Melanie Martinez @ STL Music Park | 07.10.23
Alt-pop sensation Melanie Martinez performing to a sold out crowd on her Portals tour at St. Louis Music Park in Maryland Heights, Missouri on July 10th, 2023.
Melanie Martinez’s 3rd studio album Portals has become an unlikely choice for one of my favorite records of 2023. I’m not really into pop music unless it’s a little weird and subversive, which just happens to kinda be Melanie Martinez’s thing. On Portals, her Cry Baby persona has given way to a four-eyed forest nymph, which has found itself experiencing the rounds of life and death. It’s easily the most introspective and mature work Martinez has created so far, and perhaps her most accessible.
I first photographed Melanie Martinez at The Pageant in March 2016 for the now defunct newswire Corbis. Touring behind her 1st record Cry Baby (which has since gone double-platinum), I remember really enjoying her performance. The show ended up being the weekend before the 2016 Missouri Primary, so I was pushing out a lot of photos from the various rallies going on in the St. Louis area at the same time. There was a lot happening in the political world, as you may remember, and I kind of forgot about these photos for a while. That all being said, I did not want to pass up a chance to photograph Melanie Martinez performing in front of a sold out crowd.
To check out a more in depth review of the show, head over to The Arts STL for my write up.
The Shoot
For the performance at St. Louis Music Park, us photographers were given songs 10, 11, and 12 to photograph. On this tour, photographers were given different 3 song blocks for coverage every evening so everyone doesn’t have the same photos of the same 3 songs. It’s a smart move and it makes sure that all of the hard work put into the choreography and presentation gets properly documented.
I studied fan videos on YouTube to get an idea of what the blocking and lighting would be like for the 3 songs I was photographing. There was one particular moment in the 2nd song, “Nymphology”, that I knew I wanted to get. The last line of the third verse, “Cut you off, watch you die, just a fairy with a knife” has Martinez and her dancers implying a slit throat with a hand drawn across their necks.
I did get the shot. It wasn’t the best light or composition, but I got it. However, the pitch of Martinez’s head and the angle I was shooting from unfortunately caught quite a bit of her actual face under the mask. It’s obvious that a lot of energy and care has gone into her costume, and I’m not interested in undermining any of it.
Shit happens.
Despite that moment, and a few similar ones, I’m very happy with the photos I got. There was maybe more solid red light than I would have liked, but how is that any different than anything else I’ve photographed recently? The red lighting, at least, wasn’t super harsh and it photographed well enough that it was basically a non-issue. The choreography was very generous with moments to create great photos.
Like Young the Giant last month, The photo pit was a little tight. Thankfully, there was a rather generous space dead center for us photographers. I feel like everyone got a fair amount of time at all the good angles in that area.
For this one, I went with the Fujifilm GFX50sII and the GF35-70mm f4.5-5.6 WR and the Fujifilm X-S10 with the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN Contemporary Lens. This has slowly become my standard set up for shows of this size. There’s enough good light that I don’t have to worry about the slower GF35-70 lens. Even though it is basically considered to be the kit lens for the GFX lines, it is surprisingly sharp and focuses well in the right environments. However, I did struggle with the Fujifilm GFX50sII and the GF35-70mm during this shoot and only had 2 photos I felt like publishing as a result. One is the header image for this post and the other is the lead photo for this section. There’s a level of detail and dynamic range in both images that isn’t present with the X-S10 and the Sigma. Though, I am starting to really love that setup, as well. I wish the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN were a little wider, but overall it is a fantastic normal zoom lens for the Fujifilm X-Mount.
Make sure to check out my write up of Melanie Martinez’s July 10th, 2023 performance at STL Music Park over at The Arts STL. You can also check out the full photo gallery here.