New York Music Photographer Chris Owyoung - The Best Music Photography & Band Portraits » Music Photography

Erin and Her Cello

Chris Owyoung — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:51:21 +0000

If you’ve never heard Erin and Her Cello, you’re missing out on some of the funniest stuff out there. Seriously, I almost spit my beer out of my nose and onto my camera – twice. The thing that makes Erin’s show ridiculously entertaining isn’t her backup singers/dancers, her songs about Duane Reade counter clerks with grotesquely long fingernails, or her perfectly delivered stage banter, it’s that all of the above combine to give you some sort of lovably twisted Mr. Rogers-style children’s show where Mr. Rogers unzips his face and turns into a cute curly-haired cello player who swills wine on stage and embarrasses the children in the audience during commercial breaks. Read on for more photos and be sure to check Erin at this Saturday at the Living Room.

Shooting Notes

Since I was attending the concert as a fan and not actually working for a change, I shot this set primarily from my seat in the center aisle using the Nikon 200-700mm VR II attached to the Nikon D3 for all but a few frames. The more I use the new 70-200mm, the more I’m impressed by it’s focusing accuracy and sharpness wide open.

Gear Used for this Shoot

• Nikon D3 Camera Body
• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II
• Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8

DIY Beauty Dish Portrait example

Photos: Amour Obscur

Chris Owyoung — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:22:10 +0000

While I usually avoid shooting in tiny, dimly lit clubs, I do like seeing shows in them and sometimes I bring my camera. It’s been almost a year since I went into a show intending to shoot all B+W but Amour Obsur’s special brand of weimar punkaret was worth cranking the ISO and dropping the shutter speed. Here are a few of my favorites from their set at National Underground.

Photographer’s Notes

All of these photos were taken with the Nikon D3 and 50mm f/1.8 lens. The ISO was high, the shutter speed low and the the aperture wide open. The camera was set to record RAW in black and white mode. The images were processed using Nikon Capture NX2

Photoshoot: Melissa Etheridge

Chris Owyoung — Wed, 26 May 2010 05:15:30 +0000

Your favorite music photographer siblings had a great shoot with rock icon Melissa Etheridge as she celebrated the release of her tenth studio album, Fearless Love. Todd and I did some stealthy backstage reportage of Melissa’s radio interview followed by a quick portrait shoot and coverage of an intimate performance for a lucky group of die-hard fans.

During the roughly 10 minutes allotted for portraits, Todd and I put together two simple on-location lighting setups consisting of the best DIY beauty dish design around and the Profoto Acute Ring flash.

Since flash photography would have ruined the videos being shot for both the live performance and the radio interview, we switched between strobes and ambient light as the assignment requirements changed.

This was a gig filled with highlights including Melissa’s 14 minute rendition of Like The Way I do (part 1 and part 2) and an absolutely incredible cover of Loraine Ellison’s Stay With Me.

More photos and some great video after the jump!

Photos: Paramore – The Bamboozle, 2010

Chris Owyoung — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:16:45 +0000

Heyley Williams of Paramore performs at The Bamboozle 2010. (photo by chris owyoung)

With a fresh dye job and lighting to match, Hayley Williams lead Paramore through an energetic headline set at day one of The Bamboozle 2010. More photos after the jump!

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Paramore, The Bamboozle 2010 – Images by Chris Owyoung

Photos: The Bamboozle – Sunday, Day 2

Chris Owyoung — Wed, 05 May 2010 01:37:24 +0000

Rivers Cuomo rocks out with Weezer at The Bamboozle music festival, 2010. (photo by chris owyoung)

With day one of The Bamboozle music festival behind me, I grabbed a couple hours of sleep, a fist full or cliff bars and headed out to the final day of parking lot punk rock. The Sunday’s lineup featured Weezer, MGMT, Girltalk, MUTEMATH, and NYC’s own Matt & Kim. Here’s a taste of day two.

Say Anything

Fans cheer as Matt & Kim take the stage.

Matt & Kim

MGMT

Motion City Soundtrack

Girl Talk

MUTEMATH

Ke$ha

The Devil Wears Prada

End Notes:

Check back, I’ll be publishing the full sets and shooting notes soon!

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Photos: The Bamboozle, 2010 – Saturday, Day 1

Chris Owyoung — Wed, 05 May 2010 00:04:56 +0000

Hayley Williams of Paramore performs at The Bamboozle Music Festival, Saturday May 1, 2010. (photo by chris owyoung)

Nothing rocks a New Jersey parking lot like The Bamboozle. Here’s a sneak peak of Saturday’s lineup including performances by Paramore, Kesha, Angels & Airwaves, Drake, VersaEmerge, Escape The Fate, Something Corporate, The Maine, The Aquabats, Hanson.

