Opening up for No Doubt, pop-punkers Paramore lit up the stage with an exuberant performance that saw the five-piece band dominating the monitors and whipping the pit into a frenzy.
While normally I try to limit the number of shots I post in the main set of a performance, Paramore is just one of those bands that begs for an extended treatment. In other words, this one is for the fans.
Images Copyright © 2009 Todd Owyoung. All Rights Reserved. Re-posting and unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Images Copyright © 2009 Todd Owyoung. All Rights Reserved. Re-posting and unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Photographer's Notes:
Having seen Paramore at Warped Tour 2008, I went into this set with high expectations, and the band did not disappoint. Whether it's just another year under their belt, sharing the stage with veteran rockers No Doubt, or both, Paramore has refined their live show even more and put on a great show.
I wasn't exactly sure what to expect with regard to lighting, but was pleasantly surprised by the lights Paramore had for this concert. The lighting, for the most part, mirrored the band's kinetic set, with lots of bursting from arrays of lights at the back of the stage.
While it look a lot of careful timing, hustle, and a little luck, it really paid off to watch the position of the lights in relation to the band members of Paramore. These lights were raised to about 8-9 feet tall, so shooting from the photo pit, the angles for these lights worked out perfectly for beautiful backlights.
Spotlights took care of the some of the frontlighting, while yellow, magenta, and blue accents came from above to round out the band's look.
I shot this set primarily with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, though I also made use of the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8. Due to the band's movements, I kept the shutter speeds as high as possible. Thanks to a small bit of daylight filling in and the spotlights, there was generally plenty of light to make this happen.
I shot this set primarily at ISO 1600 – while I could have shot at a lower ISO, the D3 has such clean files at that sensitivity that I never hesitate to pump it up to that setting if it means achieving more motion-stopping power.
End Notes:
If you have the opportunity to photograph Paramore, they're a great set of subjects. I'd love to see them stick around for a while and rock a few arena tours.
Stay tuned for the No Doubt concert photos; they're coming up!
