Recently, I had an assignment from Kerrang Magazine to shoot Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe recording in the studio. Sounds simple enough, right? The catch is that the studio was 280 miles away.
I packed two Nikon D3 bodies, three lenses, four SB-800 strobes, Pocket Wizard and Radiopopper wireless systems, two shoot-through umbrellas, and all of the necessary hardware into my Thinktank Airport Security roller bag.
I also brought my Domke F-400 sling bag with three lightweight stands, one low-profile stand and a large Chimera softbox. I usually have an idea of how I want to light each job in advance, but I bring extra gear in case the situation changes.
After returning the rental car from my shoot with Madina Lake the day before, I flew to Boston and then drove to the studio in Rochester, NH. Thank goodness for GPS, because the studio is pretty far away from civilization. Here’s a quick photo I shot with my iPhone.
When I arrived, I knocked on the door and called the studio number but got no response. After an hour of sitting in the car and emailing back and forth with the publicist in London, it turned out that someone was in the studio and just couldn’t hear the phone or door. He let me in, but Randy wasn’t there yet. I was told he was “on the way.”
Two hours later, Randy finally arrived. Apparently there was some miscommunication along the chain of photographer-magazine-publicist-management-studio-artist. I had hoped to spend at least a couple of hours shooting a portrait and the recording session, but since the last flight out of Boston was rapidly approaching, I had to switch to hurry-up mode.
Randy wasn’t feeling well but agreed to shoot a quick portrait outside. He wore the clothes that he arrived in and looked like rocker/hunter Ted Nugent. It was cold out, so I took him right outside the studio and shot 14 frames in 93 seconds using one wireless strobe with an umbrella. Normally, I’d want to work the session for a bit and shoot at least 100 frames, but it just wasn’t going to happen under the circumstances.
Back in the studio, I was amazed how quickly he was able to get into “screaming” mode as he worked with producer Josh Wilbur. I set up two wireless strobes – one with an umbrella in the front and the other with a blue gel in the back. Halfway through, I took the umbrella off and bounced the front light off the ceiling so it wouldn’t be so directional.
My original plan of casually shooting a few hundred frames during the session went out the window because I had very little time left at this point. I shot 59 frames in 11 minutes and 48 seconds.
After that, I packed up as quickly as I could, drove back to Boston, and flew home. I worked on the photos as soon as I got in and sent seven images to Kerrang before going to bed.
During the 15+ hour day, I took three Hertz shuttles and two Delta flights. I also spent four and a half hours driving and four hours sitting around waiting.
I only shot 73 frames in 13 minutes and 21 seconds, but I think I got what I needed. Kerrang published the outdoor portrait with the caption “Forest Grump.”
