Cellos, drums, and hairwhips: Apocalyptica are, as Tenacious D put it, “classically trained to rock your f***ing socks off.”
I’d last photographed Apocalyptica back in 2008, and ever since I’ve wanted a chance to shoot the band again. When I heard that they were performing on a co-headlining tour with Japanese rockers Dir en grey, I was sold.
Needless to say, the Finns did not disappoint. And, despite a lot of challenging treatment, neither did their lighting, which came blasting in full technicolor glory.
Photographer’s Notes:
As always, Apocalyptica was a blast to photograph. After Dir en grey’s performance, all of the monitors were cleared from the stage, leaving the space clear and wide open for the for Eicca, Paavo, and Perttu to shred. Of these three, Perttu seemed to come to the front of the stage just a little more than the other gys, which made for great shooting up close and personal.
Meanwhile at the back of the stage, I have to love Mikko’s drum kit, because it was wide open and made for some great shooting. In fact, his own thrashing aside, Mikkko was one of the easier subjects of Apocalyptica because he actually received a good deal of white lighting.
Lighting for this concert, as you can see, relied heavily on backlighting and wild color casts, with most of the light from the front coming from orange-gelled cans from high up in the rigging.
Cameras Used:
Lenses Used:
I shot this set mostly at ISO 3200, and with somewhat slower shutter speeds than I would for a rock group. The main reason for this was the low lighting, but also due to the fact that I don’t mind a little motion blur in the bows (the most quickly moving element, hairwhips aside) when shooting Apocalyptica.
For photographing this set, the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 was indispensable, providing the most overall useful range. However, the true king was the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 for those big, epic angles– even though it was a little too wide for most shots, when it worked, it worked beautifully.
Like these images? Order prints by clicking through from the slideshow below or the images above. Please use the coupon code “APO2010″ for 10% off orders for the next two weeks on these images.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 7:04 am and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2010, 7th symphony, apocalyptica, cello, classical, concert photography, Eicca Toppinen, live music, metal, Mikko Sirén, music, music photography, Paavo Lötjönen, Perttu Kivilaakso, photography, stage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Great images Todd. Love the second-to-last shot. It’s got almost a fish-eye effect going on.
Hey Kevin, thanks for the kind words. Yeah, Perttu was pretty friendly and came to the front of the stage quite a bit – more than anyone else, so it made it pretty easy to get fun shots of him.
RT @toddowyoung Photos: Apocalyptica http://bit.ly/dd7k6S
Cellos, drums & hairwhips! Finland's Apocalyptica are classically trained to rock your socks off. http://bit.ly/dd7k6S
Hello Todd, great set of images. It’s Daren Cornell (Warped/Mayhem Photog). Thanks for taking the time to talk to me on the phone for as long as you did last month. It was very cool of you and informative. Hope all is well and I look forward to talking to you again.
Daren Cornell
Hey Daren,
Nice to hear from you. You’re welcome about that call – glad to help, though it seems like you’re definitely on the right path. Drop me a line and let me know how everything is going. Talk soon.
Hey daren, thanks for taking the time to talk to your family while you were gone for three months!!! All those pictures, times away from us, and nothing…..chump change for midgets and a broken home! nice one! no pictures to prove anything
Seems like a good day for Cello Metal! Killer Apocalyptica pics by @artistxposure – http://is.gd/f1d28 & @toddowyoung – http://bit.ly/dd7k6S
awesome! RT @gigphotog: Killer Apocalyptica pics by @artistxposure – http://is.gd/f1d28 & @toddowyoung – http://bit.ly/dd7k6S
More great captures, Todd! It still blows my mind that these guys can play cello standing up! (I play both stand-up & electric bass, but the stand-up is made for… standing…) Their posture is epic, and I think your choice to use the 14-24mm made their power stances feel more grandiose. I think #2417 is my favorite, with the lighting contrast and the stance. Plus, good call on the slower shutter speed to show a little motion blur in how fast they were working.
Once again, great work, man!
- P
Hey Patrick,
Thanks for the comment. Nothing beats the powerstance of a cellist. The funny thing is, these guys really and truly are classically trained to rock, so maybe that gives them special skills. Thanks again for the feedback.
Photos: Apocalyptica St. Louis http://fb.me/I1nbLDrA
I wanna see them SO BAD//(via @toddowyoung) Cellos, drums & hairwhips! Apocalyptica are classically trained to rock…. http://bit.ly/dd7k6S
Really cool photos, cellos seem to work incredibly well and I love the first headbanging shot.
Now I’ll have to see when Apocalyptica play in The Netherlands and try and bluff myself into the photo pit…
When I read about low lightening I had a flash back about Marilyn Manson’s concert … Did you ever take pictures of him?
Damn, 2 songs, red light ONLY (which all of us love of course) and a LOT of fog …
Of course after we left after 2 songs, light was very nice, like a miracle all the annoying fog disappear and they turn on all colors hahaha
Sounds familiar? :)
awesome shots of the band, it was great seeing apocalyptica on stage for the first time @ club nokia
Hey Cindy, thanks for the comment. The band puts on a fantastic show, don’t they? Glad you got to see them live.
Gorgeous work!
From a photography point of view is very inspirational to me :D
Amazing shoot Todd! Really looking to see them life.
Hey Todd! These are some greaaaat shots!
I was looking for some pictures of their performances since I shot Apocalyptica few days ago and was really thrilled. However, lights were dark purple and blue then harsh red so…
Did you shoot the whole set for this one? Because I see you have some shots of Tipe Johnson…who appeared only at the 4th or 5th songs during their show last week…
Once again, you are truely inspiring! I am looking forward to see more shots of Apo signed by Todd Owyoung!