I had to do a shoot with my good friends (fam) in A Day To Remember - so I had to be there SUPER early - luckily - Mike Martin is the BEST! DUDE! EVER! and left an hour and a half early so I could do this shoot.
We met at the ludlow Mc'd and 90s numetal weekend day 2 - COMMENCE! - the entire ride we listened to Korn, Limp Bizkit, and other 90s metal/numetal.
At one point in the ride, we stopped for breakfast, and when we hit the road again his car was making the loudest, most insane death sound either of us have ever heard - it was like standing inside a church bell while it was being rung by a tank shell. So we were freaking out, I was calling some car places trying to figure it out, it would happen randomly, twice a minute - every five minutes - for about a half hour. After scrambling, checking the engine, the radio, we just gave up and decided to deal with it - HOPING! we would make it in safe...
Every few minutes "DIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG" so loud! - we were both nervous not sure what the problem was..
So after a while the GPS said "turn right" - and he was like "wait what? the sounds usually off!!" - so he shut the sound off, and we figured out it was the GPS making the DEATHBELL sound. - in hindsight its hillaarrrious.
SO! I started off the day by doing the shoot with A Day To Remember - and directly after they were actually the first band I shot live during the rockathon
The stage was the highest ive ever seen in my entire career, but the barricade area was massive as well so the photogs had a bit of leeway to get back from the stage - which was at least twice the height of me. so id say about 10-12 feet tall - MASSIVE!
I was at ISO400 using the 16-35 2.8 lens shooting at 5.6 at a 1000th at the time because it was a really bright day. - during the set the dudes dedicated "the danger in starting a fire" to me, which means alot... This is a band I got to watch grow from playing to 20 kids... now 20 THOUSAND... to say im proud of them would be a massive understatement. Ive said it a billion times by now, but their music is truly just as awesome as the dudes in the band.
Anyway - check it out! - PICTURES!
The next band I shot was All That Remains - and I gotta say its weird to watch an a day to remember crowd transform into an ATR crowd, but, hey, it worked!
After ATR, Mike and I went to go meet Fred Durst, which was kind of the weekend mission. After talking a bit - he was like "im bored, lets go fuck with people!" which rules!!!! We walked directly into the crowd of 20,000 fans, and at first no one recognized him, we talked about photo stuff, about all that remains, about bizkit, then eventually someone recognized him and it snowballed into a massive amount of people wanting to meet/get a photo with him... and unlike some artists who are 1/8th the size of Fred in terms of fame, Fred took every photo, signed every item, and was all around one of the coolest and most down to earth - REAL! dudes I've met in the music industry - especially for his stature. Its refreshing to know that someone like him is legit. - even when we (all that remains and I) were eating at catering - he walked by and said ALL THAT REMAAAIIINSSS!!! - very cool.
Anyway - the next band I shot was Avenged Sevenfold (three times in five days i think?) but unfortunately this time around... NO PYRO! - booooo. So I just got what I could at that awkward angle due to the high stage, I wasnt too stressed about it because I knew the shots I got the past few days where the golden ones, So I didnt take as many photos as the past two shows, but still got some solid shots - i was at 5.6 at a 500th
Directly after them flyleaf was on and the sun dropped so fast I was at a 180th - but catching alot of the red front lighting and movement - I wasnt really worried about it because they werent part of the spread - but i got a couple solid shots.
Next up! LIMP BIZKIT! - this time around their light up lettering was a bit hidden, and it was super super dark so i was at ISO1000 and i was at 3.5 at a 125th - the lighting was a bit weak - but when they had the spot light on i jumped to 500 and it wasnt too bad... but the angle didnt help anyones cause. - I wasnt too worried - again - the night before - the photos were SO epic - that this was just supplemental - but i still got some AWESOME shots of them this time around as well
After a few songs, Mike and I went to head back to western mass, and in turn... returning from 1996, back to 2010... so sad. music in the 90s was SO much better than the crap factory of cookie cutter riff scream sing mosh crap there is now - only few bands break that mold now.... anyway... what an amazing adventure it was.
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