As the first shoot of the day for Warped Tour 2010, my brother Chris and I weren’t quite sure what to expect for party rocker Andrew W.K. The question wasn’t whether or not he would bring the party – but rather, how hard?
Photographer’s Notes:
When Chris and I heard about the first scheduled shoot at Warped Tour, we were psyched. This shoot with Andrew was a lot of fun, and a great start to a day full of photography.
Although Andrew started off slowly, it didn’t take much direction before he was throwing faces and fully posing for the camera.
Lighting Equipment Used:
Camera Gear Used:
Chris and I lit the majority of the shoot with a Profoto AcuteB head powered by a Profoto AcuteB 600R. The AcuteB was shot through a three-foot Creative Light Octabox as the keylight, while a pair of SB-900s provided accent lighting. For one look, we shot traded the AcuteB head for the Profoto Acute 2 Ringflash to mix it up a little.
The Setup:
If you’re interested in the setup for the first look we did in front of the kegs, here’s a snap of the location:
Here you can see the two Nikon SB-900 speedlights on either side, roughly at a height of four feet or so. These provided a hint of rimlighting on Andrew, but more importantly gave a little kick to the metal kegs.
You can see the speedlights are wired up with Pocketwizards and Nikon SD-9 battery packs, the latter of which were great for keeping recycle times very short, even when the flashes were at high power.
The other “locations” were basically just a few feet from this spot, allowing us to maximize the time allotted, produce several looks, and keep things moving at a brisk pace.
End Notes:
Big shout out to Andrew for being such a fantastic subject, and a nice guy. If you don’t already follow Andrew W.K. on Twitter, he gives out daily party tips that are guaranteed to help you party hard. While you’re at it, follow me on Twitter, too.
Andrew W.K. - ”Party Hard”
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 9:17 am and is filed under Portrait Photography and tagged with andrew w.k., andrew wk, backstage, band, festival, music photographer, musicians, party hard, portrait, promo, promotional, warped tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Oh my god! The keg shot is ridiculously awesome! Awesome, I say!
Nice portrait work Mr. Owyoung!
Hey Eric, thanks for the kind words – glad to hear you like that keg setup. There are always a finite number of locations for shoots like this, but when I saw the pile of kegs, I thought that they would be a fun backdrop. Do you mean the vertical shot with Andrew grinning?
Party hard.
Did you catch his set? He’s insane.
Hey Sam,
Unfortunately, I didn’t catch Andrew’s live set, though I’d have loved to. I was shooting all portraits at Warped.
How do you party hard during a portrait shoot? @AndrewWK shows us how. http://bit.ly/9QycK6
@jasonsmw + @murphysmw would appreciate these pics by @toddowyoung: http://bit.ly/aWhvVI
Tirando a letra da música, a parte instrumental ,guitarra e tals é FODA http://ishootshows.com/2010/08/04/portraits-andrew-w-k/ ,
RT @toddowyoung: How do you party hard during a portrait shoot? @AndrewWK shows us how. http://bit.ly/9QycK6
Yes sir, the vertical one with him grinning and presenting the kegs to us!
Looks like you have good taste, sir. Andrew W.K. just tweeted that very photo an hour ago!
http://twitter.com/AndrewWK/status/20335917248
Todd
I am shooting the Warped Tour when it comes to Utah this Saurday and was wondering if you can suggest about 10 bands you would recommed seeing? I am new to the tour and am not familiar with most of the bands, but with 6 stages and 40+ bands going all day I think I should have s short list of otta see shows. I googled on the web and got this list but wonder what you think:
10. The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
9. The Pretty Reckless
8. AM Taxi
7. Andrew W.K.
6. The Casualities
5. Far From Finished
4. Dillinger Escape Plan
3. Face To Face
2. The Sparring
1. Riverboat Gamblers
Hey Lewis,
From those bands, I can recommend The Dillinger Escape Plan, Andrew W.K., and Riverboat Gamblers. I haven’t seen the others.
If I were you, I’d check out photos from other photographers as well and see who looks interesting this year for live shots. I just did portraits this year.
This looks like it was a fun shoot man
Thanks for the comment, Corey – it was a blast.
RT @toddowyoung How do you party hard during a portrait shoot? @AndrewWK shows us how. http://bit.ly/9QycK6
às vezes penso em adotar o guarda-roupa do Andrew W.K. http://is.gd/e34OX ia facilitar IMENSAMENTE minha vida no metrô.
I absolutely love all of your portraits, this one especially.
I was wondering if you could give me a bit of advice for band portraits without the use of flash?
I’m looking for a good reflector, since those run (a lot) cheaper than flashes (college kids have to save where they can).
Hey Allison, thanks very much for the kind words.
You can absolutely shoot band portraits without a lot of gear. There’s just a style now of shooting with a lot of flash for “dramatic” photos, but this is just an aesthetic choice. Maybe I’ll try and write an article on this element. I am finishing up an article on tips for band portraits, but there’s no photo technique – it’s all just tips for making shoots go smoothly, so that’s something that might be interesting for you, too.
A reflector is a good way to go to help add some “pop” to photos, but you’re going to be dependent on enough light in the first place to make it work.
For portraiture in general, shooting on slightly overcast days or during the morning or late afternoon is going to make the light a little more flattering. The light near sunrise/sunset is going to have a lot more directionality and character, so you can produce some really interesting results, even without flash.
On overcast days, the light is going to be a lot more easy to work with, since you’re not going to have to worry as much about heavy shadows from sunlight. Shooting indoors with indirect or window light is great, too.
Nice work Todd. I’m curious as to which shot was done w/ the ringflash?
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the comment. The shot w/ the ringflash is vertical shot against the corrugated wall, where Andrew is throwing his hands out.
@Korongmentah @Bagongtempur http://bit.ly/ake1Ow karesep tah :)
I’m loving the full body portrait shot. It’s just the lunacy that it portrays with some camp but plenty of rock. Great job showing everything AWK embodies.
I love the flash set up, really makes the images pop without being overbearing.