GNR Photography

[igor79]

I posted a thread earlier about selling prints to some photos I took at the Jon Varvatos show the other week. It got taken down because Its against forum rules to advertise. So I am very sorry about that.

But in the thread there was a lot of conversation about photography that I wanted to continue.

People mentioned that Axl hates photographers and has had problems with paparazzi and stuff.

Someone also mentioned that the house photographer on the recent tours has been terrible, I was just sort of wondering more about that.

I was also wondering if there are other pro/semi pro photographers here who have shot GNR or just people with a camera who happened to get some really great shots.

This stuff may have been talked to death before I got here, but as a photographer I thought it would be great to talk to people about photography as it relates to GNR.

[GunsNRevolvers2]

Wow, that's pretty ridiculous that your thread got taken down...you were offering a discount to everyone here, and didn't come here just to tell everyone to go to your site

Disagreed with deleting his thread

Anyway, was wondering what kind of camera you were shooting with, make and model

[Pink_marionette]

I don't think it was removed...I think it just got moved to a different section. Is it the one in "ain't it fun"?

[igor79]

Wow, that's pretty ridiculous that your thread got taken down...you were offering a discount to everyone here, and didn't come here just to tell everyone to go to your site

Disagreed with deleting his thread

Anyway, was wondering what kind of camera you were shooting with, make and model

Its understandable. The Mod was really cool with me and explained that you just cant advertise in the main forum.

I shoot with a Nikon d300 although as soon as Nikons new SLR comes out I am buying that (D800 is the rumor).

I also was completely unprepared to shoot a band when I left my house last night. I was on the way to another event when I got the word GNR was playing.

So I shot it with a relatively wide lens that I use for normal event work. I would have brought my 70-200 2.8 had I known...

I actually wasn't very happy with my GNR shots because people kept getting in my way, I missed a lot of great shots because of peoples hats and hair and hands.

Normally when I shoot I can either mosh my way to the front, or I am in a designated press area. But despite it being a GNR show, it was also a fashion week party and there were a lot of models and little girls in the crowd who were not exactly psyched about me pushing them to get a better shot.

[AmyL]

Wow, that's pretty ridiculous that your thread got taken down...you were offering a discount to everyone here, and didn't come here just to tell everyone to go to your site

Disagreed with deleting his thread

Anyway, was wondering what kind of camera you were shooting with, make and model

Its not ridiculous. It just didn't fallow the rules of the board. there have to be some rules to fallow.

As for your pics they are not bad. Pretty good. But I have to say anyone that sells to places like TMZ isn't going to get much love on a board like this. And not from me. I do believe it was mentioned that you sold to them. If not I am sorry for that comment.

[Powerage5]

I posted a thread earlier about selling prints to some photos I took at the Jon Varvatos show the other week. It got taken down because Its against forum rules to advertise. So I am very sorry about that.

But in the thread there was a lot of conversation about photography that I wanted to continue.

People mentioned that Axl hates photographers and has had problems with paparazzi and stuff.

Someone also mentioned that the house photographer on the recent tours has been terrible, I was just sort of wondering more about that.

I was also wondering if there are other pro/semi pro photographers here who have shot GNR or just people with a camera who happened to get some really great shots.

This stuff may have been talked to death before I got here, but as a photographer I thought it would be great to talk to people about photography as it relates to GNR.

On the topic of Canadian/Asian photographers, yes, they were pretty terrible. Many of the "professional" pictures we've seen either have a complete lack of definition (The pictures from Taipei look to be from maybe a 3.0 megapixel SLR from 10 years ago), or poor subject matter (i.e. many pictures which negatively portray Axl in one way or another), or both. I don't off-hand have a link to anything we've seen, but it's pretty embarrassing.

I'm an amateur photographer, but I haven't been able to shoot GN'R. I'd like to think I'm pretty good for what I have to work with (An Olympus E-520, with 2 semi-professional Zuiko lenses). Here's a couple of my favorite pictures:

That last one had some post-processing editing done to it color-wise, I wanted to liven it up a bit, it was very dull originally. I may have over-done it a bit, but I'm happy with it.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Powerage5

[igor79]

I don't think it was removed...I think it just got moved to a different section. Is it the one in "ain't it fun"?

It was removed, but the Mod was cool and sent me my post so I reposted it in there...

Its not a big deal either way. Doing one off prints is normally a pain anyway, but I am doing a big print run at the end of this month, so I figure it would be a good time.