Kicking Daisies

The Aquabats

Something Corporate

Escape The Fate

Bullet For My Valentine

Ke$ha

Hanson

The Maine

Drake

VersaEmerge

Angels & Airwaves

End Notes:

Stay tuned for full sets from select bands, more shooting notes and photos from Sunday!

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Photos: Shred for Your Life

Chris Owyoung — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:33:51 +0000

I had the distinct pleasure of covering the sixth annual Shred For Your Life competition at Webster Hall this weekend. Contestants were critiqued by Andrew W.K., Jaleel Bunton of TV on the Radio and Les Savy Fav‘s Seth Jabour. The field varied wildly from adolescent to old(er), from death metal to jazz and from ordinary to downright strange. After a series of brutal face-offs that included 20 second speed rounds and blindfolds, Lily Masse, the event’s only female competitor, was declared winner over last year’s runner-up Dylan Brenner.

Lily Masse was named this year's champion after a multi-round shred-off with the 2009 runner-up Dylan Brenner. (photo by Chris Owyoung).

Dylan Brenner competes in the 2010 Shred for Your Life competition at Webster Hall, NYC. (photo by Chris Owyoung).

Joshua Anzano performs at the 2010 Shred for Your Life competition (photo by Chris Owyoung).

Shred For Your Life, Webster Hall – Images by Chris Owyoung

Concert Photographer’s Notes

I photographed this latest installment of Shred for Your Life with my pair of Nikon D3 bodies and the standard and telephoto zooms. While many of the other photographers in attendance resorted to flash, I found that the house lights provided ample stopping power given that shred guitarists tend to sacrifice mobility in favor of concentration.

Photos: August Burns Red, Night One

Chris Owyoung — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 04:10:39 +0000

August Burns Red performs at Nokia Theater in Times Square. Tour 2010 (photo by Chris Owyoung)

If there is any band that rocks too hard, it’s these guys. August Burns Red performed the first of two sold out shows at Nokia Theater in Times Square and I was there. I covered both shows on stage, back stage and from the pit and 1,000 frames later I still feel like I fell short of capturing it all.

Hit the jump for my personal highlights and shooting notes, click the lead image to see the photos big or visit my photo archive to license these images for editorial use.

August Burns Red, Nokia Day One – Images by Chris Owyoung

Concert Photography Notes

After doing a set of band portraits for August Burns Red last summer and shooting their NYC date at Gramercy Theater, I was eager to work with the guys and their production team to produce another stellar set of images. With a high chance of shooting the entire set both nights, I spent the majority of night one in the pit in order to get a feeling for the band’s performance on this tour. This tactic paid off extremely well as you’ll see in the photos from night two (to follow).

I shot this set with the Nikon D3 and Nikon zoom lenses covering focal lengths from the 14mm to 200mm.

Photos: Atoms For Peace

Chris Owyoung — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:05:26 +0000

Atoms For Peace performs at Roseland Ballroom, NYC. Tour 2010 (photo by Chris Owyoung)

Photos: Shred for Your Life

Tibet House Benefit Concert, 2010

Chris Owyoung — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:00:40 +0000

The monks of Drepung Monastery at the Twentieth Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall (photo by Chris Owyoung)

The Tibet House Benefit Concert is one of my favorite musical events of the year; it’s one of the few times concert goes get to hear a wide variety of music, including rock and punk performed at Carnegie Hall.

For the benefit’s twentieth incarnation, Philip Glass brought together a wonderful lineup including Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Gogol Bordello, Regina Spektor and more. The performances benefit the Tibet House, an organization dedicated to preserving Tibetan culture.

My personal highlights of this year’s lineup were Irish singer-songwriter Pierce Turner and New York’s very own Regina Spektor, whose rendition of “Laughing With” from her 2009 album Far was simply breathtaking.

Patti Smith performs at the Twentieth Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall

Patti Smith and Iggy Pop perform at the Twentieth Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall

Iggy Pop performs at the Twentieth Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall

Philip Glass performs at the twentieth Tibet House Benefit concert at Carnegie Hall

Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew at the Twentieth Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall

Gogol Bordello at the Twentieth Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall

Concert Photography Notes

I have mixed feelings about shooting at Carnegie Hall. Even though the Tibet House benefit concert is one of my favorite shows year-to-year, shooting a live performance at Carnegie Hall means you’re stuck standing at the back. The waaaay back. If you don’t have at least a 300mm lens with a widest aperture of at least f/4.0 you’ll get next to nothing.

I was packing the Nikon 300mm f/2.8 with a 2.0x teleconverter to give me an affective reach of 600mm with a maximum aperture of f/5.6. Such a large lens also necessitated the use of a tripod with a sturdy ball head such as the BH-40 from Really Right Stuff.

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