BMFF 2025
19 March 2025
This was my first time ‘officially’ being allowed to photograph the Blue Mountains Music Festival. I was granted a lanyard by the organisers which allowed me access to all the acts over the three day event.
I have photographed this festival before, when my kids went to the school it’s grounds are used for. I am not a massive music festival go-er. On my phone I have the same stuff I’ve been listening to for years. I’m more interested in how musicians perform than how they sound. How they interact with an audience is also more intruiging to me.
When it came to the gear I’m reasonably spoilt. As most of the acts are either in a tent, a hall or an RSL, it didn’t matter if it was blisteringly hot outside or chucking it down with rain (as it is most years). Most acts were very calm on stage and a couple moved about so much it was a challenge to shoot with a fast enough shutter speed and keep the ISO low enough.
On day one I had the Lumix S1 with the Lumix 85mm f/1.8 on for the duration, even though I had the 50mm I my bag. Shooting wide open all day with this is a joy. It’s light, fast and silent.
Day two, feeling like I wasn’t getting enough reach from the back row (especially in the bigger tent where there was no room between the seating and the stage), I took ‘The Tank’ - the Sigma 100-400mm. At 400mm I’m at f/6.3. But on the S1, the dual-gain ISO circuitry spit out files as clean as a whistle. Most of the shots off this thing were at around 300mm or so. Whilst I got some ok shots I hated carrying this thing around all day. I felt enabled by the focal range but extremely limited by how cumbersome it was to carry. I ditched it and went back to the 85mm.
Side rant: the advantage of using full frame mirrorless has all but evaporated. Sure, we now have stabilisation and brilliant EVFs, and the dual gain sensors are brilliant in some use cases. But now that all the manufacturers have completed their lens range to suits the new systems, were back to the same size and weight as DSLRs once were.
Day three. I wanted to see how my 14 year old Olympus OM-D E-M1 compared to the newer cameras I owned. This is what I use most days. They’re light as a feather and the lenses are tiny in comparison. On one body I had the brilliant 75mm f/1.8. It’s a 150mm full frame equivalent and it was perfect. On the other the 12-45mm f/4 Pro for anything wide to normal. Yes, this isn’t what you would consider a fast, indoor lens, but it’s good for getting a shot that a telephoto prime cannot.
If I get asked back again next year it’s Olympus all the way. Even in 2025 the 14 year old still proved that it’s sufficent enough for online and print usage. It’s just a joy to carry around for hours at a time and the tiny lenses just add to that experience.
If you’ve reached this far then, thank you!