I interrupt the Iceland coverage to bring you my first concert shoot in almost two months… my first concert shoot in Minneapolis… my first concert shoot in a long time without the backing of a publication… which was metal cello group Apocalyptica and Japanese black metallers Dir En Grey at First Avenue. This is sort of like Minneapolis’ version of the 9:30 Club; it’s the biggest club-sized venue in town, as far as I can tell, and this bill didn’t come anywhere close to filling it up, but a respectable and enthusiastic crowd showed up and the bands put on a good show.

Having seen other photogs’ shots of Apocalyptica, I knew I was in for a treat, and they didn’t disappoint. A bunch of metal dudes headbanging over their cellos isn’t something you see every day, and while the lighting left a bit to be desired (I could have used some white light somewhere along the way, but it wasn’t to be), the drama was pretty much there on a platter. Metal bands in general tend to offer loads of opportunities for fun shots, but these guys brought up a notch.

Dir En Grey are a band I’ve heard a lot about (mostly since they signed to The End Records) but have never bothered to check out. This show will change that, as I came away awfully impressed by them: great stage presence, some seriously catchy riffs, and a pretty astounding vocalist. Of course, being an opening band in a metal show, their lighting was mostly abysmal for photography, but what else is new?

That said, later in the set when I was shooting from afar, I was able to catch some neat rimlight effects on vocalist Kyo:

The instant I walked into First Avenue - my first time in any music venue in the Twin Cities, having moved here just about a week and a half ago - I knew I was going to miss the 9:30 Club. Not that First Avenue isn’t a nice venue - my impressions were quite positive - but the 9:30 Club has an amazingly low stage for a venue its size, and I kind of took that for granted. First Avenue’s stage is probably about five feet high, which presented me with all the usual problems a high stage always comes with. I look forward to exploring the smaller venues in the area, although I suspect I’ll be at First Avenue quite a bit.

More photos from a show, including a few fan shots, are here at Flickr.

Music Festival #3 in my non-chronological recap series was Bamboozle Roadshow at Merriweather Post Pavilion. I was interested in precisely zero of the bands here, but I thought it would be a fun event to shoot, again because of both the bands and the fans. This fest caters to the high school crowd, with a slew of pop-punk and powerpop bands, maybe like a slightly less grungy Warped Tour. Two stages; at the main stage we got two songs in the pit per band, at the secondary stage we got the usual three. As the day wore on the pit became insanely packed, mostly with photographers in their teens, likely shooting for blogs and personal websites.

Some photographers take issue with this - particularly at something like Warped Tour where you have a bunch of kids with point-and-shoots in the photo pit - but while I find it annoying not to be able to move around in the pit, I also appreciate that these sorts of festivals are really giving a leg up to young photographers looking to get into music photography. My version of living this dream went down a different path - shooting underground bands at tiny, dark clubs with no pit and no photo policy - but I’m excited for these new photogs who are getting to shoot bands they love in a photo pit in front of thousands of fans. Pretty cool.

Of the bands, my favorites to shoot were Cartel (pictured in the headline shot) and Forever the Sickest Kids. By the time the last few bands rolled around, I’d gotten a bit tired of the crowded pit and of shooting bands I had no real interest in, so I started spending most of my time in the pit turned away from the stage and taking photos of fans at the barricade. Good times.

Here’s The Downtown Fiction closing their set at the second stage:

The aforementioned Forever the Sickest Kids, for whom the 14-24/2.8 was a perfect tool:

Boys Like Girls (you can tell what kind of bands these are just from their names):

The classic crowdsurfing shot… this is some ISO 6400 magic here:

While the kids rocked out, here’s what many of their parents did…

A quiet moment:

And finally, one more not-so-quiet fan moment.

As always, tons more photos like these are over at Flickr.

Maryland Deathfest was one of several large festival-style music events I’ve photographed in the last month and a half or so. I’m late on posting about the others but I’m going to go ahead and do it, as I’m very happy with some of the shots I got from these. Shooting at festivals is always fun not just because of the variety of bands, but also because I really enjoy taking pictures of festival-goers, who (especially at something like MDF) often make for really, really interesting people-watching.

