Across the world, the communal experience of gathering with thousands of like minds to celebrate your favorite bands has become an annual rite. Music festivals have become larger and more popular, with no sign of slowing down. And while the largest of the festivals offer much of the same – large grassy fields, mega crowds and hundreds of acts scheduled over a long weekend – the smaller, boutique festivals are making their mark and winning fans by providing something different. 

Day for Night is one of those new breed festivals and offers a singularly unique experience of light and sound that marries experimental artists and their large scale installations with a more traditional live music production. The setting is the decommissioned Barbara Jordan post office in downtown Houston, TX. With its unheated, dark, cavernous halls, the old post office is an oddly perfect match for the futuristic interactive experiences. Think Blade Runner and you’ll be partly there.

Sony α7R III. Sony 50mm f/1.4 ZA lens. 1/8-sec., f/1/4, ISO 1600. 

This year, the festival synched up nicely with the release of the Sony α7R III, camera so I  loaded up the car and hauled down highway 71 to catch the first act on my schedule – the indie art rock veterans out of Athens Georgia, Of Montreal.

Sony α7R III. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master lens. 1/200-sec., f/4, ISO 100.

There are a million technical reviews of the α7R III online, so this won’t be another one of those. Simply put, this is a high resolution workhorse camera for professionals or those seeking to advance their art.

For an event like Day for Night, with its dark and dynamic scenes, you need a high-performance system that enables creativity without the camera getting in the way. Within a single day, I worked in overcast daylight, laser illuminated interiors and rain drenched darkness. From a performance standpoint, never once did the α7R III let me down and it did it all without a struggle.

Sony α7R III. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master lens. 1/50-sec., f/1.4 ISO 400.

Sony α7R III. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master lens. 1/320-sec., f/1.4, ISO 6400.

Camera systems today are quite sophisticated, with an array of features that gift photographers tools we never thought possible. The downside to all that power is control complexity, and there is a growing chorus of voices clamoring for simplicity. Happily, Sony has already done an excellent job providing the α7R III user the means to simplify control to an almost analog experience.

With the trinity of exposure (Aperture, Shutter, Sensitivity) all assigned to physical controls, the classic act of exposing a scene is no different today than it was 50 years ago; yet program a modern feature like Eye AF to a button on the α7R III and the camera magically focuses and tracks your subject’s closest eye. On my camera, another custom button is set to toggle the silent (electronic) shutter, and another allows me to quickly change my drive mode.

Sony α7R III. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master lens. 1/640-sec., f/1.4, ISO 400.

Besides the power and control of the α7R III, the camera impressed with a strong showing in adverse weather conditions during the closing act on the main stage Saturday night. Seminal industrial legends, Nine Inch Nails played for a full hour in cold, pouring rain. During the set, I was positioned 75 feet above the crowd, covered with tarp but exposed on all sides to the horizontal sheets of rain that pummeled the crowd. The a7R III never stopped and never glitched, even though it wasn’t protected with a rain sleeve.

Sony α7R III. Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master lens. 1/80-sec., f/2/8, ISO 640.

The energy and emotion of that Nine Inch Nails crowd was a mirror held to the band’s epic performance. Like all great festivals, Day for Night presented scene after scene of interesting subjects that lived not onstage but in the audience.

Of all the weekend’s performances, the one that most embraced the ethos of Day for Night was by Solange. The gorgeous stage production and choreography was a photographer’s dream and yielded several of my favorite images out of the α7R III. Having never photographed her set before, a friend prompted me on what to expect from the performance – specifically that she does several hair whips during the intro. I set the α7R III to High Speed+ drive mode which shoots at 8fps with no viewfinder lag and minimal blackout. I hesitate to give all the credit to the camera but if I’m honest, it made it easier than it should be. That final sentiment sums up the α7R III – in so many applications, it makes it easier to capture high quality images.

Sony α7R III. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master lens. 1/320-sec., f/1.4, ISO 400.

Sony α7R III. Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master lens. 1/8000-sec., f/1.4, ISO 6400.

Chad Wadsworth is a Sony Artisan Of Imagery. See more about him here. Follow him on Instagram @chadwadsworth_atx and keep up with his blog where you can see more photos from Day For Night.