Rock the Web Semifinals

Two weeks after returning from the incredibly exciting Las Vegas training camp, Rock the Web held the semifinals of their singing competition in good ol’ Beijing.  Originally the semifinal competition was scheduled to take place in Las Vegas at the end of the training camp, but since three of the twelve contestants couldn’t get US visas, in the end the event was moved to a Beijing venue.  The venue was pretty awesome, but the most spectacular thing to me as the photographer was the lighting system being used.  There was another photographer shooting the event also, and I found it curious that he focused on shooting the lights as much as the performers.  I struck up a conversation with him afterward and found out he had been hired by the light manufacturing company to come take pictures of the event.  Evidently these were some new models of lights and they wanted some publicity photos to show them off.

The event came off without a hitch, and the contestants were all at at peak performance.  There were six judges for the event, three of them American musicians and a music producer that had worked with the contestants in Las Vegas, and three of them Chinese music moguls.  In addition to their votes, the contestants gained points from a live online voting system that was really well implemented.  At the end of each performance the large screen on either side of the stage would should the online votes adding up in real-time as the judges votes were given.  In the end, I found it a bit ironic that of the six finalists chosen to advance to the final competition, three of them were the ones who couldn’t get US visas and didn’t attend the Las Vegas training camp.  The other six semifinalists that weren’t selected for the final round had all gone to Vegas.  I was a bit sad to see them knocked out of competition, but also happy to see that the American judges that he built relationships with these young talents didn’t show them any favoritism.

Now that the finalists have been chosen, there is only one week until the finals, to be held at the same venue with the same awesome lighting setup.  Maybe my new photographer buddy will be back to shoot more promotional photos of the lights…?