In late April I took a gazillion photos at the Earth Day Climate Rally that took place on DC’s National Mall. This full-day event was a weird cross between a political rally and a music festival, with a massive array of speakers interspersed between brief sets of music (3-5 songs per artist). Of the speakers, I particularly enjoyed Jesse Jackson Sr. and Rep. Ed Markey, and was bummed to have gotten there too late to hear what new AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka had to say.

There was a rudimentary media tent set up - just a couple tables and chairs, no food or drink or anything like that - where various VIPs came and did interviews and photo ops. I found these photo ops bizarre and awkward. Though I’ve never shot a red carpet event, I suppose this was similar - random VIP arrives, poses for dozens of photographers in front of a cheesy pre-fab background, continues on his/her merry way. So strange. I actually preferred to wait and take photos while the VIPs were doing their interviews instead of awkwardly posing. Here’s TV personality Maria Menounos:

Taking photos of people speaking at podiums is not a recipe for stunning art. That said, here’s my favorite such photo of the day, of the aforementioned Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.):

Oh, and there was music to be photographed, of course! This actually turned out to be a bit of a challenge. There was a nice, ample photo pit, but we were only allowed in there for two songs per performance. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, except the way the performances were structured, new performers would come out with every song. So for instance, three songs into a set, someone like Bob Weir or Joss Stone would wander onto the stage and play a song or two. So for probably about half of the big names on the performance roster, the photogs never actually got a proper chance to shoot.

The presence of a large media platform set back maybe 100 feet from the stage and raised up high was a mitigating factor. With a 300mm lens on a crop body I got some OK shots of performers I wasn’t able to shoot from the pit. But I realized that I had a better chance to get good stuff outside the pit by simply shooting from ground level in the crowd with the 300mm. A clumsy proposition at best, but the Joss Stone photo below (for example) was taken that way, and I’m perfectly happy with that shot.

So anyway, here are some pictures. First up, salsa legend Willie Colón:

Indie-rockers Passion Pit:

The Roots (who played their own set in the middle of the day and then performed as the backing band for every single performer after them):

Joss Stone:

Robert Randolph; this is another shoot-from-the-crowd shot:

And finally, Mr. Headliner Man, Sting:

I also spent some time sniping away at rally attendees using a long lens. There were a bunch of people with N’avi facepaint, and there was this strong Avatar vibe running through the whole event, thanks to the presence of the film’s director, James Cameron. I have to say, I find this Avatar fanboyism pretty inexplicable. I finally saw the film a few weeks ago and thought it was terrible. But I digress!

And finally, a view of part of the crowd, looking back from the media platform. There were a lot of people there.

Check out my full photoset here!

Last year, Maryland Deathfest VII was one of the greatest live music photography experiences I’ve ever had, what with the insanely awesome lineup, all-access, and a multitude of fascinating people to shoot between bands. Needless to say, I was excited to return for this year’s version of the biggest extreme metal festival in the United States; unfortunately, I was only able to make Friday of the three-day affair. Friday is basically a warm-up day, with fewer bands and a less immersive vibe. I took far fewer photos this year as a result - not only were there fewer bands, but for some reason I only had pit access for two songs per band (though I could still shoot for the full set, from outside the pit including backstage and onstage). I also spent most of my time between bands socializing, whereas last year I spent basically every single minute shooting something.

Still, I came away with some decent stuff. The last band to go on, D.R.I., were particularly great to shoot, especially since they were the only band to actually play with the house lights on. Every other band that played inside, I shot at ISO 6400 and the only lighting was deep blue and red (worst case, red only and I either used flash or accepted the redness as part of the ambience); D.R.I. used beautiful white light and I shot at ISO 1600 with generous shutter speeds.

Here are just a couple highlights (in order, D.R.I., Birds of Prey and Coffins); check out the full Flickr set for much more.

I’m particularly fond of that last shot, which is of the moshpit during Gorguts‘ fantastic set; check it out large. And again, there are 70+ more photos at the full photoset. For my 400+ photos from last year’s MDF, I’ve got two galleries up: Saturday and Sunday.

I first heard Holly Miranda opening for Tegan and Sara back in February. I enjoyed her opening set as much as, or more than, the headliners, and bought her album when it came out a few days later. I liked it enough to go back for more when Holly and her band returned to DC, this time in the much more intimate confines of the Black Cat backstage.

