REPLAY-ing Live en Août

Noumea, New Caledonia

Every year in August we have a music festival called Live en Août with local and international artists performing at different venues. This year, the international artists were all Australians. Two bands and a one-man-band.

The Montreals were the first band I went to see at Le Bout du Monde, a bar/restaurant situated on Port Moselle Marina. The Montreals are an Indie/Rock band and, to my liking, have a bit of R&B and disco sounds in some of their songs. Not only entertaining, they also interact with the crowd, especially between songs where the lead singer is quite funny. I really liked this group and would love to see them again.

I’d like to give a shoutout to REPLAY, especially a friend of mine Alain. They’re the team behind the sound and light (they also do video) of the festival. We rarely, if ever, think about it but light and sound is critical. I won’t go in-depth here with the why or how of it all. Since my mate Alain started working in the industry, I’ve had the opportunity to checkout some of the behind-the-scene stuff and, I have to say, these guys work hard to get things right and entertain us.

In regards to photographing this group, after some trial and error, I set my shutter speed to 1/320th second which was enough to freeze the action. They weren’t jumping around frantically so it was perfect. Aperture at ƒ/2.8 for a shallow depth of field then it was just a matter of adjusting the ISO to get a good exposure. My focus wasn’t always on the mark but I’m very happy with these photos.

The Australian music scene is insane. Fantastic and original groups and solo artists from all walks of life, rise up above it all and are able to sustain themselves in this industry. The Montreals are no exception.