Out touring for their 50th anniversary, the original lineup of The Beach Boys came for a fun night of great surf oldies at The Bowl.

The show was really fun, but the shooting conditions were very poor. I was allowed only two songs, which translated into about five minutes of photography. To make things worse, I was required to be on my knees the entire time, right up front. Now normally right up front is good, but in this case, I'd rather have been at the soundboard. The band was spread out along the entire stage width, so it was virutally impossible to get one shot containing all the members.

I compromised by doing a fisheye shot of the entire stage, but wide angle lenses make anythign which isnt' very close, very small. Also difficult was the fact that Brian Wilson was on a grand piano with his head facing away from the photographers. From stage left, there might have been a head-on shot of him, but from my knees, the piano completely obsucred him.

Lastly, the first two songs occurred right as the sun was dropping behind the hills, so half of the group were in direct sunlight, and the other half were in the shade. Oye! The bottom line is that there was just not enough time to get every shot I wanted.

Anyway, there are some good shots, so check out the gallery on the gallery.sbbowl.com