Last week was interesting, to say the least. The first weekend in March I brought my eldest daughter and her boyfriend to Belfast for a concert; we stayed in the city for the weekend.
During and after that concert I came to a few conclusions, and new ideas stuck their little shiny heads all in my business.
It's amazing how an event like that can have an effect like that on people. Well, I'm not sure if everyone else would get out of it what I had. I'm pretty sure they didn't.

A reminder that I was doing what I've always wanted

Back in Holland, and sometimes when I was traveling, I used to write articles for magazines, papers or online sometimes.
I worked for a publisher for some time and was doing this daily there. In my time with that company, I was (quite literally) thrown in front of the wolves, because it was a company that didn't work as most other publishers did. It had its downside: we were overworked, exploited, and underpaid. But the upside, something that was a lot more valuable, was that I learned the ropes of the business in and out, and with the speed of lighting. The only two jobs in the company I didn't do, was the lay-out for the magazines (but I already learned that elsewhere) and advertisement sales (which I wouldn't have liked to do anyway). It didn't matter which job description we had: in the end, we were all treated the same, oftentimes unfairly. Our pay...well, let's say for the amount of work we put in, and the responsibility we had as editors, we would have had wages, about 3 times higher than what we received. But as I said: I gained so much more from the experience alone, so if anything: I should be thankful to the man who worked every single one of us like slaves...So here you go: "Heltjo Brinkman: bedankt!" As you possibly know about me: I always try to see things from the positive side, rather than the downside. It works for me!

Sometimes I would use the places I would travel to for a holiday, as an extra income stream after my return, by writing a review about a hotel I had stayed in. Due to this, I would sometimes stay there for free, and later get paid from another source, by selling the story and/or the photos. It was the fact that I was able to do it all, and not just be pinned down to one thing or the other, that made it so awesome. I had almost forgotten about this! Well, at least it was somewhere in a far away place in my mind. And I had loved it so much! How could I forget?

What a simple concert did for me

Being at this concert, I was naturally doing what I always do: record everything. In the form of pictures, video and, in my mind, the story. I take a lot of information from a concert like that, especially if I feel there is some kind of kindred feeling in regards to the story of the band, their music. I have said it before, but I will repeat it again: Twenty One Pilots is one of the two best live bands I have ever seen. And the last time I've said that about a band (then the one and only best), is more than 20 years ago when I discovered them.
Their music, but especially the lead singer's voice and the emotions he brings with every tune, have touched my very core, more than once. As I mentioned before: We had seen them before, a few years back in Brussels. The hall was a bit smaller then, with a capacity of 8,500 people, compared to the 11,000 this time.
That first time in Brussels had impressed me hugely. The energy that night was something else. It was the people in that hall that were expelling it, and you could see and feel that the band was sucking it all in, and playing accordingly.

This time...

there was a different kind of energy. From the people. It wasn't a bad thing, but it wasn't as pumped up like the first time either. I don't know if this was what the band (two men really) was responding to. But at one point, they seemed...tired.
It didn't matter, because their show went on and did everything but disappoint, but I felt it. I don't know if anyone else did, sometimes I am alone in these kinds of things...

The concert, in itself, whether they were tired or not, was absolutely amazing.
When we first got to the arena, there were a few hundred people in front of it. When we returned a little while later, this crowd had evolved into a 3000+ people line, running all the way around the building.
There was no way I was going to get in the line, all the way in the back.
My daughter and her boyfriend hesitated, even said they thought others might think it unfair if we'd just jump in.
I told them not to worry, we would bide our time and wait until the group started moving. We did just that, cut in just before the gate and were in the door with the first few hundred. And that, my dear daughter, is how we roll in the Shire!

We even managed to wait in line to get a few mandatory T-shirts, and we were still very damn close to the front once we walked through the doors. Still not close enough to my liking, we managed to worm ourselves pretty much all the way to the front, with about 2-3 rows between us and the security guards. That's IT! I'm not moving once I get to that stage. It's like my legs anchor themselves into the ground. An earthquake would have been needed to move my butt away from where we were.

Anyway, I never brought my camera, because I didn't want any hassle. I should have. Because there was no hassle. Shame, but it was fine. I recently became the proud owner of one of the top smartphones ever made, no...top camera phones. This girl is usually not a girl that has to have the most recent gadgets, but when this gadget came along, I just couldn't resist.
This concert was already on the books, and I thought it would be great to have at least something that remotely resembled a low-end camera. Better than nothing.
Well, the phone did so much more than what I expected it to do! I ended up filming more than taking photos. The main reason being that it was a breeze doing so without missing anything of the concert. It would have been so much different with my heavy camera there! I wouldn't have been able to hold that over my head and still get reasonable footage. OK, I'll release you from your suffering, and will tell you all about this camera phone.
I am not affiliated with the company in any way, but praise is due...and when it's due, it's due in my book.
It's the Huawei P20 Pro and it boasts not one, not two but three (3!) lens Leica and AI-powered camera. Those who know a little bit about photography will know that Leica is a force to reckon with. Now, I won't turn this into a camera review, but I do want to tell you a little bit about the amazing footage I still managed to get, with little light, moving objects and still quite a distance from everything, for a phone at least.

One very neat thing about this phone is, that it will make a video and then make a snapshot of that video, to give you a photo while filming! I hadn't figured this out until I started going through all the videos!
The photos above are such snapshots, unfiltered, unedited, without the use of extra lenses, exactly the way it was shot. Pretty damn amazing for a little phone isn't it?

So the lesson from this...

is that I realized the potential. If I can produce such a photo, when actually trying to make a video, without professional gear, and without even trying, what could be the possibilities with a 'real' camera at an event like this one?
I know, right?
So, when I came home, I did what I should have been doing a long time ago.
I applied for my international press-pass.
This can open doors that would remain shut otherwise. Why not use and take advantage of what I have?
I am planning to visit at least one festival this summer, so these things can definitely come in handy.
Even if it was only to get to the front, and take photos...
But, in a better case scenario, it could just speed up my travel plans a bit.
The rest of the photos and videos will be posted on the band account soon. I am just tweaking this a little.
I'm not one to blow my own horn, but compared to what I've seen in regards to videos of that night, mine are by far superior to the rest. What an awesome thing to say about a stupid little phone!

The photos in this post are my personal property and should not be used without permission