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.
