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06/13/2023

Through the Eyes of a Preteen: Garbage / Photos and video

By SYDNEY AND MIKE LEWIS // 11 year-old Sydney photographs Garbage PLUS a new video from her and her father.

I may have written about this in one of Sydney’s prior photo adventures, but prior to her adventures in the photo pit she would often wander in while I was editing with the same questions. Who is the band, had she heard them before and, if not, could she listen to them? This allowed her to experience a wide variety of music where she learned that despite what I might listen to in the car, I didn’t always cover metal shows. Among the various bands she got to hear was Garbage and she was immediately a fan. She had missed seeing them in 2017 when they played here although that was really the first time she had heard them. I promised her the next time they stopped in Portland I would take her.

Although 2018 did see Garbage come back to Portland there was a slight problem that we couldn’t work through. The scheduled date at the Roseland was a 21+ show. I had to leave for the venue while a very tearful little girl had to stay behind. She did end up with a concert shirt and someone we know was kind enough to track Shirley Manson down before they left Portland and got Sydney a personalized, autographed photo. Since then, she has been waiting.

This year, after waiting for many years, Sydney finally got her chance to see and photograph Garbage. That wasn’t the only first for her though. Previously she has taken photos at both the Crystal Ballroom as well as the Roseland and of course at the Blues Festival, but those have been the only venues. I took her a bit early to the RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater so she could take everything in as well as get close to the stage itself. It’s still a little tall for her, but she wasn’t too intimidated. In fact, I decided that rather than have her leave frustrated, I’d let her use my 50mm lens, something I had intended on using myself. That left me with a rather cheap telephoto which isn’t the best quality. I may not even end up using any of them as I’m not overly impressed with anything I walked away with this show. The important thing however is that Sydney had a great first time at the venue.

Metrics opened the show although we weren’t allowed access to the photo pit for them. It’s probably not a bad thing since Sydney was not impressed by them at all. She’s become very opinionated since she took up photography it seems. She was more interested in wandering around outside and seeing more of what was available at the venue. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds was up next and this particular show was another first since Sydney actually had to sign a photo release. But, once again, she wasn’t won over the with music. Apparently, that has been the case however as Noel recently commented on how the reception to his new songs by US audiences has been “terrible.” Garbage however is who Sydney really wanted to see but the bad part was that for both artists, we were relegated to one side of the stage or the other which makes things a little more of a challenge. The lighting for Garbage wasn’t the best I’ve seen, but still something that was usable for the most part.

I do feel that having to be on just one side of the stage was a slight hindrance for Sydney. It’s not nearly as easy to work around the floor monitors and it might have been easier during the first three songs for Garbage to be right in the middle. I did notice however that Syndey saw me at one point using the video cameras as a “subject” where I was trying to get their screen but also get the artist in the photo with a minor blur. She attempted the same shot herself so she’s at least trying to learn different techniques.

Overall she did have a great time at Garbage and wasn’t just happy to finally see one of her favorite bands but also take photos of them. I think however when Garbage comes back, she’ll have learned quite a bit more and hopefully things won’t be as restrictive as far as photography is concerned. Hopefully there will be a few more photography adventures for her before the summer is over.

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