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

A Few from the Circle Pit

chris — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:43:57 +0000

Photos from the mosh pit at Decrepit Birth's performance at Gramercy Theater, NYC. November 7, 2009. (photo by Chris Owyoung)

Metal is almost a spiritual experience for a lot of fans. Nowhere else is this more evident than in the circle pit. While I don’t recommend that music photographers jump right in unless they a) have both camera insurance and b) feel pretty confident that they can stiff-arm a 175lb dude doing the windmill, I don’t think the mosh pit can be ignored when documenting the scene.

All of these images were taken during Decrepit Birth’s performance at Gramercy Theater using the 14mm end of the Nikon 14-24mm. ISO was high, shutter speed was low and a single SB-900 was used for the main light source.

The Gaslight Anthem

chris — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:17:46 +0000

The Gaslight Anthem performs at Terminal 5, NYC. October 15, 2009.

When frontman Brian Fallon told the crowd that the band had “slept in a lot of dirty places to get to the show” last night, the crowd erupted in applause. Though the guys hadn’t necessarily had access to a working shower recently, the fans didn’t seem to mind; New Yorkers trekked to the far west side in the worst weather this fall to see their hometown heroes tear it up at Terminal 5. New York City loves The Gaslight Anthem and Gaslight loves it right back.

Move photos and shooting notes after the break.

Photographer’s Notes

Having just dragged 35 pounds of camera gear across town in the rain, I was pleasantly surprised to see a bright and beautiful The Gaslight Anthem backdrop adorning the stage. I knew this probably meant that the band would have enough lighting for the signage at the very least. As luck and the lighting designer would have it, virtually the entire band was covered in nearly white light for most of the allotted three songs.

Gaslight played a hugely energetic set that had the fans going nuts and every photographer in the pit begging for more time.

I shot mostly at ISO 2000 on the Nikon D3 with a shutter speed of 1/160 at f/2.8 – little to no exposure compensation was necessary after the fact.

Lens Use:
Nikon 24-70mm – 70%
Nikon 70-200mm – 25%
Nikon 14-24mm – 5%

Shout Outs

A huge thanks goes out to Jon for hooking up the last minute credentials.

Metric

chris — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:49:42 +0000

June 17, 2009 – One of the best bands to form in this city and then leave, Metric performed to an absolutely packed Terminal 5. Fronted by the dynamic Emily Haines, the band performed material from their newly released album Fantasies as well as some of their more popular songs. Metric are at their best on this current tour!

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES

I’ve been listening to Metric for years and they’re one of my favorite bands to listen to as well as to photograph. I had the privilege of meeting the band last year at All Points West can say that not only do they craft great songs, they are incredibly nice people. It’s not very rock’n'roll to be nice, but hey everything’s nice in Canada. =)

The first three songs were lit by a strong blue wash with warm underlights. As the band found their groove, the lighting was punctuated by white hotlights from behind. Though all of the band members rocked out continuously, the best lighting during the first three fell on Emily who alternated between her keyboard and a freehand mic. The overall quality of light was pretty poor, I was able to shoot at ISO 2000 with both the 50mm f/1.8 and 24-70mm zoom lenses on the Nikon D3.

The Sounds

chris — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:44:29 +0000

April 30, 2009 – The Sounds played a “secret show” to celebrate the release of their new album Crossing the Rubicon. Santos Party House was packed to the gills. Rumor has it that even Semi Precious Weapons frontman Justin Tranter attended the invite-only event.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES

With very little light and energetic subjects like The Sounds, flash was an unfortunate necessity for this show. I shot at ISO 800 while dragging the shutter down to 1/30 of a second. A single on-camera SB-900 speedlight was used for all of these photos.

Paramore

chris — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:25:01 +0000

June 11, 2009 – Building upon The Sounds‘ energetic set, Paramore opened in support of No Doubt at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, New Jersey. If you’ve into female-fronted rock music, this tour is not-to-be-missed!

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES

Even if you’re not down with teenagers, hair dye or pop rock, you have to admire the energy level Paramore brings to their live shows. The fervor surrounding their concerts is both amazing and a bit insane.

When I wasn’t chasing Hayley from one side of the stage to the next, I was getting pushed off of the barrier riser by front row fans who wouldn’t have their view obstructed for a single second, especially by a photographer.

