Dillinger Escape Plan

Last month, KERRANG! magazine asked me to photograph Dillinger Escape Plan in concert here in NYC. After I accepted the assignment, I went to the band's MySpace page and immediately wondered what I had gotten myself into.

Their style is called "mathcore" or "technical metalcore" which is an incredibly complex style of play featuring odd time signatures and song structures. It's very heavy and loud, and the lead vocalist is usually screaming the lyrics at the top of his lungs (or at least it sounds that way to me).

While it's not a style I normally listen to, the musicians are quite talented. Thank goodness for earplugs though, because working right in front of the stage for an extended period of time could do some serious damage to my ear drums.

The audience was rowdy, as expected. Bodies were flying everywhere and I had to keep one eye in my viewfinder and the other on the crowd.

At one point, I got an accidental kick to the face which gave me a pretty good bloody nose. After my eyes stopped watering, I was able to shoot the rest of the set. Luckily nothing was broken -- I just had a nice scab on the bridge of my nose for about a week.

I had a feeling that there would be some interesting photos at the show. Near the end of the set, lead singer Greg Puciato pulled a Gene Simmons by breathing fire out over the crowd. He then stepped out into the audience, let someone hold up the rod with the open flame and shot it out over their heads.

It was a pretty dramatic moment and one that I was happy to have captured. The photo is the main image for the concert review in KERRANG!

Fall Out Boy

I also had the opportunity last month to photograph Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz.

Unfortunately, the location I was given for the shoot was a tiny office in the depths of Madison Square Garden. The room was so small that my assistant and I had to store some equipment in the hallway just so we'd have enough space for two different lighting setups.

I knew I would only have about 10 minutes with Pete before his band would take the stage in front of 15,000 screaming fans.

When he arrived, I had to ask the two girls with him to wait outside because there was no space in the room. I later realized that I had kicked Ashlee Simpson (his girlfriend) out of the room.

Sorry, Ashlee!

They didn't seem to mind though and the shoot went off without a hitch.

Lately, I've been doing more creative post-production on my images. This turned out to be the perfect chance to use those skills since I was shooting in a boring white room.

The photo above wound up running in the year-end issue of KERRANG!

Last Canes game at the Orange Bowl

Normally, I get my assignments from Sports Illustrated only a few days in advance. Last month, however, I put in a request to cover the Miami Hurricanes game against the Virginia Cavaliers about a month ahead of time.

This game was very special because it was the last time the Hurricanes would ever play in the Miami Orange Bowl. They're moving to a newer facility -- Dolphins Stadium -- next season after playing 468 games in the OB over the last 70 years.

Since I was born in Miami, attended UM, and worked for the Miami Herald, I practically grew up shooting football at the OB.

As the sun was setting before the game, I walked around and made photos to show the environment. Other than the sheer number of fans taking photos of the stadium with their cell phones, it looked just like every other pregame -- tailgaters drinking and kids playing catch.

This young Canes fan (and her socks!) caught my eye and I was able to frame her in golden light with the aging stadium in the back.

Just like the Orange Bowl, the Miami football team isn't what it used to be. They were shut out 48-0 by Virginia. Coincidentally, the Hurricanes lost their very first game at the Orange Bowl 26-0 on December 10, 1937.

Nevertheless, it was still a historic day and I'm glad I was there to document it.

The Price is Right

Last month I spent a couple of weeks in Los Angeles producing behind-the-scenes videos on the set of the legendary game show The Price is Right!

FremantleMedia just launched a brand new website for the show featuring some of my work with more videos going online as the season progresses. I've completed twelve pieces including profiles of the models, a backstage view with announcer Rich Fields, and a look at the passionate people who fill the audience each day in hopes they will be told to "come on down!"

With Drew Carey as the new host, the producers decided to do a full Halloween episode this year. They've had themed showcases in the past, but this was the first full show to feature a Halloween theme.

I wanted to document the festivities, so I produced the video you see above.

Penn State White Out

It's football season again!

In September I traveled to State College, PA to photograph Notre Dame vs. Penn State in front of the second largest crowd ever at the stadium (110,078 people!). For big games, Penn State usually calls for a "white out," where all of the fans in the student section wear white.

For this game, they had their first ever "white house," where everyone got in on the act.

In the middle of the second quarter when the sun was setting, I walked up to the very top of the stadium (I didn't realize that there was an elevator until after I was up there).

This photo ran across two pages in Sports Illustrated.

Power of 10 video

I thought I would change things up this month by posting a video.

I'm working with Drew Carey to produce his behind-the-scenes video blog (vlog) for the game show "Power of 10." My videos go online after each show airs (Tues and Wed nights on CBS). The show's creator and executive producer Michael Davies also created "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."

