Cheers from me too:-)

Cheers, MCsaba.

Thanks for the guidance mates :) Some insight: I don't work for a theater, I just try to participate on the "press rehearsal" which is usually few days before the premiere. There is no free access to shot again and again, if you miss the point then there is no second chance. I started this by asking the secretaries of the theaters -mostly small dance companies as my interest for costume-pieces is quite limited- about the date and asked for permission to participate and offered the shots. Now we have few "partners" who receive the pictures (for free) while we enjoy the photography of their performances, that's all. I wouldn't say about someone, after posting street shots, that he is probably a police(wo)man, or car-park inspector, spending the life mostly on the street and having full access :) Looking back to the challenges here, I posted twice as much "other" shots than staged - therefore I don't feel that it is my signature either. Cheers, MCsaba

There you go MC we have sorted your life out for you...............No no no, there's no charge:-)

I can't see how you call theater picys a signature style Christakis it's more the way they take the picy gives them a style. I wouldn't change a thing about how MC takes his picys as they all mostly look great but I would suggest he posted some non theater picys in his own signature style to avoid becoming predictable & the picys having less impact as a result. A violinist that doesn't have a varied repertoire will soon sound predictable & possibly boring no matter how well they play. Yes a musician can specialise in say Mozart but the amount of repertoire these composers put out could make many a long year of keeping up our interest but that same violinist would still play plenty of other composers. I think MC has permission to be in the theater I think at rehearsals & takes picys for them to use. He now has Aamms & my permission to get out on the streets for some great picys:-)

Aam, yes you are probably right. Either that, either he is a big theatre fan. What I find weird is that whenever I go to the theatre, I am never allowed to take pics.

Compare a violist to a photographer. The violin is the camera, the music is the scene and the performance is the photo. Now the differences: the photographer is always behind the camera, the musician is the model as well! To get the perfect photo you need a good camera, a great scene and a talented model... Don't you?

The guy could be the worst musician in the world but he definitely looks like he is giving the performance of his lifetime.

You guys are still missing the point. Sigh.

It's not about this particular photo. It's not about this guy playing, either. It's about having an ACCESS to these performances. Over & over. If I were to guess, I would say MCsaba works in that theater, in one capacity or another.

Tsk tsk, you dirty man Rod ;) But if that was possible I wouldn't say no.

Each of us likes different genres of photography and is usually what we are good at. I know I couldn't take theater pictures like these. I enjoy seeing genre variety in the challenges even if it is not variety from the individuals. Theater pictures are MCsaba's signature. Is it so bad to know what your signature style is? Don't think so! But I do think that telling someone to change their style because it doesn't fit my personal preference is bad.

The guy is obviously acting. Acting is an important aspect of stage performance. When I was walking from uni to my house last year, I was passing by the Royal Academy of Music and could see musicians rehearsing daily. The academy has many small rooms with large mirrors so that musicians can see their performance. So there were 8 violists isolated in their individual rooms, playing their violin, looking at their mirrors. Random?

I think some of the problem is MC posts so many picys from the theatre that they are in danger of being sort of repetitious. Each one is excellent photography but itsa bit like a wedding photographer always posting wedding picys to fit a challenge no matter how good it will get predictable. As I've said before MC has a great eye & it was a breath of fresh air to see his train shadow picy which is typical of the excellent shots I've seen from him taken out on the streets. I wonder if Mc could get some picys of the performers backstage when they're not performing, that could interesting a. You know like an actress changing a costume or getting out of the shower:-)

And yes, this guy is acting/faking it.

Guys, you are missing the point of what I said. Staged/not staged is totally irrelevant here. The main point is, and I'll quote myself, if I may "especially where you have a full access". Seeing how many theater photos MCsaba posts I assumed MC either works there or knows somebody who does. What that entails is:
1) He is very familiar with photographing performances, and/or
2) If a shoot doesn't work out, he can easily go there again, and again, and again. Changing location, angle, or even light.

Hence, the "fish in a barrel".

Had this photo been taken by anybody else in the group, it would have been seen totally differently, at least by me.

The thing too is that whether the shot was staged or not is completely irrelevant, it's basically for MCsaba to know and for others to find out... and MCSaba (or any other artist for that matter) has no duty whatsoever to divulge. If it looks real to you, then it's real, and vice-versa. The worst thing an artist could do though is to say something was captured naturally but in reality it was staged... he's only cheating himself, the wise thing to do in that case is to keep your mouth shut and capitalize on the controversy :)

But if you look at MCsaba's performance photos in a set (as I think they should be ideally), you can really appreciate how well framed and expressive every one of those photos are. Staged, not staged, whatever... not relevant one way or another with these types of photos.

intense feeling, like a spasm of music is about to issue forth from him. Great!

This shout works well for me. There is nothing more that can be said, a classic in BW, well done.

MCsaba does it *all the time* is right and I find it quite amazing. I love these shots - keep 'em coming!

Yup, I agree with Martin. I went to disneyland in Paris and I tried shooting the disney characters while performing on stage. Even with no facial expressions to worry about, I only managed to get one nice looking picture out of A LOT. I can imagine how difficult it would be to capture real people on stage.

Can't say I agree with you Aam, while personally I don't shoot theatre/concert/stage and while I would say that a lot of it is random or occasionally captured well by chance, MCsaba's performance photos are way above that of most others'. For eg., I always keep an eye out for 'stolen portraits', basically 'decisive moment' type street shots of people in what I consider the perfect pose in the perfect environment, almost as if it were staged but in fact are completely 'real'. I would suggest going to a performance and seeing how often you'll grab that ideal, unstaged 'portrait' of a performer in action... sure, some may take a few attempts but with the hit rate of MCsaba, there's much more in this than 'shooting fish in a barrel'... you have to have a very good eye for it. I can admit that I do NOT have an eye for this, I'd never get the 'ideal' moment in this type of scenario except maybe for an occasional lucky catch. MCsaba does it *all the time*.

Thanks for the comments mates, much appreciated.
Aam, the challenge in stage photography is the same than in any other genre of photography; you should shot that tells more - recognize the right theme, find the proper position, angle, distance and shot the "decisive moment" - that's much more difficult than fishing in barrel. And you can "fish in barrel" anywhere, on the streets too. But why do you think that this was staged? For me the face and expression clearly tells that the guy is not a professional musician, even not a passionist...

I know wot you mean Aamm & I sort of agree although the picys are very well done. I've seen some great picys from MC out in the streets so I wish we could see more of these.

People were asked to give critique, right. Well, I'll give mine.

For me, to take a photo of an on-stage performance, especially where you have a full access, is the same as shooting fish in a barrel. Where is the challenge in that.

That's why, MCsaba, I don't comment on your stage photos.

Cheers, mate

Lots of energy coming from this one. I can really hear his violin as if I'm sitting front center in the audience. For me the black and white really works well. Great photo.

Captured very well and the black and white is perfection.

Clear and crisp sound! Strong performance!

No, it looks like he is trying his very best to reach perfection. That look, for me, is what makes this picture so good. I can hear the pure quality of the violin penetrating the silence of the theatre.

The look on his face makes it seem like he's hit the wrong note, nicely done mate.