Five Finger Death Punch headlined Citizens Bank Arena photo: Reuben Martinez

New to shooting at The Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, I walked in not knowing what to expect but excited to see three bands I really liked.

First up was In This Moment who know how to give a great performance. Singer Maria Brink, with her two dancers, portrayed songs like “Big Bad Wolf” wearing wolf masks. This is what’s exciting as a photographer, seeing the presence of each song and documenting each move when all of the band members play a part.

Papa Roach came next with a full energetic set. Singer Jacoby Shaddix made his presence known by going into the crowd a few times then later, he and guitarist Jerry Horton played a couple acoustic songs in the center of the crowd. As the lighting radiated throughout the place, I was able to still get great shots from outside the photo pit.

Finally, the band everyone came to see was up next, Five Finger Death Punch. Singer Ivan Moody approached his 180 pound silver mic-stand adorned with a skull, grenades and bullets on the base with the microphone set into a handgun.

I was enraptured by the moment, taking shots of the mic stand alone. Approaching each member of the band, I tried to capture every possible angle but, it was hard to keep an eye open while taking it all in.

This band knows how to get their audience’s attention. From bringing kids onstage to having everyone turn on their cell phone lights, as a photographer, I try to seize every moment.

Five Finger Death Punch delivered a powerful performance and their music fits their name. This music is my preference. Great show. Great venue. Well played.

THE DARKNESS at The Glass House photo: Lauren Ratkowski

I love The Darkness. I have since I saw their music video for their first single “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” when I was only 10 back in 2003. Although they did disappear for a while, I was happy to hear they were returning to the rock scene a few years ago. At that point I had set my sights on doing music photography, so naturally, I put them on my list of bands I wanted to try to shoot.

My dreams came true when I was asked to shoot The Darkness at The Glass House in Pomona!

As usual, I grabbed my credentials and waited for one of our writers to arrive. We went inside and I did my typical venue survey to see where the best points to shoot from the crowd were, where the entrance to the photo pit was, and beyond. The crowd for this show was filled with enthusiastic rock lovers of all ages. It seems that The Darkness truly is a unique band that has the ability to appeal to both classic and modern rock fans.

According to the venues site, another band was supposed to open. However, the only band that played was The Darkness themselves.

I jumped into the pit 15 minutes before they went on. I’ve never shot at The Glass House, so I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of lighting and how big the pit was going to be. I was happy to find that the pit was a great size (some venues have very tight photo pits)! I got situated and set my camera to my usual pre-concert starting point.

The band came on about 10 minutes later. I must say I was a little awe struck because I’ve loved them for so long, but I had a job to do! Going into this shoot, I knew that lead vocalist Justin Hawkins is quite the character. I enjoy shooting bands with a presence because it genuinely gives a great dynamic to the photos. Needless to say, the band didn’t disappoint.

During the third song of the night, I found my lens pointed directly up at Justin Hawkins. I watched through my viewfinder as he pointed the mic out to the crowd, encouraging them to sing along. I snapped a few, then he pulled the mic back up to his lips. A moment later, it was back in my lens. He looked down at me and smiled- he knew he was creating a great photo opportunity and left his mic pointed at me as I snapped 5 more frames before pulling away again.

I was excited to know that I had hopefully just got something good. I wanted to check my LCD to be sure, but I knew if I did, I may miss another great moment. So I fought my urge to take a peak and kept shooting.

I stayed to the end of the show knowing that in the past, Hawkins usually jumps into the crowd during “I Believe In A Thing Called Love.” I found a spot that I knew I’d be able to get something if he did so during this show.

Although Hawkins did not jump out into the audience during that particular song, it happened during the bands 3 song encore. Sitting atop a crew member’s shoulders with guitar in hand, Hawkins was toured across the venue. I ran from one side of the venue to the other and followed him through knowing this was a moment that I needed to have. This paid off-I was able to capture some of my favorite photos of the night!

Shooting concerts is truly a labor of love. I love being able to appreciate bands I love with my art. I can’t wait to knock another band off my list!

FKA TWIGS at FYF Fest 2015 photo: Lauren Ratkowski

Festival season is always exciting and challenging as a concert photographer. Festivals usually mean long days, incredible artists and tons of planning. FYF Fest in downtown Los Angeles was the end to my festival season. The festival itself was two days and packed an interesting array of artists on four stages.

