Hands down, The Dillinger Escape Plan are one of the most dynamic live acts touring today. Their stage performance is likely one of the most intense experiences you’ll encounter in live music – as an audience member, but especially as a music photographer.
Photographer’s Notes:
As mentioned previously in the preview of this set, my primary goal was to photograph drummer Billy Rymer. The last time I’d photographed The Dillinger Escape Plan, I was satisfied with the cover I had for all the other members save Rymer, so it was my mission to bring home some killer shots of the talented drummer.
Dillinger are nothing short of a maelstrom of intensity on stage, so even with all-access and the freedom to use speedlights, I needed all the help I could get.
Even having photographed DEP twice before, when the band took the stage, I have to admit that I probably spent a many seconds just stunned by the sheer ferocity of the band. The guys came out on the attack, with only strobe lights blasting on stage to illuminate the stage.
For a band like The Dillinger Escape Plan who are using short-duration, one very real challenge of photography is achieving an accurate autofocus lock. When the duration of lighting is as short as it was with these guys, focusing and composing have to happen in a hurry; if you hesitate, the moment – and the light – is gone.
Regrouping from the assault of the band’s entry, I shot at the front of what may have been the most narrow pit I’ve shot in to date. However, with shots of drummer Billy Rymer as my main goal, I quickly jumped on stage to solve the problem of how to bringing home the bacon when a musician is basically playing in the dark. Enter the speedlights.
Flash and live music photography may see to be at philosophical odds with one another, but I’m a practical man: flash was the perfect solution to this assignment.
While at most concerts I try and capture the most representative set that I possible can, I took the approach of this show as a character study for Billy, photographing the drummer individually and in the context of the band as much as possible.
One thing I have to do is give a shout out to Billy Rymer. After the show, the all of the band went to the front of the stage to give a little love to the fans, but Billy stuck around well after most of the room had cleared, handing out water and basically talking to the very last fans to say. Class act, 100%.
End Notes:
Big shout out to Lauren and Fallon, and especially to Billy for enduring me blasting him with searing hot white light all set long.
And of course, Dillinger’s fourth studio album, Option Paralysis, drops March 23, 2010.
Want more Dillinger Escape Plan photos? You can see the last time I photographed Dillinger Escape Plan live and the portrait shoot I did with the guys in late 2009.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2010, Ben Weinman, billy rymer, Greg Puciato, hardcore, Jeff Tuttle, live, metal, music, tdep, The Dillinger Escape Plan, tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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The craziest band you'll ever see live? Probably so. The Dillinger Escape Plan
: http://bit.ly/ccaMuZ
RT @toddowyoung: The craziest band you'll ever see live? Probably so. The Dillinger Escape Plan
: http://bit.ly/ccaMuZ
One of my favorite bands of all time Todd. Great shots as usual, and I would definitely say mission accomplished on getting some excellent shots of Billy. I honestly thing the speedlites actually provide more of a feeling for what it is actually like at a DEP show. Glimpses of chaos between strobe flashes… That pretty much sums it up! hahaha. Cheers.
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for the kind words and feedback, Kevin. The funny thing is, I think you’re probably right about the speedlights. I talked to the band’s lighting designer for this tour after the show. I mentioned that DEP are probably one of the most insane and challenging bands to photograph. You know what he said? “And to light, too!”
Hahaha…that sounds about right Todd.
great set, Todd. the first shot (the one on Flickr) is awesome, as well as its ‘companion’ shot later in the set. I’d say you definitely succeeded in your mission. how many flashes did you set up?
Hey Doug,
Thanks for the feedback – that first shot is the one that made it all worthwhile for me. I saw it on the LCD after the show and I was pretty sure I had what I wanted. Overall, I used four flashes total, but generally only one or two at a time.
Wow, on stage photography, great images Todd!! RT @toddowyoung: The craziest band you'll ever see live? http://bit.ly/ccaMuZ
The first picture is stunning.
I like the dynamism of the stage and composition of photos.
I can see emotions on the faces of the musicians.
That is impressive!
Hi Przemek,
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it. If The Dillinger Escape Plan are anything, it’s dynamic. As a music photographer, this is good and bad. On the one hand, it’s all right there on stage for us to photograph – the trick is just catching it and trying to bottle that energy.
Great shots of DEP! – RT @toddowyoung: The craziest band you'll ever see live? Probably so. The Dillinger Escape Plan : http://bit.ly/ccaMuZ
hey man nice set … looks like it was fun .. how did you like the blue note ?
Hey Corey,
The Blue Note was nice, though the pit was so narrow it was basically impossible to navigate with Dillinger’s fans headbanging and thrashing around. The barricade was pushed up so that the support legs were right against the stage. But still, it was a good time, no doubt. Thanks for the comment.
Hey Todd, Nice work with the challenging light setting. How did you handle shooting him from two sides. Did you have to go and turn off or adjust your flashes when you changed sides? I see that one side is always hotter for the rim lighting. And did you have to tweak the flash a few times before you got the right exposure or were you adjusting you aperture mostly to get the right amount of exposure. Or do you use remotes that allow you to control your flashes remotely. I know everything is going by so fast, I just would like to know how do you handle your flash exposure since you were shooting him from two different sides. Thanks,
Arnold
Todd,
Love the shots! Can you tell us what lens(es)and settings you used for this set?
Thanks,
Tim
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Man, I love the Blue Note. Definitely a narrow photo pit though, like you said. All the drummer shots are terrific. That last one where he’s coming off the drum kit, just incredible. These are great, Todd.
Hey Chris, nice to hear from you, thanks for the kind words. Yeah, the pit was very narrow – impassable when Dillinger was on, not to mention the weird shooting angle of having the guys on top of you. I would have liked to shoot more of the full band, but the drummer was my target.
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awesome set! DEP is crazy as hell to shoot live, but thoose strobes are just amazeing! check out my photos of DEP on there latest tour and let me know what ya think!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/justingeorgephotos/sets/72157623732761387/
@trujillo310 I use speedlights bare or w/ the stock dome diffuser when shooting concerts. That's how I shot TDEP: http://bit.ly/ccphlu