This may have been an anniversary show ten-years in the making, but for me, I went back four years to July of 2006, when I first photographed the Dresden Dolls opening for Panic! At The Disco at the Pageant. Since that show, I had the honor of photographing them later the same year on their headlining tour, and then again in early 2008.

The Dresden Dolls are one of my favorite bands to photograph, and their January 6 concert of 2008 at the Pageant ranks among my very favorite shooting experiences. With great light, a full-set shooting privilege, and, needless to say, an epic performance by Brian Viglione and Amanda Palmer.

After a nearly three-year absence from the big stage of the Pageant, I  jumped at the chance to cover their 10th anniversary tour on assignment.

Photographer’s Notes:

Press received five songs shooting from the photo pit for this show – an upgrade from the standard three-song limit for most shows, but a cut from the completely open photo policy the band had in 2008 for credentialed photographers. Photo was allowed from anywhere else in the venue after those five songs in the photo pit, though I didn’t shoot after leaving the front of the stage.

Lighting for this show was done mostly with the house lights, with levels that kept me around ISO 3200 with the Nikon D3 and D700.

Cameras Used:

• Nikon D3
• Nikon D700

Lenses Used:

• Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
• Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

For this show, I used the 70-200mmm f/2.8 as my primary lens, though I have to say that the Dresden Dolls were set up relatively close to the front of the stage – maybe even the closest I’ve seen them since they  opened for Panic! in 2006.

The range of the telephoto was perfect for Amanda, while I did break ou the 24-70mm f/2.8 for Brian just a little more. Even though Brian’s drum kit was pretty close to the edge of the stage, I like shooting him best over his drums from in front of him, so that mean a little longer travel down the stage.

I did use the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 for a few shots at the start, when Brian and Amanda came out together and played at the very front of the stage.

One thing to note is that the Dolls have a very open camera policy, so fans of the band lining the barricade came prepared. There were probably about half a dozen DSLRs in the front line of people that I saw – probably many more in the crowd that I didn’t see. If I shot this show again, I’d be very tempted to trade my place in the photo pit for a piece of the barricade and no shooting limit.

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One shot from tonight’s Dresden Dolls show for their 10th Anniversary Tour at the Pageant. For a show with tough lighting compared to their epic 2008 show at the same venue and a five-song limit instead of full-set privileges, I have to admit that this show was just a little demoralizing in some respects.

It’s amazing how one image can change your entire outlook on a concert.

You can see a slightly larger version by clicking through the above image or hitting my archive.

Cameras Used:

• Nikon D3

Lenses Used:

• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

Stay tuned for the full set of images, folks.

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After a quick photo shoot with the Dresden Dolls prior to their show, it was time to come in for the real deal: the live performance. In their singular brand of “Brechtian punk cabaret,” the Dolls rocked the house in a raucous set that affirmed the duo’s status as one of the best live shows around.

Taking the stage in dramatic fashion wearing military-style cloaks and sequined masquerade masks, the two partners in crime assumed their stations and set into a furious energy that persisted throughout the entire performance.

For those unfamiliar with what exactly constitutes “punk cabaret,” let alone that of the Brechtian variety, one need only be introduced to two musicians: Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione. The group’s dynamic sound is a product uniquely born from the collaboration that is at times incendiary, cathartic, and whimsical, often all at once.

Seated at her Kurzweil keyboard, one half of the Dolls’ sound is defined by Palmer’s expressive vocals, which can rage from a whisper to a lion’s roar all in the same bar, and reel from agony to ecstasy in as much space.

On the keyboard, Amanda Palmer delivers an animated performance that mirrors her vocal range, attacking the keys like she holds a grudge one moment and then gingerly extracting notes with a childlike fascination at another.

Complimenting her across the stage is Brian Vilgione, who adds a uniquely explosive sound to the group with his charged drum work and the sheer physicality of his playing style. Like his counterpart, the drummer flies from a meticulously controlled pianissimo to a tempestuous assault of percussion, rolling between the two extremes with a deftness that should be both seen and heard.

During the live performance, the Viglione is equally as likely to be seated or standing above his set, mugging all the while with a flare for theatrics fitting of any mime.

On stage, the two performers are in constant conversation, both musically and through persistent eye contact as the songs progress, which adds a highly magnetic and organic appeal to the live shows. The “call and response” structure of many of the songs is one of the most engaging aspects of the live performances, not only for the musical dialogue but the gestural exchanges as well.

The setlist featured a relatively large selection from the Dolls’ self-titled album, with almost an equal number of new songs. The 2006 release Yes, Virgina only saw very minor representation by comparison.

Highlights from the performance included the ever-popular “Coin-Operated Boy,” “Missed Me,” “Girl Anachronism,” and a finale with the burlesque duo Gravity Plays Favorites and their namesake song. Viglione’s drum solo during “Mandy Goes to Med School” drew a strong crowd reaction as well.