First things first- Concert Guide Live writer Kaylee Johnston and I arrived at the festival and went to pick up our credentials. This process is usually pretty standard-we show them our I.D.’s and they give us our passes and line up schedule. This time I was handed a contract. As a young photographer, I’m always looking out for ways to protect my creative rights. But after reading their terms a few times, I understood that it was only to stop me from being able to sell the photos I would be creating at the festival. With the rights to my photos still with me, we moved forward.

The first day of the festival was about mapping the place out and planning our attack for which artists we’d like to cover. The first day was light in terms of shooting. I started with Canadian band Alvvays on the main stage, then jumped over to Denver indie pop rockers Tennis. Both bands played in the afternoon, allowing me to shoot in natural light. Sounds silly, but at this festival I realized how much I prefer to shoot concerts either indoors or at night. Natural sunlight is great and does make things easier technically, but I feel as if it doesn’t give the same WOW factor to the photos.

As night fell, we closed out day one with dance band !!!. Their energetic set was a sharp contrast to the laid back music of Alvvays and Tennis, but this is why we love festivals! We would have ended with headliner Kanye West, who replaced Frank Ocean, however a no photo policy was requested from the artist.

Kaylee and I began day two early, but were set back when the first two bands I planned to shoot also had requested no photos. I arrived to the photo pit to cover Mac Demarco early. Based off all the fans I had seen during the day, I knew there was going to be a large crowd and tons of interested photographers. The photo pit ended up being pretty full, but we were all still able to move around freely and photograph from different angles.

Three Oh See’s were up next on our list. I jumped into the pit and immediately noticed that the stage was set on a dried out lawn, which only means one thing if the crowd is active-dust. Once the band hit the stage, the mini dust storm began. Between the bands intense strobe lighting and the dust floating in the air, I was only able to snag a few decent photos. Feeling slightly defeated, I began planning for my next artist of the night.

I arrived about 15 minutes before Solange was due to hit the stage. I’d been looking forward to her set all day and figured there would be a lot of interested photographers. We were blocked from entering the pit, but were let in 5 minutes before she hit the stage. There were probably about 15 of us waiting initially. As soon as I finished wiping down my lens, I looked behind me to realize that there were now double the photographers in the pit. After some sound issues, Solange hit the stage with her incredible soul. Unfortunately there was no possible way to move around the pit to try and get more dynamic photos, but Solange is luckily not a still standing performer. I was a little worried when the lighting for her first song was all blue LED’s-one of three of my least favorite lighting conditions. But the lighting changed for the remaining songs I shot and her red outfit provided a sharp contrast against the dark background.

Following Solange was another artist I’d been looking forward to shooting for a long time-FKA Twigs. Her music is extremely original and her stage presence is made to match. Again, the photo pit was incredibly packed. But arriving early always pays off. Despite being stuck in the same spot again, I had a great angle. My only worry was the fog machines. I’ve realized that too much fog during a concert typically makes it harder to get a sharp focus in photos. The haze from the fog gives off a soft appearance and no amount of post editing can solve my problem. However, the fog actually worked in my favor for a number of shots and diffused the lighting making FKA Twigs, in a red custom kimono, stand out.

Covering FYF was one of the larger festivals I’ve covered, but it was a blast. I love that with every show or artist I shoot, I not only walk away with great photos, but I always know that I have learned something new!

Yukon Blonde played Soda Bar July 17

On Jul. 17, Vancouver BC’s own Yukon Blonde played San Diego County’s Soda Bar. With overcoming sound check issues, Yukon Blonde played an overall strong performance. Although it being my first time seeing this Indie Pop band and being at this venue, when they started playing I could clearly see why they had their own followers and understand how they were nominated for a Juno award, which is Canada’s version of the Grammy’s.

In support of Yukon Blonde’s latest release “On Blonde,” they opened up with the first track “Confused” and played the majority of their new release throughout the night. My highlight of the night’s performance was them playing “Favourite People,” their upbeat song with a great bass line from James Younger, and clean 12-string guitar from Brandon Scott.

As they continued, everyone was out of their seat standing in front of the stage. Being a smaller venue, it was hard to move around and get better shots while remaining courteous to the fans. Overall, both the show and the staff were great. With a few albums under their belt, I can totally see Yukon Blonde playing Coachella in the near future.

WALTER TROUT played The Coach House Jul 10 photo: James Christopher

This was Walter Trout’s return to live performance after he cheated death and made what appears to be a full and miraculous recovery from liver failure. And as he mentioned at the beginning of his set, because of his long history in Huntington Beach, the gig had to be at an Orange County venue.