I did a quick portrait shoot with Holly before the show; luckily, I had the chance to take a lot of time scouting a good location and setting up a lighting treatment while the band was soundchecking. I came up with a three-light setup using a bunch of folding tables sitting in a freight elevator as my background. In this first shot, I’m nuking the ambient light with an SB-800 through a 1/4″ grid spot at camera right aimed at Holly’s face; this is more or less the main light. For fill I used an SB-600 with a shoot-through umbrella and a 1/2 CTB gel at high camera left; finally, lighting the background is an SB-600 through a blue gel (primary blue, not CTB), flagged to prevent flare into the camera lens.

Holly said, “I like creepy,” and so I also did this:

Here, I exposed to bring the ambient way up, though I still intentionally underexposed by over 2 stops and then brought it up further in post to give it a particularly gritty feel. The only strobe that’s really in play is the SB-800, which provides a bit of clean light on her face and upper body. There’s a bit of light from the background SB-600 as well to keep everything from becoming a total orange wash.

And, bonus! Holly tweeted a photo of me taking this shot. The lesson to learn from this (other than, to take interesting photos, get on the floor!): notice the roll of black gaffer’s tape on the stool next to me. This is maybe the key piece of gear at every shoot, aside from the camera and the lights. Never leave home without it!

I also shot the show, of course, and while the Black Cat’s lighting doesn’t compare to the Warner Theatre’s (I got some seriously gorgeous photos from that show), I still got some decent stuff and the performance was fantastic. I wrote a few words about it over at the City Paper.

Somehow, I’ve managed to live in Washington, DC for 7+ years and have never seen a Chuck Brown show. I finally remedied that situation last Saturday after being assigned to shoot him and R&B legend Charlie Wilson for the Washington Post. This was a big show at DAR Constitution Hall, where shooting conditions are either very good or terrible. DAR is a seated venue with no photo pit; some promoters allow photogs to shoot down front from the aisles, while others force us all the way up in the wings, shooting from a distance and way off to the side. Luckily, the former was true at this show. I was right in the thick of things, and thankfully since the audience was moving like no other DAR audience I’ve ever seen. All thanks to a 73-year-old man onstage!

There were some challenges (Chuck Brown’s stage setup was massively cluttered, and Charlie Wilson left his mic stand right smack in the middle of the stage even though he didn’t use it all that much), but the lighting was beautiful and the action onstage was nonstop. Wilson had four dancers with him, and I kept trying to get wide shots of him with the dancers surrounding him, only to be foiled by that damn mic stand. In retrospect I should have taken one song to move out of the center aisle and get a different angle - I just had that wide shot in my head and kept going for it til I got it, even though I took me most of three songs to do so. Actually, I got the shot I wanted somewhat early on, but with Wilson’s guitarist and not Wilson himself:

Eventually though, I did get the man himself framed the way I wanted. I still wish he hadn’t used that mic stand so much, but in retrospect, a 60-year-old man moving around as much as he was is pretty damn amazing.

Here’s the full set, with lots of good stuff.

Last week I was sent by the Washington City Paper to cover the opening night of the brand-new U Street Music Hall. However, the owners of the club are not allowing any photography during their events, which made my task a bit more challenging. Instead of shooting the actual opening night, I showed up before doors to do a quick portrait of the owners, local DJs Will Eastman and Jesse Tittsworth. I had an idea of using a gridded light on them in the middle of the dance floor, with a logo or light show in the background.

When I got there it was clear that this was going to work nicely: there was indeed a lit logo I could use as a background; even better, there was a large stepladder sitting in the middle of the floor that I could use to get a nice high angle on the two DJs and the shadows that they would cast from my light. I didn’t actually grid it, just zoomed it a bit; and after a bit of deliberation I also added two SB-600s to the exposure. Even before it opened, U Street Music Hall was becoming known for an incredible sound system, and I highlighted this a bit by using my SB-600s to paint a little light on the two speakers at the base of the stage. In the above shot they’re not fully visible, but a horizontal version of the photo ran in the City Paper, and without that additional light the sides of the photos would have gone totally dark and boring.

Joanna Newsom at Sixth & I Synagogue was one of the more challenging concert shoots I’ve done for a while. For once this wasn’t because of the lightning, which was plentiful and gorgeous: bright white on Newsom and deep colors on the background. The problems were twofold: first, I got two songs, or about 10 minutes, but about 80% of that time was very quiet, mostly just Newsom singing and playing harp. My D700 has a very loud shutter sound; the synagogue has very good acoustics. Result: I shot very few frames, and most of them concentrated around swells in the music or the moments after each song ended when the audience was applauding.