And, like any proper Dresden Dolls show, the set featured a few choice covers: Pink Floyd’s “In The Flesh,” Beck’s “The Golden Age,” and an epic performance of the Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right,” which Amanda introduced as “a Yiddish protest song.” This last song, which drew the biggest crowd sing-along of the night, featured Brian taking over main vocal duties and playing the electric guitar, while Amanda helmed the drums with obvious relish.

In addition, the duo performed one track, “Astronaut,” from Amanda’s forthcoming solo album, which the band revealed is being produced by Ben Folds.

From an outstanding tracklist that seamlessly wove in new material with the old, the two tracks I missed were the anthemic “Sing” and “Half Jack.” And for those songs, the Dresden Dolls will simply have to come back.

Setlist:

1. In the Flesh (Pink Floyd cover)
2. Girl Anachronism
3. Missed Me
4. Sex Changes
5. Ultima Esperanza
6. Glass Slipper
7. The Gardener
8. Golden Age (Beck cover)
9. Fight for Your Right to Party (Beastie Boys cover)
10. Coin Operated Boy
11. Sorry Bunch
12. Mandy Goes To Med School
13. Astronaut
14. Mein Herr
15. Gravity

Dividing by Zero has the bittorrent to the file linked up if you want to grab that, too.

Photographer’s Notes:

Cameras Used:

• Nikon D3

Lenses Used:

• Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
• Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

This performance marked the Dresden Dolls’ return to to the Pageant after two performances at the venue in 2006, once opening for Panic! at the Disco during the Summer and again headlining their own Fall tour. Having covered both dates in 2006, I was excited to photograph the Dolls again with another year of experience, not to mention the Nikon D3.

One thing I love about the Dolls is that they’re consistently open and welcoming to photographers. Setting up credentials for this show was an easy task, facilitated by the Dolls’ wonderful publicist, Anabel.

For anyone shooting the Dresden Dolls now or in the future, one important fact to note is that because of the band’s very open camera policy, they don’t always issue photo passes. I know some other photographers who had set up credentials ran into trouble due to the lack of photo passes, since security was only allowing photogs with all access passes into the photo pit. While their cameras were OK in the venue, the floor was absolutely packed and without the proper passes, the shooting options were very limited, especially without a long lens.

In addition, Anabel had mentioned that for some dates on the tour, there had been no photo pit made available, but that it would likely depend on the venue. Since their previous headlining performance at the Pageant had included a pit for photographers, I wasn’t too worried, but kept this consideration in mind and packed the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 just in case I had to shoot from the balcony.

Just before checking in with the Dresden Dolls’ manager, I overheard her talking with the staff about the pit barricade; the staff assured her that there would be still plenty of interaction between the fans and the band despite the small gap. For anyone shooting this tour or other performances by the Dresden Dolls, you might be out of luck for a pit unless it’s the venue’s policy to have one, which seems to have been the case with the Pageant.

As a very photo-friendly band, the Dolls granted me an all-access pass for the show and I was able to shoot for the entirety of the performance from anywhere in the house. Still, despite stage access, I found that the pit provided some of the best vantage points for the group.

With Brian and Amanda positioned on opposite sides of the stage, I found that center stage provided a great spot for shooting both performers.This was especially true for shooting Brian stage left, given the setup of his kit, which is relatively open from the front. Shooting from the side provided less clean shots, due to a high cymbal and the position of his mic stand.

Amanda, positioned in her traditional stage right spot, was a little more difficult to photograph due to the position of her mic stand, the arm of which cut across parallel to her keyboard. I found the best shots of Amanda when she was seated came when the singer reeled back slightly from the mic, which incidentally coincided with some of her best facial expressions.

By contrast, photographing Brian was a decidedly different experience, given his relatively open drum kit and flare for the dramatic, both of which made photographing the drummer a blast. In talking to my brother, who also photographed the Dolls recently, we agreed that editing through shots of Brian was much harder.

With any other drummer, the one shot of them standing up from their kit with arms outstretched and screaming across the stage, that would be the one, no question. With Brian, all the shots of him are basically “the one.”

I know, it’s a tough position to be in. Credentials to photograph the Dresden Dolls is pretty much like a license to fish with dynamite. It’s deciding what to do with the catch afterwards that’s the problem.

Lighting:

Lighting for this set was fairly straight forward, with three main lighting schemes: red, blue, and white, with an emphasis on the latter.

During much of the set, deep blue backlighting and dim, white front lighting would dominate many of the songs. This scheme was often punctuated by a slightly cool white light during the most fierce parts of the songs, giving especially dramatic effect to Brian on the drums.

In addition to the standard front and backlighting, two lights positioned behind the two players provided additional accents that combined with water hazers to cast some nice shadows at times.

Lenses:

While the band was seated, I utilized the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 almost exclusively. The range of the lens was nearly ideal for shooting from the pit and gave plenty of framing options for the two players.

