Todays Shoot - Motionless In White

First off - PLEASE DO NOT TAKE AND MASS REPOST THESE IMAGES! This blog is for me to share what I do, and many photos that would normally never see the light of day, so when people take all the images and post 30 pics, one at a time, it ruins the purpose and makes it much more difficult for me to share these images with you - If you absolutely need to repost a photo or two (please no more than that). do it but please link back to this or to me (the photographer). and the band! :) Much appreciated. <3

My buddy Chris and I are always talking about doing a big shoot, something that will be iconic, and solidify an image for the band. Last time we did a band shoot, the label HATED it but we loved it. which happens... well, almost never but whatever. it is what it is. Basically Chris has a specific vision for his band, that I share and wanted to magnify. After the first shoot was shot down - and then they did a shoot with another photographer that the band disliked, and didnt feel represented them properly but the label liked... it was time to do something to appease both the band and the label (and myself!).

So after speaking at length about doing a big shoot and what we could do, the label lined up a shoot and gave some very specific details on it, which wasnt outside of the range of what I wanted to do to begin with - so it worked out perfectly The idea was to expand on the creatures video look. but to give them a very specific feel. My idea was to give them a more fashioned high-end type of feel like studio industrial style stuff (manson, NIN, etc) Simple, brightly lit with minimal shadows, so the darker part of the image isnt the lighting, its the band! wardrobe to be uniform, heavy make up, and just all around high end look to everything. Then aside from the studio shots - take them on location and get some solid outdoor shots as well.

The band drove up from Scranton, Pa (however they neglected to bring Dwight Schrute or Michael Scott!) the night before the shoot. I figured that would be easier on everyone, so they could just crash here, wake up a bit later, shower and prep as needed, rather than do a long drive then shoot a long day etc.

So after a night of mortal kombat, magic, and hanging out, we got up, and headed over to the studio. I knew they had a bit of prep time, at least an hour, so I did some behind the scenes video of them getting ready (and later of the shoot).

Once they were all ready, I tried a few different types of lighting set ups - my goal was to have all hard lighting - front and rims, but what I ended up doing was putting two umbrellas in the rims to soften them a bit - shot those at 100% power - used a boomed beauty dish pointed toward them at 50% power - and had two 3x4 softboxes pointed down for side lighting their legs (so it wouldnt go dark with the rest of the lighting being from face level) - at 75% power - all profoto compact 300 lights. Check out the set up shot.












I did a bunch of shots with this set up at F10 at a 160th iso 100 on the 1ds mii with the 24-70 lens, heres a few.






























After shooting a few like that, I took out the umbrellas and shot harsh light but did something really smart i havent done before.. I was getting alot of flare and bleed from the parabolic rims so I set up my softboxes to gobo the rims! (blocking the flare/lights from my lens but keeping the lighting on the band) - GENIUS! why have i not done this before?! check the test shot!












so I was shooting with two parabolic rims and the beauty dish remained the same. - I did a chunk of shots like this including solos - these are at F13 still at a 160th iso 100.














































































































































































































































































Next we went into the basement - I brought a dynalite kit of two parabolics and a beauty dish on a boom. Theres one spot in the basement where its a white wall with black stuff all over it - it sort of looks like someone spit black blood on the wall - its perfect! - so what I did was I set up a single boomed beauty dish pointed straight down for strong directional lighting... it was time to get DARK! I shot these at F14 at ISO100 at a 160th - still using the 24-70 lens - for these shots I really wanted to bring out those arm bands and line them up - You will see one of these images at the merch table as they tour. The cool thing about this lighting is it make the armbands pop because they are white and screen printed so the white reflects enough light to really make them come out in a dark shot.












Next we went outside - we did some natural light shots against a concrete wall, but I decide to cut that and move to a better spot - which I found just adjacent to that wall - an area that looked similar to the performance footage of the creatures video (well, the window and building) - So I put down to parabolics at 50% to their right and left a bit above them and aimed to their shoulders so it would hit the side of their faces a bit, then used the beauty dish main in front of them. These are at F10 at a 160th ISO100




































Next I took them to a spot with a decent amount of sky - I was going to do a wider, open shot with split lighting via parabolic and a raised but front facing beauty dish - now - some of these photos were cool but I just didnt like the overall feel of the wall cutting into them so I went tighter for sky shots and honestly I just thought they were the weakest of what we had done so far, so heres one of them and a set up shot just for kicks - but being the weakest of the bunch - I doubt these photos would (or should) be used for anything. These are at F13 at a 160th.






























We went back into the studio and it was time for me to do something I had not done in almost 3 years... shoot on black velour. I set one for floor and a second for background - and then set up the lights with the same settings as the last shots on white (two rims, blocked out with softbox gobos, and a beauty dish main). At first we had some fun - and did a shot that would later be photo shopped to chris holding the band.






























