Soundwave weekend

We went to Soundwave and I hurt my back sleeping on the floor in a hotel room. I didn't take any photos at at the festival, just in the hotel. These are all shot with 5D and available light.

There were three bands I really wanted to see at soundwave, Gallows, AFI and Paramore, they were all really good, and made the day worthwhile despite the extreme heat.

Yoko Oh No!

Yoko Oh No! used to be a three piece, now Rob Phil has joined they are a four piece, they also now they span three cities, Canberra, Queanbeyan and Bungendore. When I turned up, each member was intuitively wearing very different shirts, and really I couldn't have thought of better shirts to describe each member. Rob Phil was in Slowburn during the last year that they were around, he was also arguably they're biggest fan, both before he joined and while he was in the band. He still proudly wears his own band's shirts. Aaron wears a Propagandhi shirt most days of the week and I first met him at a Propagandhi show. Pete actually still really likes wrestling despite his age, and Danny often wears table cloths as shirts.

We did these in a forest in Queanbeyan around sunset. I should have used CTO gels on my flashes, but I didn't, which is why the skin tones vary wildly. Two 430exs, one shoot through umbrella camera left in front, one bare behind the band camera right, sun setting camera left slightly behind.

Voss

Voss are sort of a indie band with folk and counrty influences. This was a weird promo because it only featured four of the five members, one of which was leaving the band shortly. But they wanted a photo very quickly, to be used in BMA. Not pictured is Elayne the violin player. Peter Kranky (second from the left) was a fill drummer for a few months, but doesn't play in the band anymore since the original drummer Ben has returned from Japan.

After changing the location of this shoot a bunch of times it ended up being in Owen's backyard. I had no real idea or preperation for the photo, so we coblled together a few things laying around and set up the band around a table. I also did a more standard midshot photo set against the powerlines and tree tops, as seen above, I think this one works better. When I arrived it was quite overcast, but by the time I shot, the sun was out and almost directly overhead and very strong. Traditionally this is the worst time to take photographs but it worked well in conjuctionwith the flash setup. I used the sun as a backlight and my flashes as the key. With a 430ex in a shoot through umbrella and a 430ex in a reflective umbrella both at the front and either side of me at about 45 degrees to the band.

Someone had the idea of writing VOSS BOSS on Owen's knuckles, he immediately regretted it, but I think made a good photo.

A couple of weeks later Voss asked for another photo, this time with Elyane present, to be used in the Canberra Times. I met them in the city and walked to glebe park, no props this time. Not as happy with these as I am with the first shoot. I used a 430ex in a shoot through umbrella and a 430ex in a a reflective umbrella both on the left side of the band, the sun was over their right shoulders.