Photos: The Black Keys

Drums, guitar, and a sold out show: The Black Keys brought it all at the Pageant, with a raw, rocking performance that was an absolute blast to photograph. I’d never photographed The Black Keys before, but after this show, I’m certainly a fan. The duo brought a really tight, engrossing set, and the fans ate it up.

Photographer’s Notes:

I shot this set with the Nikon D3 and D700 using the 14-24mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm. Lighting was brighter than expected, but still in the ISO 3200 realm with f/2.8 zooms. I contemplated switching to primes once or twice during the three-song limit, but ultimately the flexibility of zooms won out.

Instead of the first three songs, press were allowed to shoot during songs 2, 3, and 4. No reason was given, but it worked out just fine.

One really nice aspect of The Black Keys’ performance was that drummer Patrick Carney’s drum kit was set up at the very front of the stage. And, luckily, Carney’s kit was open enough that there were still good sight lines from the sides.

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, June 15th, 2010 at 8:31 am and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2010, black keys, brothers, Dan Auerbac, garage rock, live, music, music photography, pageant, Patrick Carney, st. louis, tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.