A Rocket To The Moon

A Rocket to the Moon @ Pops

November 14, 2008 – Opening up for Secondhand Serenade and Cute Is What We Aim For, Nick Santino, a.k.a. A Rocket To The Moon, delivered a tight, upbeat set of crunchy riffs and heartfelt vocals that had his lady fans crushing, cutting a rug, and crying all at once. Santino’s set drew heavily from Greetings From EP, including performances of highlight tracks “Dakota” and “Fear of Flying.”

A Rocket to the Moon @ Pops

A Rocket To The Moon @ Pop's -- 2008.11.14

A Rocket to the Moon @ Pops

A Rocket To The Moon @ Pop's -- 2008.11.14

This shot was actually shot during CIWWAF’s set, which also called back members of Automatic Loveletter. Nick took the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of his fans, and vice versa.

Photographer’s Notes:

This was a short and simple set. I used just one SB-600 as the remote, with a little of the SB-900 commander unit being used as flash.

The deep color washes used during the performance were the biggest challenge here, as balancing with flash meant a little bit of juggling, as well as plenty of experimentation. For some images, such as the second to last shot, providing hot shortlighting proved the best option for creating a contrast to the heavy red-magenta washes that were in rotation for Nick Santino’s set.

Without the aid of flash, this was have been a pretty grim set to photograph, so its use was a very welcome option.

The Nikon D3 and Nikon 24-70mm took care of this performance. Due to the tight space on stage and high speaker monitors walling in the stationary Santino, the classic midrange left me wanting for very little else.

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 22nd, 2009 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with a rocket to the moon, ciwwaf, Music Photography, nick santino, photography, tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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JonnyUps says:

January 23, 2009 at 1:06 am

my buddy justin is in this band, good to see them getting some press. amazing shots too, thanks for posting this!

Todd says:

January 23, 2009 at 9:48 am

Hey Jonny, thanks for the comment. Yup, it seems there has been a lot of buzz with this band – the golden touch of Fueled By Ramen, right? Thanks again!

AnaClara says:

January 23, 2009 at 10:26 am

Todd love your work as always! amazing, A Rocket rules! and you are right about Nick! haha

Todd says:

January 23, 2009 at 10:30 am

Hey AnaClara, thanks! Glad you enjoyed this small set. The girls were going crazy for Nick.

Rene Skrodzki says:

January 23, 2009 at 12:21 pm

I like these. They have a small club feel to them. Unlike AC/DC where you can tell it is a big stage, these seem to be more intimate.

I am going to trying a show tonight at the Rivoli in Toronto, still at the small club stage but I will certainly remember these for then

Todd says:

January 23, 2009 at 1:08 pm

Hey Rene,

Thanks for the note. The venue were these were shot is among the smaller that I shoot. I think the capacity is about 1500 or so, but more than that, the stage itself is smaller than that capacity would indicate. The stage is about four-feet tall, which is generally a benefit, too. Good luck with your show tonight.

Keith says:

January 23, 2009 at 2:33 pm

I really love the pop in that first shot. Cool set. I like 3 as well!

Todd says:

January 23, 2009 at 2:40 pm

Hey Keith, thanks. You gotta go strong on the lead! The third shot was the lead, but then I switched it out. Glad to see you approve.

Janessa says:

January 26, 2009 at 8:01 pm

Amazing work Todd. I’ll be seeing ARTTM come The AP Tour, as always your work is awesome. Can’t wait to see what you post come the Senses Fail show.

Todd says:

January 26, 2009 at 8:19 pm

Hey Janessa, thanks very much. The AP Tour should be a lot of fun, I’m looking forward to it. Senses Fail should be fun, too – might try for flash on that one.

Jordan says:

January 31, 2009 at 12:51 pm

Lovin’ the second to last one, that’s nice of him to give you a little look.

Todd says:

January 31, 2009 at 5:15 pm

Hey Jordan, thanks for the comment! I don’t think he’s giving me any look, but more likely some screaming girl in the front row!

karen elizabeth says:

March 3, 2009 at 8:01 pm

a rocket to the moon is like a great hippin band my friend michael absolutly loves them yeah

amy says:

March 30, 2009 at 3:17 pm

I saw ARTTM a week before they went on the cute tour. The place had less then a 100 people in it and it was a great show.
Nick and the guys are great

Brandon Leighton says:

November 12, 2009 at 9:21 am

Hey Todd, I just wanted to get your opinion on how I should go about with a D40. I love the camera, I just wanted to see if there is anything else i need to do to get the most out of concert photography.
And lastly, I am scheduled for my first “gig” for a touring indie band. The place is very very low light. Should I rent out another body for that show? Your website is amazing. Please tell me what you think about my recent concert set.

Sincerely,

Brandon

A Rocket To The Moon: Concert Photos | ishootshows.com says:

November 26, 2009 at 10:26 pm

[...] can see how I shot A Rocket To The Moon the last time they rolled through here in their performance at Pop’s. var addthis_pub = "ishootshows"; About the author: Todd [...]

Kathy says:

November 27, 2009 at 11:11 am

These are amazing!! I went to the same tour when they were in NY and took a few shots with a NikonD40 with the 1.8 35mm lens its was a lot of fun. Think you job is amazing and would love to continue doing concert photography when I get to college. I have a flickr and would be really cool if you check out some of my work the search is Neon pink.
Thanks