Second problem was even worse: between Newsom’s harp, which she always kept to the right of her face, and her mic, which was boomed out directly in front of her from a stand to her left, it was almost impossible to get a clean shooting angle of her face. (See wide shot above for reference.) The only satisfactory angle I found was to crouch down low and cram my long lens against a hole in the lattice/fence thing lining the stage. From here I managed to get the boomed mic above Newsom’s face and get a good shot of her face, hands and harp. I had actually been discouraged from getting too close to the stage to avoid distracting the audience, but I literally could find no other way to get the shot I needed (and my friends in the front row said I was totally unobtrusive, so mission accomplished I guess).

Anyway, this was the only good angle I found, so all my best photos look pretty much the same - luckily, when I shoot for the Post, I’m usually more focused on finding one really great shot instead of going for a wider variety of decent ones.

More of these are on Flickr and at the Washington Post’s Click Track blog. The headline shot above also ran in the March 24 print edition of the Post.

On the way to Orion Sound Studios to shoot avant-rock trio Zevious, I put together my vision for a portrait of them before the show. Orion is seemingly in the midst of industrial Baltimore, and there are tons of great grungy backgrounds to be found, but I opted for a simple loading dock doorway. I wanted to light the trio from underneath, but use a couple fill lights to avoid the really harsh, demonic shadows that usually result from that kind of uplighting. The above is what I came up with. In retrospect, my fill lights were turned way too low, but I’m still happy with the shot.

The lighting scheme was a White Lightning X1600 at half power popped off from (obviously) below the camera and on-axis, plus two speedlights in umbrellas at camera left and right. Those speedlights were set to 1/16th power, and despite being literally just outside the frame are contributing very little to the frame. That makes the shadows on the door nice and hard, but it also means that the shadows on the faces are a bit harsher than I wanted. Still, I think it works - not a look I would want to try for, you know, a singer-songwriter or an indie-pop band, but for these guys (or for any metal band really) it seems appropriate.

I also shot the show, but Orion’s light is dim, static and red, so they’re nothing special. I converted to black & white because of the monochrome reds. Here’s the set.

I first saw and heard folk trio Red Molly when they opened up at the Carolina Chocolate Drops show I was covering for the Post. I’d never heard either group before and was suitably impressed by both, so when I heard that Red Molly were playing in the area again at a great venue (for attending concerts, not for photographing them), it wasn’t a hard choice to go. As is my wont, I contacted the band beforehand and set up a quick portrait shoot with them before their set.

The venue, Jammin’ Java, has a very colorful if rather cramped dressing room that we used for the shoot. I probably could have just stuck these three musicians on a couch in front of those brilliant red walls and gotten a perfectly usable shot, but I was hoping for something a bit different (three women on a dressing room couch: already done). So I had them stand in one of the doorways, lit them with an umbrella’d SB-800, and lit the background room just a bit with an SB-600 pointed straight at the ceiling. The key light is soft if a bit uneven, and I like that the background light creates some crazy shadows back there. It’s a bit of a chaotic shot, but I actually like all the clutter in this case.

And then I shot the show itself. Jammin’ Java has absurdly dim lighting. There’s a bank of nice incandescent frontlights that, for this show, were pointed directly in front of the performers and not actually on them. So the light was feathered off of them in such a way that their legs were way brighter than their faces. Not ideal. In the background there was a bank of those awful LED cans that look nice in person but translate horribly to film because they just create incredibly deep colors that blow out channels like nothing else. Thankfully, the band was set up far enough in front of the LEDs that they weren’t too much of a factor.

I shot the show using a custom white balance at 2300 Kelvins (with incandescent light that dim, this was necessary to keep skin tones looking reasonably natural), and at ISO 6400 the whole time, mostly using my 80-200/2.8 zoom at shutter speeds of 1/50 or even below. This is a non-stabilized lens, so I braced myself and shot several frames at a time to ensure I got some decently sharp photos. Considering these conditions - not to mention the fact that the three mic stands were constantly in the way - I’m very happy with how these shots turned out.

Here’s the full set.