing your head against the toilet bowl, you ideally want some momento of the night that is not a blurry mess.
So what did I do?
I did both, at the same time.
The slow-sync effect - AKA "dragging the shutter" - is unpredictable, chaotic, and just plain wrong. But hey, that's rock'n'roll, right?
Viktoria Modesta's pictures to follow soon...
