AND IT BEGINS! the last day!
So! when I first got there I had only a possible shoot with the LEGENDARY! Vic Firth! happening, and then a possible photo shoot with the (also legendary) definitive death metal band - Cannibal Corpse!
No big deal... AHHHH!
I started off by rolling up doing some candids of the early crowd - it was a nicer day then the day before, but a bit more chilly - not a cloud in the sky - so I was shooting a bit higher for a speed (1500-2000) when in direct sunlight - but in the shadows i was around 500ish
I immediately ran into John and Dave from XtyrantX - who I kinda forgot to get in touch with, because I forgot they were even on the show (DOH!) I set up a shoot with them - because it would be VERY uncustomary to NOT do a shoot with those dudes - who are some of my favorite people in straight edge hardcore. And obviously - Dave RULES for photo shoots - he is the only person with a two page spread in my book "bring the noise" So I did a quick shoot with them - natural light - these are all at 2.8 at a 320th at ISO100 - using the 24-70 - I really wanted to play with depth and focus (or depth of field for photo nerds) with the two singers - I thought it looked cool.
I went in and shot a slew of the earlier mainstage bands (I didnt miss one!) For these my settings were generally - 40D - 580 EX2 - with the lumaquest 80/20 pro-max system - I mostly used the 16-35 2.8 and the fisheye - but I popped on the 24-70 once or twice to get shots of the drummers - and again - didnt touch the 70-200 at all. - my settings were ISO400 - usually shooting around a 10th at F8.0 or so
I went around and got alot of stuff for monster on day 2.
I ran into my friends in Reign Supreme and decided to do a quick - why the hell not - photo shoot with the dudes
I wanted to run it quick between other stuff I was doing so I shot natural light - with the 24-70 at iso400 (light was fading) - f2.8 at a 400th
My ex-roomie Jessie Lee and Bella Vendetta (both stripper/porn stars) showed up and i figured id get some shots of them with the monster... but they wanted to take the plastic off first... and with stripper nails... the hilarity ensued. they could NOT get it open... sooo they decided to deep throat the can of monster... umm... yeah so i guess it is what it is... shot with the 24-70 - 2.8-4.5 between a 1000th and 3000th
I shot a couple more bands live then had a VERY tight window to do a single specific shot for vic firth - the shot was supposed to be all of the drummers who use vic firth... but due to the red chord playing at 6 and toxic holocaust playing at 615 - it wasnt going to happen in one shot - so we did the first group - for this i used two dynalite uni400s with cold tone umbrellas set at 50% - not exactly split - i gave it a bit of a tilt in and had them a little bit in front of the group - then shot at F22 at iso400 at a 200th (i didnt have time to play around - these are the settings i know like the back of my hand so i went safe for this) - For the second shot I asked Vic to do some solo shots - and he said ok - so i used more of a split on him then did some natural shots at 2.8 at a 2000th - and then finished up by shooting the second group with the same settings as the first group shot
It was such an honor and privilege to get to shoot Vic Firth! oh man... hes a legend and there is not a drummer on earth who doesnt know of his legendary drum sticks!
After the Vic Firth shot I went in and shot the next tier of bands which were the AMAZING Eluveite, who are always awesome to shoot, white chapel, and job for a cowboy
After Job for a cowboy it was about 9... my shoot with Cannibal Corpse was at 930 - and obviously there was no light - so I set up a beauty dish up high pointed straight down - then a barebulb w/reflector turned up high pointed toward the ground to give them a bit more depth and seperation.
I shot these at the same settings as the vic firth shoot - iso400 - f22 - 160th - going for a very standard cannibal corpse - serious death metal look
after the shoot - i ran in to shoot amon amoarth then shot cannibal corpse live... and then that was it... the end of metal fest... the most bitter sweet moment of every year
On the way to the car, I ran into Vince from Metal Blade and he was astounded to find out I did a shoot with Cannibal Corpse - as apparently they are very strict with who they work with, and generally will only shoot with one photographer (i forgot his name though) - so obviously thats a huge huge huge honor.
I dont want it to end... i want to keep on shooting, hanging out, seeing my friends and tour fam...
but i cant wait for it to be over because im so tired/shot from working super hard and shooting so much.
metalfest is always the most work i do every year and its always the most stressful and fun time of each year...
I cant wait for the next one!
there will be a ton of photos up on the metalfest page soon - so keep your eyes open for that
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