Esther, the musical
After a successful run last year, with close to 30 000 tickets sold, Ester Die Musical (Esther The Musical) is back for another two-week run on the Opera stage at the State Theatre in Pretoria (South Africa). I gate-crashed the dress rehearsal on Friday evening to take some photos …
The musical tells the story of Esther, heroine of the Biblical Book of the same name, who became queen of Persia and thwarted a plan to commit genocide against her people. It stars Afrikaans gospel star Joe Niemand as King Xerxes (also called Ahasuerus) and his wife of a few months, Lindi, in the title role. In June I wrote about another musical by the same producers based on the life of King David. Both productions were excellent, but what impressed me with Ester was just how energy-filled it was; the catchy, quality songs; and the humour dotted throughout, which helped it move at a good pace. In fact, I couldn’t believe it ended so quickly!
I’m told that tickets are on special this week (from Computicket) and so, if you are in the area, I can definitely recommend it … If not, you’ll just have to make do with the photos. (And no, I’m sorry, I’m not going to try to explain each photo – laziness has overcome me!)
These were all shot with a Nikon D3s, with 70-200mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.4 lenses and on auto ISO. (Although it was set to automatic – from 200 to a possible 10 000 – the camera seldom pushed it above 2 500 ISO.) My shoot at the David musical was done with a Nikon D4 and the same lenses … I’m sad to say that the D4 produces superior images at higher ISO (sad because I don’t know when I will get my hands on one again), but I was impressed with some of these – all of which were shot hand-held on aperture priority (perhaps I should have shot on speed priority). But then again, with the David shots I was sitting still with my camera propped on the railing ahead of me for stability. I withdraw my previous statement – the D3s produces some pretty impressive shots, especially since I used no flash and was running around the theatre like a loon …
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They called me weed
I have been blogging here since around April 2011 - my little place on the blogosphere to express myself creatively. As a teenager I used to write a diary - in fact, as a 17-year-old living in Belgium, I wrote religiously every day. Fortunately the Internet didn't exist back then because my ramblings as a teenager were ever-so-slightly dark, cynical and depressing. You won't find much of that here. Also, mostly, I try not to get too deep or philosophical in this forum - I'd like my photography to uplift and inspire, and, where I can, I try to bring a bit of humour into my writing too. I've been fortunate enough to travel extensively and have made many friends across the globe. This is my spot to keep in touch with them.
These are so impressive when viewed ‘large’ .. looks like the perfect place to use 70-200 f2.8 .. think from all i’ve read there’s little in it between D3S & D4 .. hey but then i’ve used neither and you’ve held both! Better to have loved than not?
Looks like a magnificent production. Thanks for sharing this.