New World Spirits

11-years after their last show together, New World Spirits reunited on the stage of the Pageant in a tour de force performance that thrilled their die-hard fans. With the audience singing back with every song during the two and a half hour concert, this was a party a decade in the making, and no one seemed to leave disappointed.

Photographer’s Notes:

This was a fantastic show to photograph. The production was on, the band was tight, the crowd was buzzed, and it was basically a big party atmosphere throughout the entire show.

On the last note, exhibit A:

During the entire show, fans kept a steady stream of shots coming toward the stage. All this positive energy contributed to what I’d consider the ideal atmosphere for a music photographer. I know that I always deliver when there’s an infectious vibe at a gig.

For this show, I relied primarily on the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 from Nikon, and split my time between the photo pit and the stage (about 70-30, respectively).

The production on this show was great, but lighting wasn’t super bright, so I shot mainly between ISO 1600 and 3200 with my f/2.8 zooms. In addition to working with the stage lighting, I set up a pair of Nikon SB-900 speedlights to supplement the stage cans. While I worked with the stage lights for the majority of my shooting, the flashes were a nice option to have when they provided the look I wanted.

One interesting part of the stage treatment for this gig was the abundance of white for the look, with a white stage floor, coverings over the monitors, and a white back drop. For the deep colored treatments, this created a great wrap-around kind of fill.

Guitarists Danny Drabb and Mike Kociela were both behind a pair of fat monitors, which proved to be a nice challenge. For many shots of Danny, I found myself wedged in between the monitors to get up close and personal with his guitar face.

End Notes:

Big thanks to Mike, J, Danny, and Steve of New World Spirits, as well as to Amy for hooking me up with them. I’m hoping 2010 has good things in store for these guys and that this reunion show is just a launching pad.

As an aside, anyone want to guess how many images above actually used flash (aside from the backstage portrait)?

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 Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 6:21 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with concert photography, images, music photographer, new world spirits, pageant, photos, st. louis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.