I was worried that I wouldn’t be allowed to fly home last week after my shoot with Polish death metal band Behemoth.
Kerrang magazine asked me to photograph the band at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival at the Nissan Pavilion, about an hour outside of Washington DC.
The band’s buses were all parked in a dirt lot that didn’t make for a great backdrop. Fortunately, there was a wooded area nearby and the guys were more than willing to go in wearing full makeup and their usual outfits.
From there, the photos practically shot themselves.
I used three SB-900 strobes – one on each guy – with no light modifiers for maximum power.
(Nikon D700, 24-70 lens, ISO 640, 1/200 sec, f/5.6)
It was the hottest and most humid day of the year, so we were all drinking a lot of water to stay cool.
(Nikon D700, 24-70 lens, ISO 640, 1/250 sec, f/5.6)
The magazine also wanted solo shots of Nergal, the lead signer. After I set up my softbox, I caught him reading Kerrang’s review of the band’s album and the unguarded moment made for a fun contrast.
(Nikon D700, 70-200 lens, ISO 640, 1/250 sec, f/4.0)
After the portrait shoot, I photographed the band’s performance. Near the end of the set, the guys spit out fake blood. I wound up with quite a bit of it on my arms, clothes, and cameras. I cleaned as much of it as I could, but I had to jump in the car with the magazine’s writer to catch my flight home.
As I drove, I realized that airport security might not welcome a passenger trying to get on a plane all sweaty, smelly, and covered in blood.
Luckily, we made good time back to DC and I was able to take a quick shower in the writer’s hotel room. Otherwise, I might still be in a holding cell in Washington somewhere.