What do you do when you have 15 minutes to photograph a Grammy-nominated band on a pitch black loading dock? You dial in the lights, hold onto your butt, and let it fly. That's the plan going in, anyway.
Before Underoath's performance last weekend, I had the privilege of photographing the six-piece band in a very quick portrait session. Here are the results.
Photographer's Notes:
The time really flew by on this one. When the schedule came in, I immediately noted the time.
6:00pm – 10-15 minute photo shoot.
Pretty quick, but a great challenge. Due to the short time frame and constraints of shooting before the band's performance, the locations for this shoot were basically limited to what was in a minute's walking distance of the venue.
To make things more interesting, all the views for one side of the venue, which included nearby industrial sites and power stations, were off-limits for photo due to protection of Homeland Security. This limitation left the primary options as a gravel lot on the other side of the building and the loading docks of a small warehouse immediately adjacent.
Just before 6:00, I called the band's manager, met up with the guys, and walked them over to the location, where we did two main looks: one shooting down the walk of the loading docks, one shooting into it.
For this set, I used the Nikon D3 with the SB-900 as the commander, which triggered up to four remote flashes, with two shot into 45″ umbrellas. The Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 was used for the majority of these shots, with just a few with the 14-24mm f/2.8.
End Notes:
Big thanks to MSO, RLM, Brian S., and the band for making this shoot happen. Shout out to Dave Mullis for assisting.
Stay tuned for the images from Underoath's performance, coming up!
