@davidbergman

This past weekend I covered the AFC divisional playoff game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New England Patriots for Sports Illustrated.

The Jags put up a fight, but in the end, the Patriots were the superior team.

It felt weird, because I’m so used to horrible weather for playoff games in Foxboro. It was actually quite pleasant — maybe 40 degrees and no rain or snow.

I saw a bit of the earlier game on TV (in Green Bay), and it was snowing like crazy. I actually like to shoot in the snow because it makes for great pictures!

Oh-well, maybe we’ll get some for the AFC championship game next weekend.

I’m pretty happy with this shot I made of Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson catching a 3-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady in the back of the end zone. It ran across two pages in the “Leading Off” section of Sports Illustrated this week.

 

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I just found out that I was voted the Photographer of the Year by the readers of the Music Press Report.

What an honor!

Thanks so much to everyone who voted. I’m humbled to even be in the same category with the other nominees Graham Smith, Bob Leafe, and Neil Zlozower.

The MPR is read by thousands of music journalists and photographers and you can check it out here.

Today I drove to New Haven, CT to photograph The Mars Volta. I wasn’t sure what to expect since Cedric and Omar are always so serious in their photos.

They turned out to be really nice guys who just don’t like to “let loose” in pictures.

The shoot was a challenge because we had to do it at a La Quinta Inn. Nothing against La Quinta, but it’s not the most interesting location for a photo shoot. It was raining, so we couldn’t shoot outside.

I asked about photographing them at the diner next door, but the band’s manager said that the guys don’t like to shoot in public.

I made the best of it and set up my lights in the hallway of the hotel, using gels to put some color in the background. Hopefully I made something interesting out of a tough situation.

 

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I spent the day yesterday photographing the band FAREWELL in Greensboro, NC for Kerrang.

They’re a bunch of really nice guys. Instead of spending all day setting up for one big picture (and since I didn’t know the area), we decided to go to a few different locations and just see what happens.

Our first stop was Greensboro institution Beef Burger. The seven of us walked in, I chatted with the manager for a moment, and he agreed to let us shoot in there no problem. I set up my lights and shot away.

Funny thing is, the guy in the background (purposely obscured by Marshall) is the mayor! He just came in by himself to have a burger for lunch.

Then we went downtown to find more locations.

We really wanted to check out this old junk store that’s loaded with all kinds of fun props. There are old, broken washing machines and refrigerators sitting right outside.

As I walked up the door, a surly guy with a ZZ Top beard immediately said “What do you want?” I said that these guys were in a band and we’d love to shoot some pictures in his store. He abruptly said “NO!” I politely said, “OK, cool. Just curious why?” and he said “This is America and I can do what I want.”

Yes, you can. OK. Moving on.

We shot a few pics in an alleyway and then ran into a friend of the band. He said there was a cool roof deck in his building.

After checking it out, I was much more interested in the basement which is under construction and being turned into an art space. It looked like the perfect photo studio.

We decided to go with purple gels on the background lights and made some fun pics down there.

I think we got the guy in trouble w/his bosses because he didn’t ask if we could shoot there, but at least we made some good pics.

Sorry, dude.

We did a final setup at Marshall’s place and then called it a day.

That night, I shared a few adult beverages with the guys at the local watering hole (except for Will, who is underage).

Hope these guys go far. They’re punk-pop with a really tight sound.

TRAVEL FUN: Even with a reservation, my cab to the airport was 20 mins late. And after picking me up, the driver realized he had to stop for gas! It didn’t really matter because my flight was delayed for 90 mins due to strong winds in NYC.

Oh, and during the flight the pilot calmly told us he called in an emergency landing because our flaps weren’t working. He said it was no big deal, but that there would be fire trucks on the runway when we land.

You know how it normally looks and feels like you’re going really slowly when you come in for a landing?

Not this time.

We were going really fast when we hit the ground. The Delta crew did a great job though and I made it home in one piece.

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Welcome to my new blog.

For the past year and a half or so, I published a private “photo of the month” (all now publicly archived on this blog) for my friends, colleagues, and clients. I enjoy the challenge of coming up with my “best” photo each month, but a lot of my favorite images don’t get published anywhere.

Since it’s the fashionable thing to do these days, I’ve decided to start a blog.

I’m primarily a sports and music photographer. I live in New York City but much of my work takes me out of town.

Since going freelance in 2001, my biggest client has been Sports Illustrated magazine as I generally work anywhere from 75-150 days a year for them. In addition, I shoot quite a few portraits and concerts and do the occasional tour. I’ve also produced a number of video projects over the years.

If you’re really interested, you can read the bio on my site.

2007 was such an amazing year for me professionally. I expanded my client list, made some valuable business connections, and pushed myself in new directions. Some highlights…

– Photographing nearly 600 naked people at once on the Barenaked Ladies cruise and touring across Canada with the band (scroll down to see the naked photo!)
– Shooting video for Drew Carey’s game shows Power of Ten and The Price is Right
– Getting my sixth Sports Illustrated cover
– Shooting the Live Earth mega concert in New Jersey

I’ll try to update this blog as often as I can. When there are a lot of interesting things going on, it could be once a day. But most likely, it’ll be about once a week. Comments welcome.

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