Sh!tty Candy and the Circus Peanuts!

Weenie Giggins signs while the Circus Peanuts dance as Sh!tty Candy and the Circus Peanuts play Little Kings Shuffle Club in on Saturday, January 9, 2010 in Athens, Ga.

I was pretty excited about this show. An all-Girl Punk Rock Burlesque Troupe. My kinda show.

If only the light was better.

More after the Jump....

The Circus Peanuts.

Rock and Roll, esp. punk rock, has a certain look that just shows off the pure war power of the shows. Basically what Glen E. Friedman captured in the late 70s. Any fool can use the stage lights and make a decent picture with a point and shoot; I'm trying to show you what all this is about.

So i met these girls through my friends Scott and Amber from Thieves Market. They've been described as "L7 meets Kids in the Hall" whereas I'm thinking more like "Bikini Kill if they had a sense of humor." Here's their facebook.

It did prove very challenging to shoot as Little Kings Shuffle Club is a great sounding venue. There's no light beyond the ambient. (Tech specs: ISO 8000-10,000 1/15th f/2.8) The show didnt look right without some sort of light and bouncing a flash off the ceiling just didn't give me the look that i wanted. Bouncing it off the floor.... that worked a bit better but still doesn't do them justice. Sweated my ass off trying to get something beyond the dancers, and no disrespect to them, i was trying to get everyone. Spent 2/3rds of the show from my knees in only what could be described as an awkward position.

Space was cramped and i wanted to stick with a 14mm but switched to the fisheye to get 2/3rds of a stop. The 50/1.8 on the other camera at 1600 just didnt work as exposure would have been 1/8th.

I really am not happy with the overall take - beyond pictures of The Circus Peanuts - and will take another crack at them next week at a different venue.

Wennie tries to wrestle the microphone away from Sugah, who was M.C. for the night.









Probably my favorite photo of the night. Despite the fact i totally messed it up with the off camera flash.