November 23, 2008 – Just before they took the stage, I caught up with Japanese rockers Dir en grey for a quick portrait session. Despite a brisk chill in the air and even a little rain, the guys were a bunch of troopers and we knocked it out.

Kyo, Kaoru, Die, Toshiya, and Shinya were all great subjects for the group shots and individuals alike.

These images are copyrighted and I must ask that they are not used for additional artwork or otherwise repurposed. Thanks very much for your understanding and consideration, I hope you enjoy the images.

Group Shots:

Individual Portraits:

Photographer’s Notes:

For the group shots, we used two locations, both just outside of the venue on an adjacent lot. The band’s translator, Nora, was great with helping out when necessary, but I found that the language barrier generally wasn’t a problem at all for directing the shoot. Addressing the band members by name and a few hand gesture to indicate positioning was more than enough for these shots. And of course, Dir en grey have be in the spotlight enough to be pros with stuff like this.

With the individual shots, we just did the shoot near the same spot as we did the first set of group portraits. We didn’t have much time for the whole set, so we wanted to make sure we secured the individual shots before going into the second set of group shots.

It’s funny to note that just like concert photography, I’m always on a time limit with these band portraits, flying to get the shots.

The lighting sets for these shots utilized one to three remote Nikon SB-600 flashes, controlled by a Nikon SB-900 on-camera acting as the commander. The key light for these shots was fired into a 45″ umbrella.

I used the Nikon D3, 24-70mm, and 14-24mm for this shoot.

End Notes:

A huge, huge thanks to Nora for helping coordinate everything, as the shoot wouldn’t have been possible without her.

If you haven’t seen the live set from the band’s performanace, be sure to check those out.

Here’s just one shot from the quick portrait shoot I did with Japanese rockers Dir en grey.The guys took a few minutes out of their busy schedule for a few shots before they killed it on stage.

The full set of portraits is coming up, including individual shots of all the guys, as well as a set from the band’s live performance.

Stay tuned!