I shoot and edit these pieces each week with a very quick turnaround. You can see them all on the CBS website, but I've posted a short collection of clips from the first eight episodes above.

Live Earth

Last month, I was one of the fortunate few photographers to cover the Live Earth show at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. With the help of Al Gore, there were concerts across all seven continents on 7-7-07 to help raise awareness about the dangers of global warming.

Whether you think the show had an impact or not, you can't deny that they had a fantastic lineup. The NJ concert featured The Police, Roger Waters, Smashing Pumpkins, Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews, Kelly Clarkson, Kanye West, Melissa Etheridge, Fall Out Boy, Keith Urban, and others.

I spent most of the long day in the photo pit right in front of the stage but at one point wandered around the stadium to make this image. I shot it in color and then did some Photoshop work to convert it to black and white with selective focus.

Nantucket Golf

This Month Golf Magazine hired me to shoot an assignment in Nantucket, MA. We only had a couple of days to get through a number of different setups.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn't care about deadlines or flight schedules. The original time we booked for this shoot was rained out, so we rescheduled for the next morning. It was grey and overcast, but thanks to the four cases of lighting gear I brought, I was able to make it look like a nice, sunny day.

For this particular shot, I put my life in the hands of golf pro Kevin Walker. I was lying down in the grass about two feet in front of the ball while he swung at full strength.

I've put myself in some hairy situations before, but next time I think I'll shoot this with a remote camera.

Duke Lacrosse

When all of the charges against the Duke lacrosse players were dropped, Sports Illustrated sent me to cover the team's next match. The Virginia Cavaliers visited the Blue Devils in front of over 6,000 fans in Durhan, NC.

At one point, Duke substitute Max Quinzani came around the back of the net and took this diving shot as he was falling to the ground. He didn't score, but it sure made a pretty photo.

Duke came from behind to win the match 7-6 in overtime and this picture ran across two pages in SI's "Leading Off" section.

Fans at the NFL Draft

For the past few years, I've covered the NFL draft on assignment for Sports Illustrated.

Since the event itself doesn't present too many interesting photo opportunities, I always try to find a unique angle. In the past, I've photographed it from above, backstage, and even on the stage itself.

The fans that attend the draft are some of the most passionate you will find, so this year I set up a portrait booth on the street outside of Radio City Music Hall and made photos of as many of them as I could.

Here are some of my favorites.

Amanda

This month I photographed the women's NCAA basketball tournament, shot boxing at Madison Square Garden, and made new portraits of the Pat McGee Band.

But my photo of the month is a little more close to home. My 3-year old daughter Amanda Grace was the lucky recipient of a blue lollipop after getting her hair cut and this was the result.

I used a toy lens called, appropriately, the "lensbaby" to give the photo a unique look. It's a tilt/shift lens that keeps the center of the frame sharp while throwing the rest of the image out of focus.

The tongue, however, is no trick photography.

Pure Amanda.

Across Canada with Barenaked Ladies

I spent some more time in February touring Canada with Barenaked Ladies for TourPhotographer.com.

The guys all live in Toronto and the Air Canada Centre was packed with over 13,000 people. They've given me unbelievable access to photograph them backstage and on stage, so I couldn't miss the opportunity to make a shot showing the band with their fans.

As they were taking their bows at the end of the first encore, I jumped onto the drum riser. Ed Robertson said to the crowd, "Do you guys want to be in a picture?" Everyone went nuts, the band turned around to face me, and here's the result.

It bothered me a little that there is a space with two empty seats just to the left of the band. However, I actually got an email from the couple that was sitting there. The wife is pregnant and her husband told me that they left right before the encore because they thought her water broke!

It turned out to be a false alarm, but they wanted to get on the road just in case. They're pretty upset that they missed being in the photo!

Cruise Naked

The band Barenaked Ladies brought me on board the Carnival Legend for five days in January to document the first ever BNL “Ships and Dip” concert cruise for TourPhotographer.com.

The fans were told that if they wanted to be in a very special photo they should show up at the pool wearing their cabin bathrobe and nothing else.

On the count of three, all of the robes were dropped and I made a photo that hundreds of BNL fans will never forget.

My biggest concern was that only 10 people would show up. Luckily, we got a few hundred and the band posed right in the middle (on the upper level behind the circular railing). Everyone I talked to said that we made it a lot of fun and they had a great time.

The only awkward part was reaching down to pick up their robes after I was done taking the shot!

If you want to see the "before" photo of everyone in their robes, it's available at TourPhotographer.com. Just navigate to the Ships and Dip photos in the Barenaked Ladies section.