Photos: Amy Grant; 2Friends tour 2011

The last time Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith shared the stage was about 22 years ago.  The two christian music legends  joined together this year on the 2Friends tour taking the country by storm and I had the honor to cover it for NewReleaseTuesday.com

Michael & Amy have been around since the beginnings of Christian music and have defined and influenced what it is today. You can hear it in so many other artists out there today, folks like Brandon Heath, Chris August, Kristian Stanfill and many others. It’s one of those show that really needs to be on your “bucket list”.

This was the first show I used my new Nikon D7000 and my, my what a camera! It was also the first show that I’ve ever used 2 cameras..now that was a challenge! At one point I was so twisted up in cameras and my credentials I thought I was gonna strangle myself..  a friend of mine over at ishootshows.com told me if I’m gonna keep shooting 2 bodies I need to get the Black Rapid strap to keep from killing myself … back to saving my pennies.

Overall the show was pretty well lit.. I used my 17-50 f2.8 at first on my D80 ISO 800, but switch to my non-DX 50mm 1.8 prime to get a little closer and a little better exposure. On my D7000, I had my non-DX 80-200 f2.8 and easy shot at ISO1600..was really nice. I can’t tell you how much of a difference just having that extra stop of light made. With great front lighting and gentle red, green and blue washes across backstage, it was a very elegant lighting look to this show. The front light allowed me to stay around 1/125 – 1/160 to cover Amy and Michael, but I had to drop around the 1/60 range to get some grab shots of the rest of the band.

It was a 3-song shoot, but the Michael W. Smith team was kind enough to give me a ticket so I was able to stay for the whole show. I talked to the folks I was sitting with asking them if they’d be bothered if I shot a few from my seat and they said go for it. So there are a few from that vantage point as well…. it always pays to to be kind to all those around you… and yeah, if I felt in anyway that they we’re annoyed (oh, you can tell) I wouldn’t have shot another frame. I’ve been on the other end and I wouldn’t ever want to be labeled as “that rude photographer”.