The Bled – July 2010
The Bled returns to The Webster Underground, in the Buff Chick tour featuring Our Last Night, along with supporting bands I Am Abomination and pop-punkers Veara. Connecticut local hardcore band Wake Up and Wage War warmed the crowd up.
Warped Tour 2010
Covered my first Warped Tour on Sunday and it was brutal! I knew I wouldn’t be able to spend the entire 8 hours at the show, so I figured 6 was a nice round number to settle on. But showing up 2 hours late meant missing Motion City Soundtrack and Dillinger Escape Plan.
It was about a bazillion degrees out and packed to the gills with kids, parents, and twenty-somethings with clipboards preaching their social awareness du jour. (Don’t get me started on the fact that various PETA/animal rights groups roamed the grounds, meanwhile there were no real vegetarian meals at the venue. I know, it’s venue vs. independent organizations… STILL – this vegetarian would have liked a choice besides fries or popcorn, especially when I want to make a whole day of it).
Anyway, check out the Warped Tour photos on CTnow.com.
New work soon, I promise!
What can I say? It’s been a slow couple of months. That and I’ve been working on my redesign, something I’ve been wanting to do for a LONG time. I’m not sure how well it will pan out, and I’m hoping that the machine I’ve designated as my server will hold out long enough until I can afford a better server.
Till then, here’s a few shots I’ve taken recently, or just shots that I never got around to posting:
Fear Factory – Worcester Palladium
First time seeing Fear Factory and they were quite amazing to be honest. Cross and I met with Burton on the tour bus for the interview and he was a very personable, pleasant guy. It was probably one of my favorite interviews we’ve done so far.
As for the actual first 3 songs – strobes wreaked havoc as per usual and I struggled to get shots in-between flashes. I forget just how large the Palladium’s stage is and the monitors don’t block the view for photos so if you get just the right angle, the stage can look eerily empty.
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy at the Palladim: Nuts. For most of this set I was one or two people deep away from a circle pit making it an extremely hostile environment for my first flash photography experiment. I didn’t even TRY to get too close to the stage as the people 3 rows deep were crushed into the stage, and directly behind them was the massive circle pit. As a concert-goer I love watching moshpits; it’s like giving hommage to the band playing. As a photographer it can be disastrous.
Blackguard
This was not my first time seeing Blackguard. They’re always fun to see, and always play their hearts out no matter how big the venue or crowd is, which makes it fun to shoot them. I think this was the best shoot yet, since I got to use my new flash – Sigma EF 500.
Since the crowd was still filtering in, I had room enough to maneuver through the audience and really figure out how to use the flash, and I think I had some great successes.
Stay tuned to Musician Photo Journal for the interview with Paul Ablaze, as well as a review of the show.
B.OM.B. Fest – Good Times in Durham CT
So it’s over. Bomb Fest came and went and what an interesting day it was. It started off by trekking out to middle-of-nowhere, which is actually incredibly beautiful countryside Connecticut. Parked at Strickland Farm (propane jokes aside…), boarded school buses which shuttled us to and from the Durham Fairgrounds.
Since I convinced my man to join me, I had some company for this day of fun. We wandered through the fairgrounds, watched Of Montreal’s set (very interesting), ate some fried dough and people-watched.
The Bled – Webster Underground
I got into The Bled a couple of years ago when hardcore started to infiltrate my iPod and the entire discography of Glassjaw was no longer enough for me.
This was my first shoot at the Webster Underground, which is a tiny corner of the Webster Theater. The small stage, barely 3 feet high, allows for a very intimate setting with the bands who usually encourage the crowd to jump on stage with them, scream along the choruses in the mics, and generally be rowdy.
A day at David Apuzzo’s Studio
It’s always a pleasure working with David Apuzzo. On this Saturday, he had a band shoot scheduled, and since he knows that I’m interested in working with musicians, he invited me to assist.
A perk for me is getting to use some of his lighting equipment, including a flash transmitter which definitely helped this picture look amazing. At first glance before editing, I thought this was a throw-away image. But once I brightened it up, added some fill-light (in Lightroom) it started to look pretty amazing.
Check out David’s photos from this shoot
Check out the band Streamline
Also, check out my new logo/watermark that was a few years in the making. What do you guys think of it?
Taking Back Sunday 2009 – Comcast Theater CT
I’m digging into my archives again as I wait for the summer concerts to start rolling in! This photo was taken last summer, which was my second time seeing Taking Back Sunday and it was kind of cool that I was the only photographer for this particular set. They were opening for Blink182 and Weezer which was a spectacular show. Shooting at The Comcast Theater(known as The Meadows to any CT natives) is amazing simply because the lighting is a photographer’s dream. Most shows I shoot are small, indoor clubs that invariably have bad red, green, and blue lighting.
The shot above was taken with my 17-55mm (might have been when I was still renting lenses!) at ISO 800. I love that flickr records these properties, for research reasons. I can go back and look at my own photos to see my own settings.
Hoping to shoot more at Comcast this summer. My picks for summer shows are Green Day, Warped Tour and maybe the Kings of Leon.