The narrow pit and pushy fans meant that I shot a lot more sinus cavity than I like, but other than the rather extreme shooting angle, the photography went well – the lighting was ample and the band rocked enough during the first three songs to create lots of great photo opportunities. Nearly all of the photos in this set were shot with the Nikon 24-70mm lens at f/4 and 1/400. My ISO hovered around 2000.

The Sounds

chris — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:33:51 +0000

Photos of The Sounds performing at Susquehanna Bank Center. Camden, NJ.

June 11, 2009 - To say that The Sounds have come a long way in since 2003 isn’t a reference to the band’s Swedish origins - it’s a statement of their musical growth and ever growing popularity. The Sounds are currently supporting their incredibly danceable new album Crossing The Rubicon and have traded their usual club billings for arena crowds numbering in the tens of thousands. Catch them on tour with No Doubt through August, 2009.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES

The Sounds are one of my favorite bands to shoot. Even though I’ve photographed them five or so times now, I still know I’m going to get an exciting set of images regardless of the lighting conditions or the size of the venue.

The band went on close to dusk and I came prepared for a dimly lit set that was a difficult mix of ambient sunlight and weak stage lights. Though this was partly the case, I was surprised by the generally good amount of light throughout the first three songs.

The band was lit by warm white spots and a mixture of colored side-lighting that varied from red to purple.

My exposure was comfortable on the Nikon D3 running from 1/300 at f/4 and ISO 2000 to 1/200 at f/3.5 and ISO 3200. With the exception of the portrait shot of guitarist Felix Rodriguez, all of the photos from this set were made with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8.

No Doubt – Camden, NJ

chris — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:07:51 +0000

Photos of No Doubt performing at Susquehanna Bank Center. Camden, NJ.

June 11, 2009 – Exactly how loud is the sound of 25,000 people screaming the words “I’m just a Girl” into the bowels of the Susquehanna Bank Center? The world may never know because whatever machine they were using to measure it went to 11 and then broke. Speaking from experience, I’d rank it somewhere between “Yeah that definitely did permanent damage to my hearing” and “Holy F*cking Sh*t No Doubt is touring again!”

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES

Having shot two of the band’s first performances in five years, No Doubt has become my favorite band to photograph in 2009. There are the lights, the outfits and the giant video displays but what makes the group such an appealing subject is how much fun they have while performing. Every member of the band looks like (s)he’s having an absolute blast (what’s even better is that they sound great doing it).

Receiving credentials for this show came as a wonderful surprise. Just an hour before the band took the stage, I received an email from the group’s management. The band had seen my photos from Bamboozle and liked my work enough to have me shoot. Seeing as this happens just about all the time never, I was overjoyed.

While I didn’t have too many hopes of topping my work from Bamboozle (gallery one, gallery two), I went in to this shoot with specific goals:

1) Cover each band member equally - Epic Fail. Adrian Young, Stephen Bradley and Gabrial McNair simply didn’t come close enough during the first three songs for my 200mm lens. Sorry guys!

2) Get as many shots of Gwen, Tom and Tony interacting with each other as possible – Yup, got it. Even though Gwen had me running the length of the entire stage, I managed to get shots whenever she bounced towards Tony or Tom.

3) Get Hero Shots of Tom and Tony, but especially Tom – Check. While my position at Bamboozle gave me a good angle on Adrian, I felt I didn’t get enough of Tom embracing his inner rockstar. This time, I was determined to get a variety of shots of Tom and his beautiful guitar, the custom made Hamer Flying V. Even though they’re not the most flattering shots, in the GQ sense, I was also set on getting shots of Tony during some of his more “metal” moments.

I shot this set primarily with the Nikon 24-70mm lens on the Nikon D3. Since the entire band moves very quickly, I kept the shutter speed above 1/300 and used the ISO** and f-stop to keep up with the lighting changes. The Nikon 70-200mm lens was used for a few downstage shots..

** I generally use ISO to adjust my exposure perfering to leave my shutter speed and f-stop at their desired stopping power and depth of field. This way, noise increases or decreases but the technical foundation of the image remains the same. This is one of the best reasons to shoot entirely manual.

