The Alkaline Trio

November 16, 2008 – Bathed in deep washes and lit dramatically from below, the Alkaline Trio brought a tight, driving set to the Pageant, filled with tales of alcohol-soaked love and heartbreak alike.

Photographer’s Notes:

Out of all the sets of the night, Alkaline Trio’s was the most difficult, primarily due to the deep color washes that dominated their stage production.

Reds and Magentas seemed to be the order of the night during the groups first three songs, a trend that also carried into their set after I left the pit.

Aside from lighting challenges, the big speaker monitors in front of Matt Skiba and Derek Grant kept the musicians at a distance, not to mention their vocal duties, such that they rarely came to the edge of the stage.

Still, this was a fun set to photograph. I’d been a quiet fan of the band back in their Asian Man Records days, but had never caught them live, so this was a bit of a nostalgic gig to shoot.

I used the Nikon D3 and D700, utilizing the trio of f/2.8 zooms. 14-24mm, 24-70mm, and the 70-200mm. Out of those, the latter two saw the most use.

The 70-200mm was nice for tighter shots and for picking up Derek Grant at the back of the stage, while the 24-70mm was perfect for half-length portraits of Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano. While the 14-24mm brought in a few fun shots, I could have easily done without it for this show.

About the author: Todd Owyoung is an internationally published music photographer specializing in concert photography and band portraits. He also grills a mean steak.

Contact Todd for image licensing and assignments wherever the rock show lives. You can also get in touch with Todd via Twitter.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with alk3, alkaline trio, d3, Dan Andriano, Derek Grant, live, Matt Skiba, music, Music Photography, nikon, photography, punk, rock. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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9 Responses to “The Alkaline Trio”

1. George K says:

   January 16, 2009 at 9:38 am

   I envy the fact that you got some white lighting to shoot the band. All my photos from the NYC show were soaked in deep reds and oranges (and we were barred from using flash). I actually converted quite a few shots to black and white to adjust contrasts and make them usable for prints.

   Reply
2. Todd says:

   January 16, 2009 at 9:54 am

   Hey George,

   Thanks for the comment. I assure you, it was the same lighting rig; there was no pure white light in sight for this show.

   For most of the shots of Skiba and Andriano, I relied on the underlighting as the key light, waiting for it to flare up, but its representation is pretty skewed here.

   I did include a few of the red/blue/purple washes in the set, as those really dominated the set.

   Reply
3. Todd Owyoung says:

   January 16, 2009 at 3:35 pm

   I have to admit: I used to have a quiet love for Alkaline Trio back in the day. Nice to finally catching them live: http://snurl.com/a6a0b

   Reply
4. Dustin Updyke says:

   January 16, 2009 at 8:47 pm

   Alkaline Trio pics from iShootShows: http://bit.ly/16jfW

   Reply
5. Chris says:

   January 17, 2009 at 9:25 am

   Man, you definitely got more white light than I did.. well, “white” – something other than deep reds, blues, purples. This is especially seen on Adriano a couple of times. I think my favorite is number 7… that such a crisp shot of Skiba and his eyes are so clear. The last shot with the wide end on Skiba is additionally awesome.

   It’s been awhile for sure, but you can see my set here . Not nearly as good with the lighting or angles.

   Reply
6. Todd says:

   January 17, 2009 at 9:44 am

   Hey Chris! Nice to hear from you, hope the UK is treating you well.

   As soon as those flashes of uplighting started coming through, I tried to time my shots so I could maximize that lighting, though it was pretty sparse.

   Thanks for the comments!

   Reply
7. Cassidy says:

   January 19, 2009 at 12:55 am

   theres now The in their name.

   Reply
8. Valerio says:

   February 4, 2009 at 11:58 am

   Gonna shoot them tonight, useful tips thanks, let’s see…red lights don’t bother my B&W, though!

   ciao

   Reply
9. Todd says:

   February 4, 2009 at 12:01 pm

   Have fun, Valerio. These guys didn’t move around too much during the first three songs, as both Matt Skiba and Derek Grant’s vocal duties keep them pretty close to their mics most of the time.

   Still, you should be able to get some shots of the guys rockin’ out. Good luck!

   Reply