The sky as I came out of work today. Near as I can figure, either the Justice League was flying by, the Fantastic Four was on maneuvers, a Firefly evaded capture, or a bunch of TIE Fighters broke atmo.

Or else I need to get out more.

And photographing musicians.

It started back in 2009 when Teres was preparing for several Bon Jovi concerts in the next year. I had had some success taking pics for her during the concert we went to in Jersey so she bought me a camera specifically for the new shows. After some hunting around I settled on a Canon PowerShot SX20IS. 20x optical zoom, decent in low-light situations, and, vital for picture-taking in concert venues, it did not have a detachable lens.

Then it was time to practice.

We started going out to see local bands, something we'd never really done before (not social people, us) so I could practice shooting them. It ain't easy. You've got people in very dark places, with bright lights focused on their faces, moving quickly.

I took shots of My Generation and some of its members like Donnie Lee and Dominick Loria and their other bands,like Quick Change. Through them we met plenty of others, such as Switch and Rockit Fly (pictured right, from New Year's Eve). And there was Marian Call's Winter park concert in her 49>50 State Tour…

And I did take a lot of shots at the Bon Jovi concerts we went to in Tampa and Sunrise, FL, and I'm even not too disappointed in some of them.

I'm not where I want to be with my photography yet, but I'm having a lot of fun getting there. And we made a lot of new friends. We even sort of almost have a social life, kinda, if you squint your eyes.

I'll post some of what I've figured out in later entries, but the basic stuff is this:

- Take thousands of shots. Eventually you'll get some you like.

- Turn of f the flash unless it's absolutely necessary. You want to see the lights and shadows the way they are, not the way they look flattened out in your sudden bright light. Besides, in most concert situations all you'll do is light up the hair of the person in front of you.

- Respect the band and the other fans. Your shot is not more important than their fun.

- Put the damn camera down once in awhile and enjoy the show.

A shot from last week, looking out over the Atlantic from the deck of the Grand Seas Motel in Daytona Beach.

Yeah, there are times I don't mind living here at all.

Supplies:
Messenger bag. I liked the look of this one and it was marked down at Burlington Coat Factory. Price: 20 bucks.
Foam padding. Closed-cell padding is better and thinner — you can find it at some fabric stores or camping supply retailers — but I went with some old packing foam I already had. Price: free.
Duct tape. Price: $3.95 because I splurged on a color roll.
That's it.

Total price: $23.95.

I picked the bag for comfort, a decent number of pockets, ease of access, and wide comfortable strap, but your mileage may certainly vary. Mainly, I didn't want something that looked like a camera bag ("Look! I have an expensive, easily pawnable camera inside!") and it had to have enough room inside for my stuff without being bulky.

First step was a sturdy-ish bottom. I used a sheet of foam from an old computer box, trimmed it to fit, and sliced two lines halfway through the foam where I wanted the corners to be. That way when I flipped it over and folded on those lines, I'd get a squared corner instead of a bent piece of foam.I could have just pieced some together, but I had a sheet large enough to keep it one piece.

This fits snugly into my bag, like so. I made it a touch wider than the bottom so it wouldn't slip around.

My bottom and sides.

Next I cut foam bits a little larger than I needed and wrapped them with duct tape. If I recall correctly, the foam packing once cradled a new hard drive.

Black or charcoal gray duct tape would probably have looked cooler, but I went with white to make it easier for me to find dropped filters, lens caps, etc. in the bag later. I made individual walls with the foam so I could easily piece them together with the tape, which peels right back off itself if I screw up and have to redo. And I did, a couple of times. Even wrapped in duct tape, it stays squishy and the tape helps keep your camera from catching on anything.

I crafted padding of various shapes to hold my camera face down, with a lens hood attached. Then I wrapped softer foam around it to form higher sides. No real reason to use different foam here, that was just the type I had in big enough sizes to wrap. I could have wrapped that foam individually in duct tape as well but wasn't sure how far my roll would go so I held off.

Here's the result. It ain't pretty, but my camera fits in it nicely.

And it fits quite snugly in my bag.

I pieced together some loose bits of foam into pockets for my accessories; filter adapter, filters, cleaning supplies, whatever. I didn't put a lot of work into that because I want to carry the bag around for a bit and see how I'll be using it. Duct-tape-wrapped foam walls can be easily separated from each other and retaped in new configurations, so no worries there.Here I just made a frame and stuck some loose, thin foam dividers in afterward.

The finished (so far), loaded camera bag. Camera secure, accessories stashed, camera already in shooting position as soon as I open my bag and pull it out. I can still access the interior pockets of the bag for more storage (batteries, lens cleaner, memory cards, pens, notebook, flashlight, Kruggerands, whatever you need). And the result is extremely light and I can move the compartments from side to side whenever I wish for more convenient accessibility. Doesn't look as snazzy but who cares?  The bag itself is comfortable to carry, soft against my hip, and sturdy enough that I won't panic about my camera gear.

It doesn't close tightly (this bag has magnetic catches) but I knew that when I bought the bag; just make sure you buy one you're happy with. The local Army-Navy store will likely have an incredible collection of just about any sort of carrying bag, pouch, map case or backpack you can imagine, and thrift stores can't be beat for the prices. Diaper bags make great camera bags, by the way; they're waterproof and that have tons of pockets.

And if I get tired of my bag or find one I like better, I can move my padding over or throw it out and do it again from scratch.

Total time: about an hour, mostly because I kept stopping and taking pictures.

If you like the customization but don't feel like mucking about with foam and tape, you can buy padded compartment inserts and mix and match as you like, but my way is cheaper.