@davidbergman

I’m on the road all summer as the tour photographer for Lilith. The all-female music festival ran each summer from 1997-1999 when it was know as Lilith Fair. Sarah McLachlan is the headliner every night, but over 100 musicians will rotate in over the course of the tour.

As a photographer, the challenge is to make unique images beyond the standard concert photos. Here are some from the first few days.

Our herd of busses was lined up at sunset outside of the rehearsal venue in Vancouver.

(Nikon D3, 70-200, ISO 800, 1/250, f/4)

Sarah McLachlan does her sound check in Calgary.

(Nikon D3, 70-200, ISO 200, 1/5000, f/4)

Clouds roll in during the Calgary show.

(Nikon D3, 70-200, ISO 640, 1/400, f/4)

Sugarland performs in Edmonton.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, ISO 2500, 1/500, f/4)

Before my recent tour dates with Bon Jovi, I spent a couple of weeks on the road with my old friends Barenaked Ladies. I’ve toured on and off with the band for four years and it’s always great to see (and photograph) them.

(Nikon D3, 70-200, ISO 1250, 1/400, f/4)

I really like the placement of the guys as they walk off stage in this photo. I did the black and white conversion in Nik Silver Efex Pro.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, ISO 1250, 1/200, f/4)

I crouched down on the back of the stage to make an image of Jim playing bass at one of the few outdoor venues they played.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, ISO 2500, 1/400, f/4)

It took three shows to make this last photo, but I finally did it by mounting a remote camera on one of the lighting trusses before it was raised into position.

(Nikon D3, 14-24, ISO 1250, 1/125, f/4)

You can see me standing just behind the curtain on stage right using a Pocket Wizard to trigger my camera. We talked about flying me up there in a harness to take pictures during the show, but I wisely decided to stay on solid ground.

There’s nothing better than having an all-access pass to photograph one of the biggest rock concert tours in the world.

Since March, I have been covering shows and selling prints for Bon Jovi through my company TourPhotographer.com.

Jon Bon Jovi has granted me unprecedented access to shoot from the stage and put remote cameras around the arena. I’ve been mounting a Nikon D3 and 24-70 lens in front of Tico Torres’ drum set and triggering it wirelessly throughout the show using Pocket Wizard transceivers.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO 3200)

Last week the band opened the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey with three sold-out shows. After a production rehearsal, I made a quick portrait of the guys outside of the stadium.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 640)

Seconds before the first show, I followed Jon as he prepared to take the steps up to the stage.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 2500)

Since this would be the first show ever at the new stadium, I wanted to make an iconic, timeless photo when the pyrotechnics went off. The only way I could do it was to stand on stage in front of 50,000 people.

(Nikon D3, 14-24, 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 2500)

It was an unbelievable experience.

I’ve also been able to use my sports shooting experience to capture Jon in flight.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 2500)

Next week, I’m covering the first five of Bon Jovi’s 12-show residency at the O2 Arena in London.

All of my images from the shows, including the frames above, can be viewed and purchased at TourPhotographer.com.

I recently photographed a band playing five sold out nights in New York City for TourPhotographer.com. The music industry veterans have sold over 15 million albums and are just about to release their fifth studio recording.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, 1/320, f/4, ISO 1250)

Who are these international superstars?

Hanson.

Yes, Hanson.

You might not have heard much from the three brothers since their 1997 hit MmmBop rocketed up the charts, but they’ve been producing new music ever since. The have a very devoted fan base and hold the world record for the loudest concert audience in history (those screaming girls can pierce your ear drums!).

(Nikon D3, 24-70, 1/320, f/2.8, ISO 1250)

A few weeks ago, they had a special “five of five” series of shows where they played a different one of their albums in its entirety each night. On Friday, they debuted the new record, “Shout It Out.”

(Nikon D3, 24-70, 1/250, f/2.8, ISO 1250)

The video for the first single Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’ is an homage to Ray Charles’ scene in The Blues Brothers. At the show, they had a five piece horn section led by Tom “Bones” Malone himself. Bones was the original trombonist and music arranger for The Blues Brothers (the band and the movie)!

Hanson will be touring this year, so make sure you bring your ear plugs.

You can view more photos and purchase prints from all five shows at TourPhotographer.com.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, 1/125, f/2.8, ISO 1250)

I wasn’t reckless with the shoot, but I did recently make portraits of a band called The Pretty Reckless. They’re fronted by 16-year-old Taylor Momsen, who is most widely known as Jenny Humphrey on the CW television series Gossip Girl. I’m a bit too old to have ever seen the show, but Taylor appears to be quite the hard rocker in real life.

Taylor has acted professionally since she was 3 and signed with a big modeling agency a couple of years ago. My goal was to photograph her like a rock star instead of a pretty girl in a fashion magazine.

To create the lighting, I used all SB-800 and SB-900 Nikon strobes. I put two in a big softbox at camera right, bounced another off a piece of white posterboard on the floor (for fill), added two strobes behind the amps for separation, and had one more in the back with a red gel to light the wall.

By using the right lighting and surrounding the band with amplifiers, I was able to get the look I wanted.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 640)