Todays Shoot - Jamey Jasta, Randy Blythe, and Brian Fair for Hatewear

Jasta and I are at the point where at any given point I could get hit up to shoot ANYTHING! which is awesome. I always welcome unexpected shoots/curveballs, and I always get the job done, and done well.

This time around he hit me up to get some shots for his clothing company HATEWEAR

He wanted to get a bunch of the key dudes over for a group shoot, but because everyone was everywhere - it ended up being Jasta, Randy, and Brian, which is perfect cause they are pretty much THE key frontmen for metal/hardcore on the tour.

My lights were set up across the venue so I shot natural light at 5.6 at ISO100 with the 24-70 which has become my portrait session - on location - lens - it used to be the 16-35 but i tend to use that for only live stuff now a days.

Anyway! we shot against a bus that had a dimebag wrap and alot of color - i didnt like the shadowing as the sun was direct left of the dudes - but i made it work - and it looks epic for the solo shots.











































































this was another shoot where I wish I could have brought in lights but they were set up across the venue for another shoot - so I really couldnt, plus everyone was in a rush - as they are at festivals. Either way, cant wait to see what I shoot next for Jasta.

Todays Shoot - Mayhem Fest - day 1 CT

Day one of Mayhem Fest was supposed to be the day of a very big photo shoot, as well as a secondary photo shoot - but just like warped tour - my day of trying to shoot mostly sessions - turned into my day of live work - and vice versa... sorta!

I had a very big shoot planned for Ct but it was SUPER hot out - so the band decided to push it to the MA date - which is fine - there are better spots in MA to shoot then at the CT venue

So I'm going to do this post as the live stuff then do separate posts for each shoot, as I did with Warped Tour

Anyway - So heres what I have for live stuff..

Due to coordinating my shoots - or non-shoots - I missed a few bands, but I started off with the two second stages - which has VERY different lighting - one had more of an overhang which blocked the sun a bit more - the other was open.

ok so - Here are the 2nd stage bands - I was going for more of a wider focus rather then selective - So I was shooting at 5.6-6.7 ISO400 - at a 160th and above. I shot with the 40D and the 16-35 2.8 lens which is absolutely the best lens to shoot concerts with.




































































































































I missed the first two main stage bands (ffdp and lamb of god) due to photo shoots, the only other bands playing were Rob Zombie and Korn. - keep in mind it was about 100 degrees and super humid out... both bands had pyro (fire) - Rob Zombie had NON STOP PYRO! ugh - so it was like shooting in a swimming pool of wet air.

OK! so for Zombie, he comes out of a giant robot and stands behind a giant mic stand that is a skeleton with 6 arms - the entire first song - so trying to get shots of him the first song - NOPE! - maybe very strong angled ones - but - not really. The rest of the set is riddled with extremely red and green lighting, no white light at all... SWWWEEEEEETTT. So basically the show looks awesome, with amazing pyro, great stage set up - tons of monitors, buts its completely lost in photos due to the strong colored lighting... heyyyy desaturation! but yeah. heres what i got - shooting ISO800 - 2.8 and a 350th
















































Korn however was a different story - their lighting was perfect - lots of white lighting - spot lights - couldnt have asked for anything better - and by far - they were the best sounding band of the entire tour - they blew me the fuuuuuck away with how good they were. Anyway - for the shots I was at 2.8 at a 125th - 100th which was tricky because i didnt want to jump about ISO800 - and I didnt wanna shoot too slow - but it was super dark, soooo whatever - shots look solid up close - didnt get any ghosting even at a 45th - my advice to everyone who shoots - practice stability - itll save your shots sometimes




































all in all the day was awesome - i really wish when i do two days of a fest, i could sort out all the live stuff one day - and session stuff the other so i dont miss anything, but i never have that luck. *Shrug* - welcome to festival photography - YOU WILL MISS SOMETHING!