So tonight saw him almost literally rise from the dead to amaze and stun a sold out crowd with an energetic and brilliant performance. The Coach House is like an old school roadhouse, there is no photo pit, patrons sit communally at long tables and on an evening like this one the air was heavy with the smells of sweat and beer. In other words it was prime time for a rock-n-roll blues revival.

My job tonight was to find a way to somehow capture the emotion of Walter’s performance in a venue that was packed well beyond capacity. In other words I needed to capture images without standing in front of any paying guests and try not to piss them or the venue management off.

There were ZERO empty seats in the venue and I was feeling even more pressure because it was a special night, you could feel it in the air, in the crowd’s expectation and most importantly in Walter Trout’s amazing performance. This was a man who had been given a second chance to continue doing what he loves, maybe even what he was born to do. And I was having a hell of a time trying to find a spot to capture it.

I ended up shooting most of the photos from the sound desk located upstairs (there were even paying customers up there) about 100 feet from the stage. I chose a 70-200mm lens with shutter speeds of between 400-650 and usually with the F-stop wide open to 2.8. It may not have been ideal but then again it usually isn’t ever ideal when shooting a concert. And in the end I think I was able to capture some of the excitement of this once in a lifetime event.

Chris Whitehall (The Griswolds) at The Observatory Jul 6 photo: Andy Ortega

By the time The Griswolds began their July 6 show, The Observatory in Santa Ana was almost completely full and pulsing with energy. The audience was singing along with the warm up music that was playing while the sound was getting checked. It was a Monday night but tonight, it was still the weekend.

As the show began, there was a deafening roar/scream as Daniel Duque-Perez stepped out onto the stage and in front of his synthesizer. That’s the reminder for us photographers to put in those earplugs.

Next came Christopher Whitehall with his trademark shaggy blonde hair. He steps up to the microphone, waves and smiles. Again, audience cheers and the show kicks off!

The Griswolds band members are great at moving around to different parts of the stage. When you’re in the audience, especially if you’re on the shorter side, it’s cool when you can see the band members without having to squeeze through a crowd. Whitehall stood on the edge of the stage many times and interacted with the audience very well too.

HELLYEAH lead singer, Chad Gray getting messy at Mayhem 2015 photo: Lauren Ratkowski

As a concert photographer, I know every show I capture is going to be different. From performances to audiences, no two shows are alike.

Photographing Rockstar Energy Drink’s Mayhem Festival in San Bernardino was no different.

My day began early in the afternoon at the Victory Records stage with Shattered Sun. Covering outdoor festivals gives us photographers certain advantages we don’t get in your typical indoor concert venue.

First, natural lighting is the best you can get. It’s predictable and allows us to use faster shutter speeds, which is essential when photographing high energy acts such as Shattered Sun. The Texas based six-piece band set the crowd’s mood for the festivals following acts.

Another great advantage to outdoor festival type settings is that the band on stage is not my only subject worth photographing- the fans interactions with the music are also photo worthy.

While Shattered Sun’s audience brought large circle pits, Swedish band Sister Sin encouraged fans to sing along. Lead singer Liv Jagrell, the festival’s only female band leader, had an energy that fans reacted to, allowing for more dynamic photos. Some may think that it’s easier to photograph still subjects, but the secret to great concert photos is being able to capture the movement and unique energy of each artist.

The Devil Wears Prada opened the festivals main stage in the evening. I have shot festivals before, but I have never shot bands on a large, amphitheater style stage before. I was a little hesitant at first- there were more photographers, we had a larger amount of people behind us, and I was shooting in a new setting.

Despite there being about twenty of us in the photo pit, we each had more than enough space to move around. A key to being a concert photographer is finding new and unique angles to capture artists. Finding these angles is what set us apart from each other- obviously, no two photographers are the same.

Hellyeah was the last band I photographed. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first, but I knew their set was going to be good after the second song began. A crew member came out and sprayed fake blood all over lead singer Chad Gray’s face. The only thing better than finding angles is when bands get theatrical.

The fake blood was extreme, but it made my photos feel much more interesting. Instead of seeing a guy screaming into a microphone, there was now a guy covered in fake blood screaming into a microphone. These images were some of my favorite from the festival- they were attention grabbing and made viewers wonder what was actually happening when I shot them.

The day was long, but it was a great experience. It also reinforced that shooting in a festival setting is not for the faint hearted.

Lugging photo equipment up and down hills all day in the summer heat can be exhausting. However at the end of the day, going home and viewing photographs from the day is what makes it all worth it.