Raul Midón opened up for Dianne Reeves last May 3rd, 2013 at the Koerner Hall in Toronto, Canada. I got in touch with his management if I can shoot at the event. I’ve been a fan of his music ever since I saw his performance when he opened up for Jason Mraz a few years back. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to capture some moments from his concert and grateful that they let me stay to hear his set. Raul is an amazing performer and highly recommend seeing him perform live if you can. One of my takeaways from his gig was when he was speaking to the audience about some people calling him a genius. He said that he’s not a genius, he just have more time than most people to practice his craft. I think he’s a very passionate person and he loves to play music, it doesn’t matter if anyone has all the time in the world to do something, if his heart is not into it, it’s not going to be as good as how Raul plays his music.

Also it’s the first time for me to shoot at Koerner Hall, the has great acoustics, after I shot there I understood why I was being asked if I can bring something to muffle the sounds from my camera, even the slightest sound from my camera shutter can be heard and be distracting to the audience. I was allowed to shoot for 2 songs, no flash and be positioned to a distance similar to the sound board. Would love to shoot there again, maybe someday.

Thanks to Raul’s management and to Barbora from the Royal Conservatory for the opportunity.