Musicians practice before an appearance on stage at the Friday Night Jamboree in Floyd, Virginia. Photo taken in March 2007.

A reader who noted my list of equipment wanted to know why I didn’t list any flashes. I don’t use flash. Never. I’m a believer in natural light. I don’t like fill lighting or using supplemental lighting in a shot. I’d rather shoot with available light to try and preserve the visual that the eye sees.

Often, low light, shadow and backlighting provide a more dramatic lighting for a scene. The shot above uses two available and natural light sources: The light from the lamp on the table and the early evening light coming in the windows.