Washington DC's Darkest Hour brought a pummeling set of metal opening for The Dillinger Escape Plan. Paradoxically playing under the brightest lights of the night, this five-piece was a blast to photograph with the wide-angle.
Photographer's Notes:
Plenty of frontlight and incandescent backlighting made this a relatively bright set; the main challenge for this show was the very narrow photo pit.
With the braces of the barricade pushed up all the way to the stage, moving in photo pit was an exercise in self preservation as fans thrust out metal claws and the band dominated the monitors.
While the stage wasn't terribly high, the close distances made the shooting angles another problem to solve. I found that shooting slightly downstage – rather than straight on – helped minimize the steep angles.
For Darkest Hour's performance, I rocked the 14-24mm f/2.8. Up close and personal like this, the ultra-wide is almost a necessity.
