MAYDAY PARADE: Tale From the Photo Pit photo: Lauren Ratkowski
When I finally made it into House Of Blues in Anaheim, I knew Mayday Parade’s show was going to be full of energy. Fans packed the venue and had already been treated to two up-and-coming openers on this year’s annual AP tour.
Although I arrived a little late, I jumped into the photo pit to catch the third band of the night, Real Friends. I have shot them before and knew how crazy the audience would get once they took the stage. Crowd surfers and screaming fans did not let down my expectations. Security lined the photo pit, so we photographers were finding ourselves courteously climbing over each other and security to get good shots. Of course, security is doing their job and we are doing ours, but we’re both operating in what can basically be described as a 3-foot-wide trench. Sometimes things get…close.
Once Real Friends finished their set, I jumped right back into the photo pit and waited. I had a feeling that more photographers would arrive to shoot the band, so the earlier I got there, the more time I’d have to get a decent spot to shoot from. Again, security remained in the pit, but there were now about 9 photographers reporting for duty.
Another photographer gave me the heads up that Mayday Parade’s set was all backlit, which is not good news. When the band stepped on stage, we were also greeted with incredibly bright, white LCD lights. Once the intro was over, the LCD panels became red. I knew this was going to be a challenge.
Despite a red light saturated set, I managed to get some good shots. The secret is trying to catch onto the patterns in the lights and then being ready to fire at the right moment. It also paid off to zoom in closer on the band members, wide shots would allow for more red light to blow out the photo I was trying to create.
The time in the pit went fast, but the energy Mayday Parade brought to the stage carried on through the whole set. It had been awhile since I shot a sold-out show, but it was refreshing to be surrounded by people truly excited to experience a night of amazing bands!