William Beckett and Michael Guy Chislett of The Academy Is…, photographed outside their tour bus
Warped Tour 2008 marked a really fun, fast-paced assignment, with a large number of bands on the punchlist and a lot of hustle to make it all happen. Aside from live coverage, the backstage shoots were a big part of this year’s Warped coverage as we photographed Paramorer, Katy Perry, Anberlin, Jack’s Mannequin, and more.
Locations for most of these images took place in the press room and immediate area, with the exception of The Academy Is…, who invited us onto their tour bus for the interview and shoot.
Here are just a few of the group shots made during the day.
Family Force 5:
Paramore:
Amino:
Greeley Estates:
Forever The Sickest Kids:
Jack’s Mannequin:
Tat:
Set Your Goals:
Anberlin:
Oreska Band:
Cobra Starship:
Katy Perry:
Norma Jean:
The Academy Is…:
Charlotte Sometimes:
Gabe Saporta & Fans:
Shooting Notes:
When I was planning for Warped Tour, I knew backstage shots would be a sizable component of the deliverables, which was an exciting charge for the assignment.
As a whole, all the bands were incredibly nice and open to all suggestions, which made this set a lot of fun to shoot. Naturally, it’s always nice to see a group have fun with a shoot, even if it was literally a matter of seconds.
Lighting:
While I initially thought about bringing only one external flash, I’m very glad that I packed two speedlights for these shoots, which helped immensely in the flexibility on site. Most of these shots came together with about 15-seconds of planning, so being able to work dynamically with Nikon’s wireless flash system was a huge boon.
I shot with one Nikon SB-800 as the commander on-camera and one SB-600 as the remote for the majority of these images.
End Notes:
If you haven’t done so already, check out the live coverage of Warped tour of these acts and more:
Warped Tour: Katy Perry, Paramore, Say Anything, Gym Class Heroes
Warped Tour: Jack’s Mannequin, The Academy Is…, Against Me!, Angels and Airwaves
Once again, I have to thank Bethany, the on-site press coordinator for Warped Tour, as a lot of them would not have been possible without her hard work. She was on top of everything, from setting up shoots, contacting bands, and was generally awesome in making it all happen.
Bethany even went out of her way to suggest bands she thought would be fun to shoot, including Family Force 5, Oreska Band, and others, all of which made for a fun time.
I would have to say that Bethany holds the distinction of being the all-time most bad ass rep out of all the bands, tours, and festivals I have ever shot. If you see her out and about at Warped Tour this year, please give her a high five for me
22 Comments Add your own
1. Bryan | July 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
That Set Your Goals photo is effing hilarious.
2. Todd | July 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Thanks, Bryan. Those guys were a lot of fun, even though we had about 30 seconds for the shoot. They were totally into it and got down on the floor without any prompting, it was great.
That shot also shows the two “suggested” backdrops for Warped Tour and Guitar Center.
3. leafblower | July 10th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Great stuff Todd. Love the one between the tour buses.
4. Todd | July 10th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Hey Kyle, thanks, nice to hear from you. The bus shot is one of my favorites from the day.
Originally we were going to arrange an interview for earlier in the day, but as it happened, we had to schedule for after the festival ended. The nighttime shoot definitely gave the shot a much different feel than the rest of the shots.
5. faithdesired | July 10th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
These are all so great! It’s really cool that you got to do some backstage portraits!
6. Todd | July 10th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Thanks, Shantel! This was the first time I’d shot backstage portraits like this, but I had a lot of fun with it.
7. Celso | July 10th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I liked the shots a lot, it’s nice to see different parts of your work!
Nice!
Best Regards!
8. Todd | July 10th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Hey Celso, thank you. It was a lot of fun to do a different kind of coverage for this festival, and now I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to do some group shots like this.
9. Libbii | July 20th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I love Anberlin! But all of the shots you took are amazing, this is what i plan to do in life. Great stuff, great stuff.
10. Todd | July 21st, 2008 at 12:18 am
Hey Libbii, thanks for the comment! Glad you liked the shots. All the guys from Anberlin were super nice!
11. Ashlee Nicole | July 22nd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
so jealous congrats on getting backstage the pictures look amazing.
12. Lisa | July 22nd, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Fantastic shots! Your work is always great and such an inspiration!
13. Todd | July 27th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Hey Ashlee and Lisa, thanks so much for the feedback!
14. Elizabeth | August 1st, 2008 at 2:23 am
I love these pictures. The lighting and everything is great. In the last picture, I am the one on the far left. Closest to Gabe.
15. Todd | August 1st, 2008 at 3:48 am
Hey Elizabeth, thanks! I’m glad we found you while walking around back there, that sign is great. And of course the puff painting.
I’m happy you found these shots!
16. Wern | August 3rd, 2008 at 8:51 am
The lighting in each of your pictures is perfect.
And I’m glad that you got to shoot Greeley Estates! They are terrific.
17. Todd | August 4th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Hey Wen, thanks. I was experimenting with flash and backstage at Warped Tour was a great place to try out multiple units. Greeley Estates were the very first band I shot for this assignment and they were a lot of fun, they really got into it.
18. eric hamilton | August 8th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Loads of killer shots here, Todd! Great coverage!
19. Todd | August 8th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Hey Eric, thanks! I think I’m a new fan of Nikon’s CLS.
20. Jack’s Mannequin | &hellip | August 11th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
[…] Warped Tour: Backstage […]
21. DanaBelle | August 12th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Amazing photos! Katy Perrys & Cobra Starships are really cute. All of your shots are great, you’re a natural at capturing these darling musicians.
xo
22. Todd | August 14th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Thank you for the feedback! All of these performers were great to photograph, no exceptions. Glad to hear you like the shots.
speak up
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