End Notes

Huge thank-yous go out to Erin (and friends), Lisa and Dave for supporting my work. Big thanks to Carly for arranging everything on-site!

Hi Tony!

Yes. More Photos of No Doubt

chris — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:59:49 +0000

May 3, 2009 – What can I say, I have too many great photos from No Doubt‘s amazing performance at Bamboozle to keep them from you. Any concert where your b-side images are as good as your headlining photos from other shows is a good one. Enjoy.

No Doubt at Bamboozle 2009

chris — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:24:00 +0000

May 3, 2009 – Before embarking on one of the most highly anticipated tours of the year, No Doubt gave their first major show since their 2004 hiatus to the thousands of fans attending The Bamboozle Music Festival, 2009.

Playing an hour+ set that included nearly every chart topper from the band’s catalog, Adrian Young, Gwen Stefani,Tom Dumont, Tony Kanal, (Stephen Bradley and Gabrial McNair) seemed nearly too excited to contain themselves. Stefani in particular seemed overjoyed to be performing with the band again (not only did she pound out a set of push-ups on stage, she addressed the crowd from half-way-up the stage left rigging!).

UPDATE: Prints of these photos with special (lower) pricing for No Doubt fans are now available in my archive!

No Doubt’s Bamboozle Set List:

“Spiderwebs”
“Hella Good”
“Bathwater”
“Underneath It All”
“Excuse Me Mr.”
“Ex-Girlfriend”
“Simple Kind Of Life”
“Guns Of Navarone” (cover, The Skatalites)
“Hey Baby”
“New”
“Running”
“Different People”
“Don’t Speak”
“It’s My Life” (cover, Talk Talk)
“Just A Girl”
–
“Stand And Deliver” (cover, Adam & The Ants)
“Sunday Morning”

Photographer’s Notes

There’s no other way to say it – No Doubt is amazing to shoot. The band has the musical style, musicianship and stage presence that make for a both a great concert and a great concert photograph.

The only reason I can think of as to why a band would perform in bright white spotlights for their entire set is that they’ve attained a level of performance that can stand up the unwaivering scrutiny of fan and photographer alike. This is rare indeed.

Since the stage was high and the pit crowded, I decided to shoot this set from a stationary position near the center of the stage. Though I much prefer to move around while shooting the sheer number of bodies in the pit would have prevented a person of my small stature from moving and shooting from the best angles.

I used the Nikon D3 and 70-200mm lens for the duration of the allotted shooting time.

Semi Precious Weapons

chris — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:09:05 +0000

March 27, 2009 – Watching Justin Tranter on stage is like witnessing the miracle of birth (only it’s about 1000 x better since babies don’t burst onto the scene in diamonds, couture or four-inch spike heels). Ladies and gentlemen, glam boys and hard rock girls, I give you Justin Tranter, Cole Whittle, Dan Crean, and Stevy Pyne – Semi Precious Weapons.

Photographer’s Notes

Whether they’re playing the next stop on the fire marshal’s hazard list or beneath the gorgeous colors of the Blender Theater lighting rig, Semi Precious Weapons are a glam rock wet dream. As a photographer, they are one of the bands that keeps me up way past my bedtime and loving ever second behind the lens.

I first shot Semi Precious Weapons in 2007 after a friend dragged me to their set in a sweltering basement hole in the East Village. What ensued can only be described as a rum-fueled orgy of spin kicks, indecent exposure and some of the best rock’n'roll I’ve ever seen. (Little did I know that the Village Voice had just proclaimed them New York’s best rock band.) They lived up to the hype then and they’ve only gotten better in 2009.

I shot this set from the front row, just house right of center – a position that gave me decent lines of sight for all four of the band members. With my brother Todd dead center stage, I knew we’d have the entire thing locked down. If you don’t check out Todd’s stellar set of pix, there’s something horribly wrong with you.

End Notes:
Huge ups to Justin, Cole, Dan, and Stevy for being amazing and patient subjects. Equal props go out to Shaun for taking god care of us and coordinating everything.

Stayed tuned for the promo shots Todd and I did before the show. If you liked what we threw together for The Energy, you’ll love what we pulled out for SPW.

Lastly, I think you all should know that Justin Tranter shoots Nikon.