Ballad Of A Thin Man

I've been attending a number of gigs recently, and I've gladly taken the opportunity to indulge in concert photography, a photographic genre I truly enjoy.

These shots taken at last night's Bob Dylan concert were the most satisfying, not because they're any good, but because they were the hardest to take.

I was a million miles from the stage, the lighting was shite, and all I had was my 70-200/4 on a 5D, so I had neither the range nor the speed to make a good shot.

Shooting in Program or Av mode, Evaluative metering, ISO1600 didn't work, so had to resort to shooting in Manual, Spot metering, ISO3200.

In the end I thought these three attempts turned out not too bad.

Anyways, speaking of Dylan, what can I say that hasn't already been uttered by countless others?

15 years or so after I first saw him at the Indoor Stadium, my appreciation for his music has actually grown instead of waned - and I can't say that about most of my other musical influences.

So many of his albums are simply timeless - Highway 61, Blonde On Blonde, and my personal favourite Blood On The Tracks.

And his songs have this special ability of singeing their way into my mind and consciousness - to quote from the man himself, "like a corkscrew to my heart" - despite me not understanding much of the lyrics.

Check out lesser known gems like Idiot Wind, Changing Of The Guards, Desolation Row, and the track this blog entry is named after.

To me, his music is the sonic equivalent of a surrealistic painting - full of vivid distorted imagery, and open to multiple levels of meaning and interpretation.

Here's a perfect example of his cryptic lyrics, from what I thought was the standout song of last night's gig - thank you Sir Bob, for coming back to play in Singapore - it's been my privilege to have seen you perform live twice in my lifetime:

Now you see this one-eyed midget 

Shouting the word "Now!" 

And you say, "For what reason?" 

And he says, "How?" 

And you say, "What does this mean?" 

And he screams back, "You're a cow! 

Give me some milk 

Or else go home!"