Clearly there arent a lot of big art collectors in here.. heh..

[Lose Your Illusions]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AliKT1ZUx7w

[GunsNRevolvers2]

That's a cool shot of Weiland Powerage, I saw them over the summer, was front and center, unfortunately my camera died and I had to use my phone, which was pretty pointless, but the show was killer!

[AmyL]

Actually there are some. Sorry just broke right now. I actually have a Herb Ritts print of Axl. Its one of my prize items in my collection. I paid a lot of money to get it framed right so it didn't get damaged by the sun.

[igor79]

Wow, that's pretty ridiculous that your thread got taken down...you were offering a discount to everyone here, and didn't come here just to tell everyone to go to your site

Disagreed with deleting his thread

Anyway, was wondering what kind of camera you were shooting with, make and model

Its not ridiculous. It just didn't fallow the rules of the board. there have to be some rules to fallow.

As for your pics they are not bad. Pretty good. But I have to say anyone that sells to places like TMZ isn't going to get much love on a board like this. And not from me. I do believe it was mentioned that you sold to them. If not I am sorry for that comment.

I am defiantly not a paparazzi or anything. But when I shoot celebrity stuff I have a few places I send things out to. It was actually the first time I ever sent anything to TMZ.

I NEVER want any of my subjects to look bad. I know that AXL was super sweaty, but to me thats what rock and roll was all about. It was 100 degrees in there, everyone was dying.

Here is an example. I had photos of Axl blowing his nose with tissues off to the side of the stage when a solo was going on. I thought it was funny but not only did I not sell it to TMZ but I didn't post it at all on my site.

I don't want people to look bad and I never take photos if people dont want me to. I hate the paparazzi mentality.

And for the record, most celebs I have shot have been very willing to let me take their photo when asked nicely and I have shot a lot of celebs. The one exception was Bill Maher who was a total dick about it.

I shot Slash and Anthony Kedis at Sundance last year and they were both super nice.

Here is some of my celeb shots from 2009. Including the Slash shot. You can see that they aren't paparazzi shots at all. http://www.drivenbyboredom.com/dbb-gallery/Random%20Stuff/Celebrity%20Round%20Up%20-%202009/index.html

[AmyL]

{ I NEVER want any of my subjects to look bad. I know that AXL was super sweaty, but to me thats what rock and roll was all about. It was 100 degrees in there, everyone was dying.}

Nice to hear you say! And I agree that is was rock and roll is about. If he was up for there for 2 hours and didn't sweat he would be dead. lol

[igor79]

I posted a thread earlier about selling prints to some photos I took at the Jon Varvatos show the other week. It got taken down because Its against forum rules to advertise. So I am very sorry about that.

But in the thread there was a lot of conversation about photography that I wanted to continue.

People mentioned that Axl hates photographers and has had problems with paparazzi and stuff.

Someone also mentioned that the house photographer on the recent tours has been terrible, I was just sort of wondering more about that.

I was also wondering if there are other pro/semi pro photographers here who have shot GNR or just people with a camera who happened to get some really great shots.

This stuff may have been talked to death before I got here, but as a photographer I thought it would be great to talk to people about photography as it relates to GNR.

On the topic of Canadian/Asian photographers, yes, they were pretty terrible. Many of the "professional" pictures we've seen either have a complete lack of definition (The pictures from Taipei look to be from maybe a 3.0 megapixel SLR from 10 years ago), or poor subject matter (i.e. many pictures which negatively portray Axl in one way or another), or both. I don't off-hand have a link to anything we've seen, but it's pretty embarrassing.

I'm an amateur photographer, but I haven't been able to shoot GN'R. I'd like to think I'm pretty good for what I have to work with (An Olympus E-520, with 2 semi-professional Zuiko lenses). Here's a couple of my favorite pictures:

That last one had some post-processing editing done to it color-wise, I wanted to liven it up a bit, it was very dull originally. I may have over-done it a bit, but I'm happy with it.

Ha! Yeah I would say that last one was bit over done, but it looks pretty awesome anyway. Those are some pretty nice shots. If you ever get a chance to get a telephoto lens, you could do a lot with making the backgrounds even more out of focus while keeping your subject sharp. I think it would work well with the stuff you are doing.

Actually there are some. Sorry just broke right now. I actually have a Herb Ritts print of Axl. Its one of my prize items in my collection. I paid a lot of money to get it framed right so it didn't get damaged by the sun.

