An evening with Rade Šerbedžija

Hot sunday, temps over 30C and i had an open festival assignment in the middle of Ljubljana. However, the real energy for that day came from the fact that Rade Serbedzija had planned a concert in Križanke. 10.000 people in one place, loud music, a bit over 1000 in Križanke and very quiet and intimate feeling just few hundred meters away. I didn't have the time to stay for the full concert, but Rade was kind enough to do a mini session before the concert, of course with his trademark, the hat. There were two TV crews eagerly awaiting for the interview so i had hurry up, but i am quite happy with the result. I played a bit with the image, made it B&W and i like it. Also, few shots form the concert.

Rade Šerbedžija, Križanke, Ljubljana, 22.6.2008

Radar 2008 or mission Bob Dylan

Radar 2008 happened in Varaždin, Croatia. I came there early, drove out with Vlado Kreslin and his band in a van, that was pretty cool actually. It didn't look too good, as there was just heavy rain all over but soon it cleared up a bit and it stayed with no rain up untill the end. This year Radar festival brought THE man and legend Bob Dylan, Manic Street Preachers, Majke, Vlado Kreslin and Drago Mlinarec. Of course, my mission was to get some pictures of him on stage, unfortunately, and i knew this before, there was no photo passes for him (in fact, there are none for several years now as i heard). So, after unsucessfull negotiations with Dylan's tour manager, ton of security scouting for lens in the crowd, all over place, backstage pass and lots of positive thinking, we were sent out of the venue after Manic Street Preachers and given a piece of paper saying any picture taking will be prosecuted. It was the first time i was given something like this, but that's Bob Dylan, i guess :) So, "officially" i didn't take any pictures of him ...but here are few shots of other acts and a video of Bob Dylan on stage i found on YouTube. Hopefully Bob comes back someday and allows us to take a few shots of him on stage. Everyone would be so happy :)

Vlado Kreslin was on stage right after Drago Mlinarec ...

... Majke came and did accoustic set ...

... lead singer Bare, was in "a good mood" - he saw me taking pictures on stage, and this is how he saw me :) That was very funny!

... Manic Street Preachers were very energetic ...

... altough i didn't know much of their music, also the stage was pretty high and monitors obstructed the view...

... we were jailed out after Manic Street Preachers and this is how i felt at the time :(

When first lady visits National Gallery

I had 20 minutes before i had to leave for Brdo ( to photograph George Bush, Janez Janša and Jose Barroso during a press conference) on a special media bus, and managed to get at the National Gallery in Ljubljana just minutes before Laura Bush and her motorcade arrived there for a visit.

What first seemed like a calm situation (ok, with special police all over, closed streets and fences all over) then turned into unbreakable barricade. This is how it looked when a group of Pool photographers and cameramen ( these are selected few representing major media that are allowed to go into the gallery for two or tree photo opportuniuties). As you can see their equipment was checked all over first by bomb sniffing dog, each camera was manually triggered a couple of times and tele lenses were looked into. Can you guess what happened after the last picture? :)

Julio Iglesias - the arrival and more limitations for photographing

After much anticipation, the day finally came when Julio Iglesias landed in Ljubljana. I was given an exclusive to be at the airport in the official welcome group just minutes after he landed. My expectations were high up untill the moment where his tour manager / pr person came out of the plane and told us to go back few meters, and gave us strict instructions that we're only allowed to take pictures of Julio on his right profile. Ok, that's fine and normal with many singers like this.

So, we moved closer, after Julio waved at us and invited us to the airplane. I was allowed to shoot during his very short TV interview, and the distance was nice for 70-200 portrait. But as soon as i started i was told that i have to lift up my camera with both hands above my head and shoot like this. You know, a position basketball players usually take after they slam dunk and hang for a few seconds. I probably looked very funny shooting like this, but as soon as i lowered my hands (it is actually hard or almost impossible to hold them like this and try to get the correct frame) they told me that i am too low and hands need to go back up. Well, so i did, but still it was the first time those instructions were so detailed and in a such way.

The concert was not an ideal one too (lots of sound problems). Only two of us had the photopass and it didn't help much as we were taken all the way back to the hall. I had the 300mm lens but still not enough to get a nice image. I respect Julio and his career, but i think this time his management was a bit overdoing it with limitations like this. After all, people in the hall all had their cameras and catched nice portraits from first rows. For me, just another experience in the life of a concert photographer and something to talk about. Here are a few shots from the airport so you can see :)

.. his private jet ...

.. girls coming out of the plane .. .

... Julio waves at us and invites us closer ...

... Julio from right side, hand slightly lowered

... Julio again, this time with hand quite far up (see the camera position for angle)

...and so they went ...

Bon Jovi - Vienna

Seems like June and July are THE months for concerts. Bon Jovi played near Vienna at Magna Rancin horse race track area for 50.000 wet soaked people. As i am posting this at 3am, only few shots for now untill i get them sorted (...and get some sleep) :) Here are a few moments i captured during first two songs ... Enjoy!

The voice of Rock - Glenn Hughes

Glenn Hughes, a former bass player of Deep Purple, and a man with a voice that you only listen and watch, visited Cvetličarna again. I was hoping for some new sound check pictures, but wasn't allowed to do it this time by his manager. Too bad, but i could get some backstage stuff which is also nice. Here is some action as i captured it of the man on stage, as you can see it was really an energetic performance.