Sporting a Joan Jett t-shirt and war paint, Be Your Own Pet’s Jemina Pearl came out to dominate, stomping over the Pageant’s stage in a raucous throw down of punk rock riot. In the frenetic, high-energy set, the Nashville-based four-piece delivered a racing 30 minute set that had fans trashing and shaking on the floor.
Be Your Own pet is touring with She Wants Revenge on the 2008 Nylon Summer Music Tour. The band just released their sophomore album Get Awkward March 18, released on Thurson Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! label.
Photographer’s Notes:
This was a fun shoot that had me sprinting the length of the pit, trying to keep up with BYOP’s Jemina Pearl, which was a losing battle.
The band came out roaring and barely stopped to catch their collective breath, ripping through their set in half an hour, 10 minutes shy of their full, alloted time.
I shot for the full set from the pit.
Lighting:
Lighting for this set primarily consisted of deep background washes with warm light from the front. Red and oranges kicked off the performance, gradually giving way to cooler purples and magentas.
Due to the activity I anticipated on stage, packed the Nikon SB-800 and Nikon SC-28 sync cord, the latter of which allowed me to use the flash off-camera for a little more separation.
The last time I used this combo was for Semi Precious Weapons, whose frontman Justin Tranter shares Pearl’s preference for stomping all over the stage.
Lenses & Gear:
I shot this set with the Nikon D3, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, and Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, though I could have easily gotten by with just the midrange zoom.
Jemina Pearl’s erratic movements on stage made choosing a focal range an interesting proposition, but the 24-70mm generally proved quite good as an all-around lens during this set.
Exposure & Metering:
I shot between 1/50 and 1/80 at f/4 and ISO 1600 for this set. The slower shutter speeds mark a change from the flash work for Semi Precious Weapons, whose set was shot around 1/200 by contrast.
Overall, the more atmospheric lighting for BYOP required a little more ambient exposure, and introducing a little more motion blur for this set seemed appropriate.
End Notes:
Huge thanks to Heather Marie Ryan for hooking up photo credentials to this show! Heather is working this tour and it was super fun to meet up with her for a bit at the show. You can check out her blog here, in which she details her exploits with rock stars.
23 Comments Add your own
1. Celso | June 15th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Another fine job! I’m getting really addicted to your blog!
I mean REALLY!!!
Oh and you should correct that part when you write “Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8″
And please do continue to impress me!
2. Todd | June 15th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Hey Celso, glad to hear you enjoy ishootshows.com! I appreciate the comment. Also, thanks for the correction.
3. Meg Bourne | June 15th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
i LOVE how they have photos of Obama on all of their gear! that is soooo rad!
great photos by the way - love the light and your use of flash is perfect! *high five*
4. Todd | June 15th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Hey Meg, I agree, the Obama posters were a nice touch. They were actually selling those posters at the merch booth, too.
Thanks for the feedback, glad to hear you approve of the flash, as I don’t use it that often.
5. jason | June 16th, 2008 at 12:03 am
i wish i was able to use flash when i shot them a couple of weeks ago. nice stuff, love the colors combined with the smoke in these shots.
6. Todd | June 16th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Hey Jason, I think this set would have been workable without flash, but the light was really quite low, such that getting clean shots without much motion blur would have meant going to ISO 6400+. I’m glad it was an option.
Thanks for your thoughts on this set, I appreciate it.
7. chris | brosef | June 16th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Where was Flash Girl?
8. Todd | June 16th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Hey Chris. I shot this without an assistant, unfortunately, though that would have been nice.
I worked the flash by pretty much leaving it on the stage, walking away from it, and stretching out the sync cord a few feet. Not ideal, but necessity is the mother of invention.
9. faithdesired | June 16th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Wow! looks like you had a great time! I didn’t have a pit at either of their shows that I shot… I was stuck in the front row of a raging crowd of teenagers!!! lol I think using the flash was a good idea. The colors look great! And the images are sharp! I really loved shooting this band… thanks for the cool write-up!
10. Todd | June 16th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Hi Shantel, thanks for the feedback. BYOP definitely has some diehard fans who were loving every moment the band was on stage.
I’d love to photograph these guys again in a venue with a smaller stage, especially if it meant the opportunity to get in close with a wide angle.
11. Bryan | June 16th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I like the 5th photo. Very 80s haha
12. Todd | June 16th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Thanks for the pick, Bryan.
13. Chris | June 16th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I DEFINITELY understand how it can be to work with such deep colours and washes — man, these dives I’ve been shooting are terrible. At least you had your SB800 to work with, and provided some white to offset it, so it seems. I enjoy the second to last one with the one on her hip as well as this and this . The last one shows such great emotion — I think it’s my favorite.
14. Todd | June 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Hey Chris,
Concert photography: Welcome to a world of pain. But don’t worry, you’ll be graduating to bigger and better things soon. Are you totally hooked yet?
Thanks for the picks, too. These color washes were really deep and murky, I’m glad I had the option of using a bit of flash for this set.
15. Keith | June 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Hey, Todd. Awesome shots here. Lots of energy. I think the flash came in handy and worked really well! The leader singer looks like she sure brings the energy.
16. Todd | June 17th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Hey Keith, thanks for the feedback. The flash was definitely an asset for this show, I’m glad to have brought it .
17. Chris | June 17th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Am I totally hooked? I would have never imagined being this hooked in all my life. It’s really weird, but it’s always like, “Ok — one more shot… OH it’s framed so nicely look at that! — Ok one more, no one more” I just can’t stop shooting, haha. It really is a load of fun. Do you know anything local this Friday?
18. Todd | June 17th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
It’s totally addictive, so watch out. Aside from wanting to photograph every show you attend, you’re going to be seeing shots even when you just go to a show for fun and analyzing the light. Consider it rockphotog-itis.
As for local shows, it’s kind of a lull in the season, as a lot of bands are playing bigger festivals or flat out not touring, but I will check.
Aside from summer festivals, I’ve found the big months for me are March-May and then September-November.
19. Flash Girl | June 19th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I would have helped! Good thing they look amazing
20. Todd | June 19th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I could have used the help!
21. She Wants Revenge @ the P&hellip | June 22nd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
[...] an explosive set by youngsters Be Your Own Pet, She Wants Revenge dimmed the lights and brought on the crushing Dark Wave tones to the [...]
22. Amateur Photographer | July 21st, 2008 at 11:03 am
I’m getting into properly doing concert photography sans my on-camera flash- too poor to buy anything like the SB800, but I am upgrading my lenses slowly. I’ll have my new 50mm f/1.4 tomorrow! YAY!
How do you think this set would have came out if you didn’t have the external flash with all the dark lighting? Would it have still been workable without a flash at all?
23. Todd | July 21st, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Congrats on the 50mm f/1.4 — that fast aperture really goes a long way toward helping open up dark venues.
I think this set would have been workable without flash, but the approach would have been much different. At least for me, I find that shooting with flash and without flash are two very different experiences.
Had I not used flash, I probably would have shot with my 24-70mm f/2.8 at a much higher ISO, upwards of ISO 6400 or 12800.
speak up
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