Just before their headlining performance at the Blender Theater in NYC, Semi Precious Weapons took some time out to to do a set of promos with the Owyoung Brothers. What do you get when you throw together New York’s glam rock saviors and your very favorite pair of Asian brothers? All the damage after the jump.
Photographer’s Notes:
This was a very interesting shoot to knock out due to the tight timeframe. Semi Precious Weapons’ schedule was such that shooting the day of the show was the best option, and even then that meant a narrow window shooting in the venue just before doors.
Chris and I decided on two locations in the Blender Theater – one in the old movie-theater portion of tiered seating, and another downstairs in the venue’s lounge area.
These two looks came together with a setup of four Nikon SB-600 speedlights and two 45″ umbrellas, all fired using Nikon’s wireless flash system. A Nikon SB-900 acted as the flash commander for the four remotes.
One thing I love about Nikon’s wireless flash system is the ability to change everything on the fly from the commander flash, whether TTL, manual, or some combination. With control over up to three independent remote channels, changing lighting ratios on the fly with commander flash is quick and easy – definitely a great asset that we appreciated under the time crunch.
We shot these with the Nikon D3 and 24-70mm f/2.8.
End Notes:
Big love and thanks to all the guys in Semi Precious Weapons – Justin, Cole, Dan, and Stevy – as well as our friend Shaun, who hustled to make it all happen. The BrOwyoungs salute you.
You can see the last set of promos I shot for Semi Precious Weapons here. And if you haven’t already, check out the live shots from the band’s performance at the Blender Theater here.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Portrait Photography and tagged with blender, CLS, cole whittle, dan crean, glam, justin tranter, nikon, Portrait Photography, promos, rock, semi precious weapons, speedlights, spw, stevy pyne, strobist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
What do you get when you throw together New York’s glam rock saviors and your very favorite pair of Asian brothers? http://bit.ly/123izm
@toddowyoung I’ve always wondered when you Owyoung boys would treat us to some collaborations like that. Great work! http://bit.ly/123izm
Really Liking @toddowyoung photo shoot of the Glam Rock Band Semi Precious Weapons http://bit.ly/LMHKS
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My name is Todd, and I love the rock show. My work has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, SPIN, the New York Times, Alternative Press, Metal Hammer, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard Magazine. I'm available for worldwide travel for editorial and commercial assignments.
Wow, Todd! These are awesome – fantastic location and I love the lighting. I keep wondering how you can kick things up another notch but you always do!
Hey Stephen,
Thanks very much for the kind words, great to hear from you. Locations were limited, but the venue itself had some interesting spots. It’s an old theater, so we took advantage of the tiered seating for the first setup.
For the second, we shot in the venue’s basement bar/lounge area, as we were drawn to the gold mirror in those shots.
Thanks again for the feedback.
I take it all back. The gold mirror is just too nice for the shot of Justin and the vertical group shot to have played it safe with just one setup – especially considering the conspicuous lack of candy. BrOwyoungs Ridin’ Dirty.
Yeah, I think I’m in agreement. The second location added a lot of headache, but the set wouldn’t be the same with only the theater shots.
Hey Todd
You and Chris are really knockin’ ‘em outta the park these days. You couldn’t have asked for a better location than that basement. Wow.
I just wish the singer had varied his poses a bit more and had lost the damn monkey sculpture for some of the shots.
Cool, man!
Clint
Hey Clint,
Thanks for your comments here. Ha, that monkey sculpture. I think once the monkey was on, it was staying on – way too many chains involved, it was pretty wrapped up.
The guys in the band were great, though, they really helped knock this set out. Love shooting with them.
Funny you mention the basement, we almost decided to cut it out!
Hahahaha. The BrOwyoungs. I love it. #5 is my fave.
Hey Gabi, thanks for your pick.
Hi Clint,
It’s funny that you notice the monkey – there was a brief discussion surrounding the inclusion of the monkey, but it was exceedingly brief. As Todd mentioned, once the monkey was on, it was staying on.
I actually love the monkey and all the chains, it’s so Justin – glam with a little bit off oddity mixed in :)
Great job guys. You’re both fantastic separately, but together you’re amazing. I’m kind of glad you live in different states otherwise the rest of us wouldn’t have a chance.
Hey Tasha,
Thanks for the kind words. You’re right, the monkey is something 100% Justin.
Watch out, this is just the start. ;)
Really solid work.
Thanks very much, Jason.
Awesome band shots! Impressive! Great lighting, and I love the band poses too. I like how you turned the theater into an interesting location, and that basement was made for SPW. The band seems at ease, and conveys that laidback coolness necessary for a rock ‘n roll shoot. Of course, Justin Tranter adds just that little(?) extra glam to it!
You’ve really nailed it here. These are the best band portrait shots you’ve shown here! Looking forward to you topping this!
Hey Thomas,
Thanks very much. A lot of things came together to make this happen – you should see how the actual basement looks! These guys are all rockstars, it’s a lot of fun shooting with them. Definitely laid back, though it helps to have known them for a bit and to have done previous stuff together.
Thanks again.
HOLLA! Gotta love these guys… so eccentric, so loveable. I like the flare you gave at the top of the photo in a couple of them – definitely adds to it. My favorite one is probably the first one after the jump of just Justin – the light looks really controlled on the front of him and a light hitting the background – spill just looks really controlled.
Now that I’m back in the states, I can start following again! I had never had such crappy internet in my life… Let’s do some stuff soon.
Hey Chris, thanks for the comment on this set. Hit me up when you’re in town.
This is magnificent! I love the jewelry for props — very luxe, I love photos of people dripping in gold.
They look like a fun band to shoot. Great work, both of you.
Hey Craig, thanks very much. If they ever head your way, don’t even think about it, just go shoot them. SPW are great any which way, in the studio, on location, or on stage.