Herb Ritts is amazing. One of my favorite portrait photographers.

My prize possession is a photograph by Glen E. Friedman of Minor Threat. Glen is my favorite band photographer and I got to meet him and talk to him for like 2 hours when I picked up the print.

But yeah, to get UV protective glass is so expensive. The frame/glass alone on the Minor Threat shot cost me $350.

[Pink_marionette]

I don't think it was removed...I think it just got moved to a different section. Is it the one in "ain't it fun"?

It was removed, but the Mod was cool and sent me my post so I reposted it in there...

Its not a big deal either way. Doing one off prints is normally a pain anyway, but I am doing a big print run at the end of this month, so I figure it would be a good time.

Clearly there arent a lot of big art collectors in here.. heh..

Ohhh...I see, I get it now, my mistake. Thought the mod moved it but I didn't actually read it. I have now. Sorry.

Art appreciators, yes. But collectors, I don't know...lol

[AmyL]

{My prize possession is a photograph by Glen E. Friedman of Minor Threat. Glen is my favorite band photographer and I got to meet him and talk to him for like 2 hours when I picked up the print.

But yeah, to get UV protective glass is so expensive. The frame/glass alone on the Minor Threat shot cost me $350. }

I have to admit I am not really a collector of art. More of an admirer. lol But The Herb Ritts went with the gnr stuff. lol My print is about 22 by 25 and I cost me like $120 to get it all done. But I live in a small area where the mark up isn't as high as some.

[Powerage5]

That's a cool shot of Weiland Powerage, I saw them over the summer, was front and center, unfortunately my camera died and I had to use my phone, which was pretty pointless, but the show was killer!

That was from Ottawa in July. It was fucking amazing, probably the best show I've ever seen besides Maiden in '08 and Guns in Hamilton. I've never heard Scott sing like he did over the summer, night and day difference from '08 and even fall '09. I'm working on some photobucket albums of my favorite pics, I'll post some more in a bit.

[GunsNRevolvers2]

That's a cool shot of Weiland Powerage, I saw them over the summer, was front and center, unfortunately my camera died and I had to use my phone, which was pretty pointless, but the show was killer!

That was from Ottawa in July. It was fucking amazing, probably the best show I've ever seen besides Maiden in '08 and Guns in Hamilton. I've never heard Scott sing like he did over the summer, night and day difference from '08 and even fall '09. I'm working on some photobucket albums of my favorite pics, I'll post some more in a bit.

Just to show were we were, here's one of the crappy cell phone shots

The show was awesome, I rank Guns in 06 in Worcester #1, then Revolver at the Avalon for a club gig in Boston #2, and then that STP show, it was great

[JungleCat]

You took some pretty amazing shots! Thanks for the link.

I'm sure I remember reading you said you never try to make anyone look bad & that this was the first time you'd sold anything to TMZ. Not trying to start an argument w/ you but just wondering... Why would you sell anything to TMZ - I mean everyone knows they're basically bottomfeeders, the televised equivalent to the National Enquirer.

Arent' you worried that providing pics to them will, rightly or not, label you as paparazzi?

If you've done much browsing on this forum I'm sure you've seen I can get pretty nasty Don't take my question the wrong way; I'm honestly just curious.

[Powerage5]

That's a cool shot of Weiland Powerage, I saw them over the summer, was front and center, unfortunately my camera died and I had to use my phone, which was pretty pointless, but the show was killer!

That was from Ottawa in July. It was fucking amazing, probably the best show I've ever seen besides Maiden in '08 and Guns in Hamilton. I've never heard Scott sing like he did over the summer, night and day difference from '08 and even fall '09. I'm working on some photobucket albums of my favorite pics, I'll post some more in a bit.

