Todays Shoot - Cheri Rose (NSFW)

So today I am doing another shoot with the incredible Cheri Rose, who I have shot a few times before and always get amazing images.

this time we were just doing a quick shoot as she got some new masks/fetish gear to shoot in, along with her brand new super numetal braids (yes, i teased her alot about these, and this is written specifically to further tease her of them ha).

Anyway, we started by shooting outside - it was raining but only VERY lightly, enough where we could get a few shots - but it was super dark, and almost 8pm so I was shooting at ISO800 at 2.8 with the 24-70.
































































































It got too dark quick, and started really raining, so we went into the studio and did some fetish style stuff. This was using two 3x4 soft boxes real close - about 4 feet apart - maybe 5? at half power - shooting at F14 with the 70-200 lens - this mask she was wearing was AWESOME! i dont know how to describe what it is exactly - but check it out












































































I thought this mask was pretty awesome and wanted to shoot it with darker lighting - so i boomed a small dish from above pointing straight down and posing her so the mask would be the focus and concentration of the lighting - these are again with the 70-200 at F20

























































Next up she had another mask, and a really cool strap outfit - we shot both with the original close up split lighting at F14 - the strap outfit was kind of weird to shoot because it was never exactly center and if it was it looked kind of off but here are the shots i like of it












































































It was awesome working with Cheri again - I think were going to be shooting again next month for some more corpse paint stuff - outdoor/on location - so keep your eyes open for that

Todays Shoot - Tony Laureano (sick drummer cover)

I got an email asking for me to get some live shots of Tony for Sick Drummer Magazine, which I quickly offered a shoot, which turned into being the magazines cover.

Tony was out with skeletonwitch, previously he had been with Dimmu Borgir, All That Remains, 1349, Nile and a slew of others, but thats where I had previously worked with or photographed him in the past.

SO! between shooting live and a hectic slew of photo shoots both before and after this one, I found a good time to shoot a few sets before having to run in for the next band while setting up for the next shoot. HECTIC DAY!

because it was on the verge of raining all day - it was pretty dismal, cold, windy, and basically crappy out. Theres so many vans, buses, cars, people - all walking around because its metalfest - so not only is there a limited area to shoot in, but its also difficult to cut out the background - so what I did was I went with strong directional lighting - I used a boomed dish boomed up as high as it could go - then used a bare parabolic pointed to the ground behind him then to enhance that even more, I shot at a 250th at F16 - ISO100 - using the 24-70. i was using the high speed to cut out light bleed, but still have the atmosphere bleed in just enough to create a solid image.

























































Next, to give it a different look and to do some vic Firth shots, I simply turned the dish from straight down - to more angled toward him then moved the bare parabolic camera right - brought it over our heads about 7 feet up - and pointed it downward and in so it would skim across his shoulder and give some glare lighting

here is the unedited shot with the light still in it (i cropped it for the final)













Next I found a big white box truck parked next to a bar with a similar colored white wall and I figured it would make a cool scene if shot wide angle - so I kept this one closer to the 24 range of the 24-70 - these are all 2.8 at a 250th - and are my favorite shots of the set - being a photographer you always want to look for cool environments to shoot in - and any other day - this one wont exist because that box truck wont be there.







































And here is the cover! - it was awesome getting to work with tony again, and shoot my first cover - hopefully more in the future - for this drum magazine.

Todays Shoot - A Life Once Lost

Funny story.... years ago when I first started in portrait work, at Hallmark, I was still shooting shows, and a band named "a life once lost" needed a place to crash.

SURE! - heres the deal - i let them crash at the place, as long as I could photograph them the next day for an assignment.

And thus began an awesome working relationship and friendship.

Since out first shoot - my first real band shoot (i believe) - we have shot probably 10 times since - as I have followed their career, they have followed mine. shooting at my moms house (my first studio) - at my studio in springfield - and maybe even my current studio in chicopee? - as well as many on location shots at the palladium or webster.

Anyway, when my good friends over at Adrenaline asked for a shoot for the ALOL guys - I was pumped! getting to work with my friends again, even though it was during a hectic metal festival.

