Das Bevo - Oktoberfest Begins
I’m very familiar with the Bevo Mill but had never before taken the time to stop in. It dominates the somewhat unwieldy intersection of Gravois, Morganford, and Delor, and has done so since 1917 when the windmill was built by the Busch family. I stopped by last Friday evening, 9/13, after spotting they would have their Oktoberfest kickoff that night and I’m glad I did! Very friendly crowd, yummy looking brats and assorted other Germanic treats, and of course Okterbest style beers from a number of breweries—with a classic Bavarian band to boot.
Coincidentally, Das Bevo is at the far end of a section of Gravois I’ve been intending to shoot over some Friday and Saturday nights. So as an added bonus I took some time after the show to walk around a bit, get a sense of the neighborhood on foot and start thinking of some ways I might be able to shoot it.
50mm, f/3.5
50mm, f/3.5
85mm, f/8
50mm, f/8
85mm, f/8
24mm, f/4
50mm, f/4
Several audience members were invited up to try their luck blowing and holding a single note on the Alpenhorn.
50mm, f/4
50mm, f/4
50mm, f/4
50mm, f/4
85mm, f/4
A couple of things I noticed on this shoot. First, even though the prevalent advice I read is to simplify your shooting by sticking with a single focal length (or at least a single lens), I find that I'm happier when I get home and see results across multiple focal lengths. They have their different purposes, and there's a good reason that a wedding photographer for example isn't going to just shoot everything at 85mm or whatever.
Second, the more comfortable I am in a given setting, the easier it is to get the images I want, a set of images that fairly portrays an event. Because much more often than not some of those need to be intimate moments, and it's hard to get those if you don't feel that you have license to raise the camera and get the shot. It's not up to the crowd to make me comfortable. It's up to me to arrive early, make some small talk, get to briefly meet a few folks, mill around, get people used to me as a benign, friendly presence. I find that if I lay a bit of groundwork it is indeed possible to get to a place where it feels like I'm doing wedding photography--as in, I'm supposed to be there, and you're not supposed to hate my guts for it or get uncomfortable if I snap a couple of shots of you.
50mm, f/3.5
Dipping my toes into Gravois. I feel like there's more than one project on this street, as long and wild and weird and varied as it is.
50mm, f/3.5
