Being part of a photography club, you sometimes get invited to unique events. On September 11, 2022, I had the opportunity to attend the 2022 Galway Drum Show "officially" as a photographer. While I'm not that savvy about gigs and music, I was interested in trying out this genre and playing out with action shots, darkness and cool beams of light. Beyond taking cool photos, I really enjoyed listening to expert drummers.

Technically, like in sports photography, you're facing two challenges: moving subjects and changing lights, which means you have to compromise on the photo quality and grains (High ISO). It was difficult to get the right settings at first, but after the 1st act, I found it a little bit easier.

Camera used: Canon EOS R, RF 24-105mm, RF 100-400mm, No Flash.
Items absolutely necessary: Earplugs!
While not necessarily recommended, I used a monopod for a lot of these photos, it helped me getting more stable images (considering the harsh conditions and the "heavy" weight of the camera after hours of shooting).

London drummer, Michael Sorbello

@mikeyontheskins

Conor Guilfoyle, Irish drummer and educator

@guilfoyle.conor

Tom Corcoran, Irish drummer

@tomcdrums

Alex Mey, Portuguese drummer

@alexlikestodrum

And a bit of an experiment... Rather than trying to get the sharpest subjects in the darkness, I tried to do the reverse in the following images: getting the subject blur in a sharp surrounding.

Claus Heßler, German drummer, author and educator

@claus.hessler

A few miscellaneous images taken during the show. The new generation is coming!