One thing I will say before getting into the tech - is they have a new drummer - who does NOT like looking at the lens EVER! even when I say "look at the camera" hahaha - so about 50% of the shoot was trown out.

SO!

We started in the parking lot - I used a single rim light to their left - camera right - and a boomed dish pointed down but not straight down - id say if 90 degrees was straight down - it was around 80 or so... that way there would be a bit more light on their faces.

It was a dark day but I wanted the sky to go grey and dark so I shot at a faster speed - these shots are 160th - F16 - ISO100 - using the 24-70 on the Canon 1ds Mii
































I wanted to change the lighting just a bit - so i put the dish down to get very contrasty shots, and brought bob up to the light which was cool for a shot or two


























Next we went around to a white wall around the side of the palladium and shot some natural light stuff at F5.6 - not 2.8 this time because I wanted the background to be a bit more clear in the depth of field. When posing I try to make the most of it - make it more interesting, so youll see the singer is closer to the lens, while the other dudes are mirror each others poses, leading to a more successful shot


























After shooting that spot, I went to another spot that was a bit trickier to shoot. to the left was the sun - to the right - shadow - so I had to stagger their pose enough so the dude all the way on the right has lighting that isnt WAY darker than the dude on my left. The easiest way to do that was to pull them away from the sun the best I could into even lighting - and make sure no one was directly next to someone else. I shot these at F4.5 as it was getting a bit darker, but again I didnt want to completely blur out the background in the depth of field







































And another shoot down! I did 17 shoots during metalfest? something like that? oof. It was great to see my friends again, I cant wait for them to start touring again, it feels like its been years since I saw them regularly. The new jams by the way.. soooo awesome! get ready! ALOL is back!

Todays Shoot - Alana Potocnik (Winds of Plague)

Metalfest is always a hectic time to shoot - and anytime the Winds of Plague crew is around, I know were doing some sort of shoot, if its the whole band, Johnny Plague for a clothing line, Art for Vic Firth, or Alana for whatever.

Alana is working on a pop/dubstep type of thing and wanted some shots to go with it. Now, I would love to get her in studio to do a shoot, but obviously that cant happen amidst a metal festival - and shooting a female in a band wearing less then fully dressed clothing amongst a swarm of metal dudes - is also difficult - but alas - it was to be done!

Because I wanted to do a bit more with this shoot, than with some of the others today - I knew I would have to take breaks between shooting to run inside and shoot a band on stage.

Anyway, we started in the parking lot I boomed a dish to her right (camera left) and turned it in a bit toward her - at an angle so the lighting would be more directional than just from above - and I wanted to make these shots super dark with little saturation other than the clear dark blue sky (which was actually bright blue. but I shot at a higher speed to make it go darker) - the settings were F18 at a 200th - ISO100


























After these quick shots I had to run in to shoot the next band while my assistant and alana waited for me to get out to the next set.

The next spot we shot in I wanted to shoot in two very different ways. for one - lighting from above to get the darker, more contrasty, with more concentration on the face and shadows - this is shot at F18 at a 200th - now - these are in straight up broad daylight - by shooting at a high fstop and speed I was able to give it a nighttime feel - which is what i was going for - for the first set here












































































For the second set - I wanted to go with something bright - poppy - pretty much the opposite of what I had just shot. So pointed the dish directly at her and used the bare parabolic camera left - to her right - up about a foot above her head - pointed down to her creating a minor lens flare - these are shot at F14 at a 160th - and as you can see with just a minor change you can get a completely different look.







































Next I wanted to shoot some shots of her low to the ground - so i set up the boomed dish way low for a couple shots - these are shot at F18 - i liked what i was getting but I wanted something a little bit different


























SO! I boomed the dish so i could get it low and pointed it directly to her - but keeping the same settings - ran inside to shoot the next band - came back out and finished the shoot here. I went with a bunch of different crops - close up - far - off center - etc. as I was posing her we did some really cool shots of her contorted to look like she was wearing nothing but boots! eep!













































































It was awesome getting to shoot with Alana again - I wanna get her in the studio in the near future so we can do some really cool industrial - fashion looking stuff

hopefully sometime before the end of the year itll happen!