When Amanda and Brian were more mobile during the second half of the performance, the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 came into play. The extreme wide angle of the latter was especially useful as the pair came to the front of the stage.

Camera Settings:

There was generally plenty of light, but I shot primarily between ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 for this set, opting to stop down and increase shutter speeds rather than lower the sensitivity.

Had I shot this gig with the Nikon D2x instead, I’m sure I would have shot at ISO with more marginal shutter speeds. Needless to say, the freedom of the clean high ISO performance afforded by the Nikon D3 was very welcome for this show.

In what would have been a luxury with the old camera, I stopped down to between f/3.2 to and f/3.5, and kept shutter speeds at 1/200 and faster.

End Notes:

Again, a big thanks to Amanda and Brian for being such engaging subjects in the promo shoot before the performance, and of course for the fantastic performance itself.

Also, as always, thanks to Anabel for setting for setting everything up. Last but not least, thanks again to Katie Kay for handling the moving target of the shoot and all the stress of the tour with such grace. Katie was instrumental in making everything run smoothly.

It’s a pleasure to have such an accessible group and to deal with genuinely great people who treat business more like a conversation with a friend.

To all the photographers out there, you owe it to yourself to catch the Dresden Dolls live, because you’ll be hard pressed to find a better pair to photograph. If they’re coming to a city near you, do not miss them!

Check out my brother’s set of the Dolls’ New Year’s Eve Performance in NYC:
Dresden Dolls @ Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom – 31.12.2007

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Starting off 2008 properly, I photographed the Dresden Dolls in two very spur of the moment shoots before their performance at the Pageant. As anyone who has seen their live show can attest, this duo puts on an electric performance, and the two quick sessions we did were no less engaging as a photographer.

I met up with Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione following their mid-afternoon sound check. Originally, the shoot was supposed to be with the Dolls and their friends Gravity Plays Favorites, a St. Louis-based burlesque duo. However, due to a miscommunication with the girls from GPF, the Dolls and I decided to do a solo shoot before the concert.

We shot in two locations within walking distance that I had scouted with my assistant for the shoot, Tyler Dunn, which lent a decidedly urban flavor to the images.

While the luxury of time and travel would have been ideal, the shoot went well and I had a blast working with both Amanda and Brian. Just as with their on-stage performance, the duo is ever-ready to mug for the camera, and their flare for the dramatic made the otherwise hectic setup a great experience.

Shooting Notes:

Given that I normally work with natural light in a studio setting and the available house lights during live performances, this promo shoot provided a great opportunity to test out Nikon’s Creative Lighting System (CLS). In the end, the flashes worked out perfectly and certainly made the shoot possible under the failing light of the day.

Working with Brian and Amanda was an absolute breeze, as both of them are natural hams and know how to work the camera. The two were constantly changing things up and Amanda had no shortage of ideas as to what poses she wanted to introduce to the session.

In walking up to the simple second location, which basically consisted of a plain brick wall and a parking meter, Brian immediately seized on the idea to perch on the meter and assume a pose fit for a savior, which kicked up the scene to the next level. The pair’s flexibility and drive to push into the theatric certainly made this an enjoyable shoot.

Lenses:

The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 were used for the shoot, with the latter often in its lower range. In hindsight, I would have liked to shoot some longer shots as well to contrast the wide-angle distortion, but time and the inclination to get in close for the real deal with two such great subjects were working against us.

Lighting:

I used three Nikon Speedlights for this shoot, which was the first time I’d employed the Nikon Creative Lighting System to any great degree. After some initial hang ups with getting everything to sync before the shoot, I found the system very easy to work, with within its own limits.

Two Nikon SB-600 speedlights were set as remote flashes controlled by an Nikon SB-800 in commander mode, which I used on-camera. I set the SB-800 to TTL metering between 0EV and -0.7EV, while the remote flashes were set manually between 1/64 and 1/16 power.

The SB-800 was used as the key, while the two SB-600s’ roles changed somewhat more organically throughout the shoot, primarily acting as kickers for the environment/background and transitioning to provide fill for a few shots.

Overall, Nikon’s CLS was very easy to use once everything was set up; I especially appreciated being able to control the remote units right from the SB-800. With a less sophisticated system, I’d have spent less time shooting and more time running around to change the power levels on the accent lighting.

End Notes:

I’d like to extend a big thanks Brian and Amanda for being such great subjects. It was a genuine pleasure shooting with the pair, and I’d highly recommend them to any photographers who have the opportunity to work with them.

In addition, I want to give a shout out to Anabel Vasquez, the Dolls’ publicist, and Katie Kay, their tour manager, for coordinating the shoot and generally being fantastic human beings.

One thing I love about the Dresden Dolls is their accessibility and genuine interest in keeping things fresh with such a grass roots attitude; everyone on their team has been nothing short of excellent to work with.

Also, thanks to photographer Tyler Dunn for being able to assist with this shoot on such short notice, and for the input he had in setting up for the session.