Then we did some regular shots first normal - then with a smoke machine that I had asked them to bring, which I thought would enhance the images a ton - aaand it did. These are shot at F11 at a 160th
























we also got a sweet shot of them sporting some monster energy drinks!












Lastly there was an idea for a movie poster. Shooting Chris in the same way as the beginning of the Creatures video, and making it into some sort of movie poster, which I believe is being printed. SO! I started with him in his regular make up and shot in three different ways with two variations and two make up variations: triangular lighting with two rims and a main dish facng front - split lighting with two 3x4 softboxes - and lighting from above using a dish pointed straight down... then we varied smoke - no smoke - and shot first with regular make up then his video make up... now ill leave this up to you - can you guess which shot is which lighting?






















































































































































It was awesome getting to do a big shoot with these guys - im hoping to do another one when the next photo cycle is ready to go. I think this is one of my favorite shots I have done to date - and am really pumped with what we got. I will get Chris out here sometime soon - probably next month after the all star tour to do a day shoot for a really cool project we will be announcing soon...

Keep your eyes open for a behind the scenes video I will post when I have time to edit it down.

Todays Shoot - Chris Motionless of Motionless In White

I first noticed MIW because they were wearing my good friend Mick's clothing line "Dethless" aaand their name was close to "Motionless and white" an Eighteen Visions song. Of course being that 18V are good friends, and pretty much my favorite band to work with (RIP), I was interested in working with these guys when they came around.

So the first time they were around this area that we worked together was orchestrated by the mighty Matt Pike. I felt this band should be shot with more of a dark feel, something that really brings out the atmosphere of their look... rather than taking a band that looks really dark, and putting them in random colorful or even bright locations... thats just silly to me. When shooting a band, you always want the environment to not only match the band, but enhance their look, as they enhance the environment around them.

So we did an awesome, very dark shoot... the band loved it, they wanted to use it, the label hated it, and went with brighter, lighter toned images. blah blah - no big deal - happens on rare occasions.. ANYWAY! I remained in contact with Chris, and when I saw they were on the tour I was going to shoot for two days I figured I would do a quick shoot with Chris for the hell of it, and he was down, so why not!? :)

So it was a bit cold out, and due to accidentally leaving my lights at the last show (and thankfully having them brought to the next show via Escape The Fate.. THANKS AGAIN GUYS!) I wanted to shoot this with natural light or simple lighting - maybe a flash.

We went outside and I started shooting him against a fence just outside the Palladium. I was shooting with the Canon 1ds Mark 2 - and the 24-70 2.8 L lens - I was shooting at 2.8 at a 125th - I was at ISO200 as it was a bit dark and overcast out. I was shooting 2.8 so the focus would be extremely selective, you can barely even see the vertical lines of the fence behind him.




































After a couple shots we went across the street against a large metal gate, of which, the other side of that metal gate you can see in my Danny Trejo (Machete) photos. Large reflective areas are GREAT for natural light shots because they are basically giant reflective back lights, depending on the surface, it can reflect alot or a little bit of light, so what I will do is move my subject far enough or close enough to the background so it at least fills in whatever I need it to. These were shot at a 250th at ISO200 F2.8
















































It was windy and cold so we decided to roll inside. I didnt have my light kit as it was somewhere amongst the Escape The Fate gear, as they had graciously brought it from the prior days show, as it was left behind by accident (DOH!) - so we went to the dressing room, and I figured id just pop on a flash... why not? spot lit with diffused lighting could be ok for horizontal images at least, though i strongly prefer using actual lighting, and if I could have I would have.

SO! - I found a spot that a very small sliding metal door, which, back in the day was used for bands to see the stage, i had him sit there, perching, and set up the shot... the wider shots werent that great, but the close ups looked solid, so I stayed with a pretty close crop when I could. These are all ISO100 - F10 - at a 125th. using a speedlite with a lumiquest 80/20 with frost diffusion. The cool thing about the 80/20 is it bounces 80% of the light up for a solid soft fill while 20% hits the subject, and diffused for a nice, even, soft light - which i use for all of my concert shots.
















































All in all it was great to do a quick shoot for "why not". but I really wanna get Chris out here for a FULL all out shoot! - so start telling him to make plans! haha. its just a matter of us both being around at the same time. but im going to try to make it happen. Hes beyond an excellent dude, and its always an honor to photograph someone who has looked up to your photographs in the past... ...actually I'm pretty sure he may be the first on that one... haha.

Todays Shoot - Motionless In White

I got a call from my good friend, Hall of famer - Matt Pike.

He wanted me to do a shoot with a band called Motionless in White, who I had heard of due to them being named after the Eighteen Visions song "Motionless AND White". as well as the fact that they are friends with MickDeth of 18V.

Anyway, I knew this band was a darker band, and wanted to give them that type of look.

