Todays Shoot - Maris The Great

If you dont know who Maris is... HE WILL KILL YOU! or I will explain a bit... I first started conversing with Maris as he worked with my friends in Bury Your Dead. What he does, is, he MURDERS bands. Basically think of the most gory, brutal, murder photos, and thats what he does. oh and p.s. hes a homosexual zombie. self-proclaimed "zombie fag".

I love zombies! so horror + music + photography = my thing! So we ended up working together in 2006 on ozzfest as he murdered Walls of Jericho and The Red Chord, but havent crossed paths again... until today!!!!

Originally the idea was, I was doing a shoot with him and was going to be killed, however, my death will have to wait until the next time our paths cross.. So I just ended up doing a really cool photo shoot with him.

Because this was mid tour, I wanted to do more simple lighting, so I wasnt lugging around tons of gear, with a zombie, in crowded public areas where we would be mobbed by Maris fans, or on lookers.

We started in the dressing room, which was seemingly unused by the band anyway, so I started with a boomed light, took one shot i liked, then switched to split lighting - two umbrellas on dynalite uni400 jackrabbits tuned in just a little bit.

Remember, if your subject is wearing a mask, or facepaint, you have to shine about 1 extra stop worth of light to really get it to expose correctly, as facepaint doesnt reflect light the same way skintone does, it mattes it out a bit.

I shot with the canon mark 2 1ds - using the 24-70 2.8 - i was shooting at a 160th - at F10 (normally id be at 14 here, but had to brighten it up for the attire and facepaint) or to ummm, catch the brutal decaying skin of the zombie!





















































































I then had an idea to shoot him naturally, coming through the door, I shot these at 2.8 to get a real strong depth of field, but with the lights primarily being back lighting - i had to jump to ISO 1k and shoot at a 30th





























After those shots we went outside, for all the outdoor shots I generally used a boomed beauty dish, which is perfect because it brings out his mohawk and face perfectly. There are some shots where I dragged the shutter a bit to get a bit of a blur and bring in the red street ligthing, making it look really creepy! for those i exposed for a full second, other than that i was at a 160th - F14

check it out










































































































I was sooo pumped to finally get to do a photo sesh with the mighty Maris The Great! - this has been YEARS in talks and in the works, and it finally happened!

I also did a video of him stalking the band I was on tour with - IWRESLEDABEARONCE - you should check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RbDiLf9zFo

Hoping my paths cross with Maris sooner rather than later.

BEST ZOMBIE EVER!

Todays Shoot - Murderdolls

So because I wasnt able to do this shoot the first day due to heat and lack of a place to shoot - we scheduled this shoot for the next day at mayhem fest. And because this was for the cover of a magazine - I wasnt able to share the images until it printed :)

So being that it was a really important shoot, even though it was hot, I had to make sure I get this band outside...

For the first shot, We did the loading docks which was very heavy traffic, and was the biggest nightmare of the entire shoot... I basically did this shot because I know itd be darker and indoors, prior to moving them into brighter, and outdoor locations.

This was shot with two umbrellas at 45 degree angles pointed toward the center - shot at F16 with the 24-70

















After shooting indoors I took them to a spot underneath an overhang - and used a boomed beauty dish - I figured this wasnt in sunlight - though warm - it wouldnt melt them - I shot these at F18


































After that set I did a few natural shots by a fence behind Korns tour bus at 2.8 at a 60th - and then ended up shooting against an adjacent wall while Jon Davis rolled by on a segway a few times. The shots against the brick wall are with two bare bulb rims and a straight foward beauty dish shot at F16































































For the set I wanted to get - I got them out into the open and shot them against the sky with a boomed dish and a single rim bare bulb behind them (this shot is what made the cover) - this was shot at F16 as well































































for the last few shots I went for some natural light shots in the same overhang area we shot earlier - Joey had to jet to get ready for Rob Zombies set - so i finished up with some solos of Wednesday 13
















































































All in all - it was a quick but VERY effective shoot - we got everything we needed and the final spread ended up AWESOME in the new issue of outburn!

Todays Shoot - Mayhem Fest - day 2 Ma

Today was the day of my big shoot... So I knew my priority was for that shoot, and that I would probably shoot less live stuff, which was absolutely true.

I only shot 3 second stage bands, and 3 main stage bands, due to the photo shoots I was doing in between. and setting up for. And again - I will do separate posts for all the shoots i had during the day - and havent decided if im going to post the big shoot now, or wait for it to print first... but anyway - onto the photos!

I was shooting at a more shallow depth for these - it was a bit darker than the CT date - so I was shooting at 4.0-2.8 at a 160th-250th ISO100 - canon 40D 16-35 2.8 - I tried to catch bands I didnt shoot at the CT show like Norma Jean, but ended up only shooting them - in this moment and shadows fall - which are actually three bands i did shoots with, so it made sense to catch them before doing my shoot.




















































































After shooting second stage I went and did my big shoot with the Murderdolls - which took up some of the second stage as well as FFDP and LOG on mainstage - which i missed in CT as well, bummersville! But I knew Avenged Sevenfold was playing this ONE date of Mayhem, and didnt want to miss that! especially since they were playing with Portnoy, who I shot earlier in the year with Hail! - so I ran to mainstage in time for A7X

A7X had ALOT of pyro, it ruled!!! but the front lighting was a bit weak, so it was somewhat difficult to blend the back lighting with the front lighting. I was shooting at 2.8 ISO800 (as it was getting dark out) and using the 16-35 2.8 lens - shooting at a 160th-500th (when the pyro was hitting)
































































































I went over and did a shoot with In This Moment, then waited for a possible shoot that did not happen - so I ran over the main stage to shoot zombie again, and the lighting was all red or green... again... SEE!
















































Korn had incredible lighting, lots of whites and spot lighting, and the stage was a bit lower at this venue so I got better shots, and from seeing the show before, I sort of knew where things were going to happen and when - and therefor got better shots - shooting 2.8 ISO800 at a 125th
















































Day 2 was pretty sweet because it wasnt as hot, and the shoots got done - but I really wish I got to do all shoots one day - and all my live stuff the other so I wouldnt miss anyone. I didnt get to shoot Hatebreed, Lamb of God, or FFDP, which kinda sucks, I wanted to catch them, but thats how this job goes some days...