@davidbergman

It’s cliché for photographers to say that we don’t need the latest and greatest photo gear to make good photos. It’s true that most pro photographers can make quality images with basic camera equipment.

However, good gear certainly does help. Sometimes a lot.

I recently covered The Dead Weather show at Terminal 5 in New York City. The new “super group” is made up of Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs), Alison Mosshart (of The Kills and Discount), Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs and The Greenhornes).

There was almost no light on the stage for this show except for the occasional nuclear blast from a strobe light. Most of the time, it was all deep, dark blue with just a tiny hint of pink/orange/red light from the front. Not ideal for photos at all.

So I cranked my Nikon D3 cameras up to 4000 ISO and dropped my shutter down – sometimes as low as a 60th of a second. It was only a couple of years ago that shooting 4000 ISO was impossible and I wouldn’t have been able to make a single usable frame.

But thanks to the latest and greatest gear, I have a few images that I can be proud of.

(Nikon D3, 24-70 lens, 4000 ISO, 1/125 sec, f/2.8)

(Nikon D3, 70-200 lens, 4000 ISO, 1/60 sec, f/2.8)

(Nikon D3, 24-70 lens, 4000 ISO, 1/250 sec, f/2.8)

Last weekend I covered the 2009 Warped Tour at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island for Kerrang magazine.

Just like last year, crowd surfing seemed to be the biggest attraction. It’s not every day that you see someone covered head to toe in a skin-tight green suit riding on top of a large group of music fans.

(Nikon D3, 24-70 lens, 1/200, f/14, ISO 400, SB-800 flash on-camera)

This year I wasn’t assigned any specific band portraits. However, I had to make some photos of this guy when I saw him in the crowd.

(Nikon D3, 24-70 lens, 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 200)

There was plenty to shoot with 73 bands playing on seven stages over nine and a half hours.

Continue reading Warped Again

I love my job. I’m fortunate that I often have access to amazing people and places. I’ve covered Olympics and Super Bowls and have done portrait sessions with famous musicians, actors, and comedians.

I have also photographed six U.S. presidents, including President Obama at the inauguration. But Tuesday night was unique because I got to spend about 90 minutes “behind the scenes” with the President at the All-Star Game in St. Louis for Sports Illustrated. He was there to throw out the ceremonial first pitch — the first sitting president to do so at an All-Star Game since Gerald Ford in 1976.

I had arranged my access directly with the White House, but still didn’t know if it was going to happen even as I boarded my flight on Monday afternoon. I was pretty excited when I connected in Atlanta and got an email saying that — after I passed a background check — I would have exclusive access with the President as he met with players in the American League clubhouse and then in a meeting with the umpires.

The first thing I had to do was decide what to wear.

Continue reading My Time With President Obama (Don’t Trip Over the Nuclear Football)

This is too cute to keep to myself.

My five-year-old daughter Amanda lost her first tooth a few weeks ago. It was so loose that it came out while she was eating a banana.

Unfortunately, she didn’t notice it right away and must have swallowed it by accident. Baby teeth are small! She was a bit upset because we were planning on leaving it under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

We went with Plan B: leave a note.

On her own, Amanda wrote a note that any art director would be proud to commission. It’s the perfect “little kid writing” — written in crayon, backward S’s and all.

The tooth fairy apparently accepted her apology and took the note in exchange for a crisp dollar bill.

Last night, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds performed at B.B. Kings in New York City. When I set up my photo pass earlier in the week, I had no idea that there would be a profoundly emotional moment during the show.

Since Babyface is a talented singer, songwriter, and entertainer, I expected to have a great time and was not disappointed. But about halfway through, he sat down on a stool and his crew brought out stands with pages of lyrics and music printed on them. The band was obviously breaking away from the normal set list.

And then he said it. “Let’s take a moment to remember the King of Pop.”

Of course, he was referring to Michael Jackson, who died just two days earlier.

After the applause subsided, Babyface went on to explain how he was moved by Jackson’s music at a young age and had the honor of working with and befriending the man later in life.

He then performed his rendition of an eerily appropriate song, “Gone Too Soon.”

Jackson wrote the tune in honor of Ryan White, a young boy who died of AIDS in the early 90’s. He performed the song at President Clinton’s inaugural ball in 1993.

Babyface covered it with Stevie Wonder during an MTV unplugged session a few years later.

After he sang the last line at B.B. Kings on Saturday night, he held up his microphone and appeared to be overcome with emotion.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house – including mine.

Michael Jackson certainly was a controversial figure, but he was an icon who will go down in history as one of the greatest entertainers of all time.