A gallery of my photos from the Warped stop in Mansfield, MA on July 23 is now posted on the Alternative Press website.  You can click on the image below to check them out.   It was an interesting day.  About halfway through the sky got dark and there were tornado warnings….then, the rain and wind started.  The covered pavillion was full of people and flooded in minutes.  About 30 minutes later, the sun returned, and everything went back to normal…until it started raining again in a few hours.  Rinse, wash, repeat.  Highlights for me were of course my guys in Cinder Road, Family Force 5, The Academy Is… and Cobra Starship.

The full galleries will be posted on TheyWillRockYou.com later this week but here are a few quick favorites:

Mike Ruocco of Cinder Road

Chapstique of Family Force 5 melting faces

Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship getting some air

So I shot the 3 Doors Down, Hinder and Staind show the other day.  Unfortunately, you won’t be finding the photos online…for several reasons, none of which I have the energy to go into right now.  I did however spend eight hours in tornados, torrential downpours, lightning and flying flip flops at Warped Tour yesterday so those photos are forthcoming….stay tuned.

I think all of the bigger stage, well lit shows I’ve been shooting lately have taken me a bit out of my game and have made me a tad spoiled.  I didn’t realize this fact until I went to shoot Shinedown last night at The Palladium om Worcester and was challenged beyond belief by the lights.

I suppose it didn’t help that the entire first song was one big strobe light…and the next two songs the band was pretty much in the dark save for a few spot lights from behind and then those pesky strobes again.

I’m sure for the audience it was a cool ass light show, I however did not enjoy them as much.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.  This reminded me of one thing, don’t forget your roots….I need to shoot more club shows to keep myself primed and ready for challenging shows like this. 

On a sidenote, the band sounded AMAZING!  Theory of a Deadman opened for them and they were great as well.  The club was packed and it was a hot sweaty mess.  Gotta love it.

The summer concert season is in full swing which means I am a very busy girl! On July 16th the Projekt Revolution started it’s annual tour at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA.  Projekt Revolution is a music festival headlined by Linkin Park and brings along a cast of bands that are handpicked by Linkin Park. Being the first date of the tour, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but the entire line up definitely brought the rock.

This year the line up was:  (On the second stage):  Armor for Sleep, Hawthorne Heights, 10 Years, Atreyu, Street Drum Corps and (On the main stage): ASHES diVIDE, Busta Rhymes, The Bravery, Chris Cornell and Linkin Park.

Since we’re deep into July it was about as hot of a day as you can imagine.  Luckily, once the Main stage bands started we were covered.  (Because this pasty faced white girl and the sun don’t get along very well.)  It was a long day of rocking and rolling. Highlights for me included shooting Chris Cornell for the first time. The show rocked from start to finish but I think my favorite sets were Atreyu from the second stage and Linkin Park from the mainstage. Linkin Park know how to put on a rock show of the grandest scale.  

My photos are slowly making their way up into the TheyWillRockYou.com photo gallery so you can check them out here.

 
Shooting shows during the day can often leave nothing but flat boring photos so thanks to all the bands for bringing the rock and making even the day shots look like a party.  Can’t wait until next year!

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve attended a concert as simply a spectator. I should try to remind myself more often that being a fan of the music is what started this all for me in the first place. Generally, if I’m not shooting a show I’m usually interviewing the band or covering some angle of it for one of the websites or print publications that I work with.  However, Bon Jovi has been one of my favorite bands since I was a wee lad-ette.  It’s sort of tradition to go and see Bon Jovi with my best friend every time they roll through town (or…somewhat adjacent, or not so adjacent towns) so this tour was no different.

The band rolled into Boston for two sold out shows, and I attended the latter with Missy.  Missy’s level of dedication to the band far surpasses mine and in what I call a true karma effect moment, she ended up getting to meet him the first of the two nights by being the lucky recipient in the front row of one of Jon’s very important shirts.  The wardrobe chick made her a deal she couldn’t refuse - if she gave the shirt back, she could meet Jon after the show.  For someone who’s been pining after Jon since she was in grade school, this was one of those life-affirming moments for both Missy and her mother, so, she was already on a pretty big Jovi high going into show two.

Now, I’d hardly be the photographer I am today had I not snuck my camera into camera free concerts in the past so why stop now?  It wasn’t actually as stealthy as I made it sound, I walked right in with my 40D with 50mm fixed lens attached - no questions asked.  We didn’t know where we’d be sitting until we picked up our tickets that night so I was just hoping we’d be close enough for me to catch a few shots.

Again due to Missy’s allegiance to the band, we had fan club tickets and were able to partake in the pit on the side of the stage for three songs (Richie’s side!) so I was indeed able to snap a few keepers.  (And by keepers I mean the one of Jon pointing at Missy in the pit and smiling in that “hey I know you!” sort of way.)  Who would have thought that two shows in Boston would turn my best friend into a recognizable face to Jon Bon Jovi. It’s nice to know that sometimes the good guy (or GAL as the case may be) DO sometimes win in the end. Keep the faith.

The July/August issue of Rocknation is now available.  It’s now available in 46 states!  Just look for it in your local music based businesses (record stores, music clubs, etc!)

In this issue, I interviewed members of Finger Eleven and Seether (if I interview one more member of Seether I feel like I should be crowned an honorary member!) as well as assisted on interviews with Puddle of Mudd and Shinedown.  It’s a great issue with lots of amazing interviews.  Unfortunately I don’t think any of my photos made this issue but hopefully the next one will!  (I’ve got some great Iron Maiden shots just waiting!!)

The latest issue of The Pulse Magazine is now out and my piece on Kristina Grossmann and Rock For Health is in it.  For those of you who are not familiar with Rock For Health I encourage you to read the article and check out what Kristina is doing, I think it’s very important to the music community and we should all help out as much as we can.  You can also visit their official website here.

Here’s a link to the online version of it:

Kristina Grossmann - Rock’s Health Angel