Monday, December 24, 2007

Unwritten Law

A few years ago I used to take some photos for a Nationally Recognized Band, Unwritten Law.
While I no longer shoot for the guys, I did have more fun working with them than I have on a photoshoot in a long time.
Enjoy some of my shots below:

PK and Tony at a practice session prior to their concert. Unwritten Law is originally from San Diego, couple from Poway and the rest from So Cal.

Scott Russo, leading a packed house at the HOB in Anaheim.

Taking photos in a concert is one of the most difficult places to shoot. Lots of movement and little to no lighting at all. Flashes generally kill any colored lights, and well..take a look at the difference below...I really hate flashes =)

It's really tough finding a photo that illustrates the energy the music provides.

I find that off all the emotions I've tried to capture in an image, music/concerts are by far the most difficult. Songs carry so much emotional weight with each note, it's tough to convey the overall feeling of a song with only a split second being illustrated.

More practicing. I'm not sure how these guys do it. They were back in Southern California wrapping up what was a very long International Tour, and yet they seemed unphased going about business as usual. The life of a rockstar is generally more of the photo above, than the glamorous shots at the actual performance. Long days spent away from loved ones, constant practice, and time spent in a crammed tour bus. It's no wonder drugs and alcohol run so rampant in the business, there's really not much else to do.

Steve from Unwritten Law, an amazing guitar player and overall quality guy.

House of Blues is an indoor venue, with 2 levels of seats. Without an incredibly wide angle lens, illustrating how many people were jammed in this relatively small space was next to impossible. But all photography related issues aside, standing on the same stage as one of my all time favorite bands still remains one of the coolest moments of my life.

Same shot as above, except with no flash to fill light the audience, notice how much smaller the audience looks, but how much more moody the overall photo feels.

I think this may have been the only good energy shot I found that night. Unwritten Law, if you can't tell by the audience of teenagers and grungy look of the rockers, is a Rock band. Trying to capture that "im a rock band" look is pretty tough.

So that's it, a brief look into one of the perks of having a great camera. Access to awesome bands. If you'd like, check out UL's site here to check out some of their music.

-David

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great article... I look forward to reading more.

Best,

James M.