I rolled into the studio, and found my white paper background was gone - wasnt even there - someone ripped it down and threw it away (FUCK!) - so I had a friend of mine run out to get one while I shot the band on location.

Luckily - the mighty Jeanne Sagan from All That Remains was there to help me with lights/video stuff (as i do behind the scenes footage of my shoots now)

I really wanted to get all i could out of this shoot, so i brought my 16-35 - my 24-70 - and three lights (2 dynalite uni400s with umbrellas, and 1 with a beauty dish on a boom)

we started by shooting in the elevator using just the boom - this was the same spot i shot the shadows fall promo which can still be seen as the header of their myspace - http://www.myspace.com/shadowsfall

I wanted to give it a different look - so with the boom and a tighter crop (using the 24-70) I jumped to F14 - iso100 - at a 10th (to try to get some of the cold light soaking in) - and this is what we got - sidenote: while we were shooting the elevator was called up to the top floor - some dude jumped on - was REALLY confused as to what was going on - jumped off - and i just kept shooting the entire time haha


























After shooting there, we moved just outside the elevator, and like the shoot with sarah wolf - I wanted to get mostly ceiling and cut out the background a buck - so i shot at a very upward angle with two umbrellas at a 35 degree angle toward them - they were at the same power but for some stupid reason the light on my left (their right) was a bit brighter then the one on my right - and in camera i didnt notice it until i loaded the images - and with out mentioning it - hopefully you wouldnt have noticed either... ISO100 - F10 - at a 20th (locking in more ambient lighting with out getting a blur) - 16-35 lens.
































We finished up there, and I went to see what outside looked like - and it looked like 40+ mile per hour winds!! soooo umbrellas were out! - I just used the boom up as high as possible - and I had little jeanne holding onto the boom so it wouldnt go flying with the wind gusts. - about 3 shots in - it started SNOWING!!!! WHAAAAAT?!? - yes! - SNOWING! - and the wind was killing their hair - so I shot quickly - then we hit another spot - however - these are by FAR my favorite shots of the day. - totally worth it. - for this i shot at a 160th at F14 - while the sky was actually a stop or two below that - I just wanted the sky to go a bit darker - and give them a more creepy feel. - these were all shot with the 24-70mm







































We went against a wall just behind where we were shooting hoping that it would block the DEATH WINDS and SNOW! but it didnt help much so we just did a quick set here - with the same settings - however in ALOT of the shots - the singer is a bit brighter due to being taller - being up front - and having a partially shaved head - so i had to even that out just a tad in post.



















































We ran back inside and i looked at the photos and realized in the earlier outdoor set one of the dudes had their hood up and went dark - so i was like - ok guys - we gotta go back out and get some more shots... and we did - but they werent as good as the original ones - so i scrapped it - the wind was harder - hair was more messy - meh - whatever - i torture bands for shots sometimes - its worth it!

I also did some natural light shots in the hallway - and outdoors when it stopped snowing - but i just wasnt into them - so - you dont get to see them - sorry... I think with natural light shots i really like super clean full backgrounds, and if i cant get that I probably wont be into it.

We then rolled to the open part of the basement - and I shot an area with a bunch of pipes - first with split lighting which was OK - then with just the boom and i liked those much better - this one is at F14 - at a 30th - and again the 24-70 lens


























The last spot we hit in the basement was an area with grey brick - I shot it with split lighting to get alot of shadows and just - I wasnt into it - the dudes love it - but I couldnt back it - so i popped up the beauty dish up front pointed directly at them (rather then down above them) - and used it as a fill while the umbrellas on the size gave them an awesome circular halo of light around and behind them - my settings for this are - F11 at a 30th
































After that we rolled to the studio - got some cheesesteaks/food - and waited for the white background to show up - and as soon as it rolled in - we started shooting RIGHT AWAY as they were already late for load-in (yep, im a dick! i make bands late sometimes!)

We started with just a beauty dish above (this time profoto compact300s) F10 at a 160th - and i believe I was using the 24-70 the entire time.
































I then did some solos of chris - and jumped the fstop to 14 - as again - hes taller - and reflects more light then the rest of the band - due to his height - his hair - and his awesomeness (obviously)






































I finished up by shooting them for my tattoo book - but looking at the images I forgot to push my lights back to 50% and so the shots of chris are a bit over-exposed - so HOPEFULLY I can get those dudes back in the studio again in the near future to re-shoot them for it. The shots of the Angelo are fine but for some reason Chris is just a giant light reflector *shrug* these are F16 at a 160th - but the exposures are SO different - as you can see...






































These dudes are awesome - and hopefully they will find some solid use for the images and we will absolutely be shooting again in the future

It was really cool to work with a band that was super excited to shoot with me, as I was to shoot with them. check them out - they are bound to hit big when their record drops!