Just to show were we were, here's one of the crappy cell phone shots

The show was awesome, I rank Guns in 06 in Worcester #1, then Revolver at the Avalon for a club gig in Boston #2, and then that STP show, it was great

That's too bad your camera died. Here's a couple more from Ottawa:

These were all post-processed to adjust the colors. I know some people find it unprofessional to do post-processing, but I think it makes these pictures in particular more interesting and vivid (The Weiland picture in my first post was completely natural, don't see a need to alter that one). My camera was getting repaired from a run-in at another concert, so I had to borrow someone else's camera for STP. It was a Canon 3.0 megapixel from 2000 I believe, with a 135 mm lens. I found the colors rather dull from that camera, and so I did a lot of post processing. To me, the most important aspect of an STP show is the lighting, it's so vivid. I wanted to bring it out a bit in these pictures. Here's a link to the last few I've uploaded:

http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/aa63/estrangedxillusions/Various%20-%20post%20processed%20photos/

[Stiff Competition]

Most people use a little post processing. For me, I pretty much will just make photos darker every now and then(adjusting levels) because I've always had an eye for darker photos, even when I would develop film pictures, I'd always burn the paper a tad longer to get the image a little darker. Generally though, I try to just go with what comes off my camera....

Here's some of my favorites of mine(as powerage's were, they're not gn'r, but here ya' go)....

[Powerage5]

Most people use a little post processing. For me, I pretty much will just make photos darker every now and then(adjusting levels) because I've always had an eye for darker photos, even when I would develop film pictures, I'd always burn the paper a tad longer to get the image a little darker. Generally though, I try to just go with what comes off my camera....

Here's some of my favorites of mine(as powerage's were, they're not gn'r, but here ya' go)....

Don't remember seeing your Scott Weiland or AC/DC pictures before. As usual, fucking amazing.

[igor79]

Most people use a little post processing. For me, I pretty much will just make photos darker every now and then(adjusting levels) because I've always had an eye for darker photos, even when I would develop film pictures, I'd always burn the paper a tad longer to get the image a little darker. Generally though, I try to just go with what comes off my camera....

Here's some of my favorites of mine(as powerage's were, they're not gn'r, but here ya' go)....

I LOVE that top KISS shot... I dont do much post work either. Only stuff I could do in a darkroom..

[igor79]

You took some pretty amazing shots! Thanks for the link.

I'm sure I remember reading you said you never try to make anyone look bad & that this was the first time you'd sold anything to TMZ. Not trying to start an argument w/ you but just wondering... Why would you sell anything to TMZ - I mean everyone knows they're basically bottomfeeders, the televised equivalent to the National Enquirer.

Arent' you worried that providing pics to them will, rightly or not, label you as paparazzi?

If you've done much browsing on this forum I'm sure you've seen I can get pretty nasty Don't take my question the wrong way; I'm honestly just curious.

I am trying to make a living doing what I love and selling some shots of GNR to TMZ didn't seem like a terrible thing to do. It got my work out to a lot of people and it paid for a camera lens I needed for the South By Southwest music fest in Austin next month. I could have sent them some of the outtakes where Axl looks horrible, but I sent them a fair edit of what happened. The only time I would ever sell pics of someone that made them look bad would be if it were truly newsworthy. Like I once sold some pictures of a rapper who flipped out on stage and stormed off after one song leaving people who had waited 3 hours for her and paid $30 to see the show with nothing. I thought that was fucked up and I sold some photos of her flipping out. I actually saw her a few months ago and she very nicely posed for photos and its all good between us.

But while I think TMZ is sort of shitty and I dont agree with paparazzi tactics, its the old argument that they are going to be there no matter what, I might as well make money from it as long as I am not doing anything that goes against my ethics.

BTW I have some pretty funny pictures of the Jersey Shore cast in next months XXL magazine.

Actually I have pics in Bizzare, XXL, Penthouse and Inked Magazine in the next issues...

[Stiff Competition]

Most people use a little post processing. For me, I pretty much will just make photos darker every now and then(adjusting levels) because I've always had an eye for darker photos, even when I would develop film pictures, I'd always burn the paper a tad longer to get the image a little darker. Generally though, I try to just go with what comes off my camera....

Here's some of my favorites of mine(as powerage's were, they're not gn'r, but here ya' go)....

I LOVE that top KISS shot... I dont do much post work either. Only stuff I could do in a darkroom..

yah that's pretty much my philosophy with it too.

[JungleCat]

You took some pretty amazing shots! Thanks for the link.

I'm sure I remember reading you said you never try to make anyone look bad & that this was the first time you'd sold anything to TMZ. Not trying to start an argument w/ you but just wondering... Why would you sell anything to TMZ - I mean everyone knows they're basically bottomfeeders, the televised equivalent to the National Enquirer.

Arent' you worried that providing pics to them will, rightly or not, label you as paparazzi?

If you've done much browsing on this forum I'm sure you've seen I can get pretty nasty Don't take my question the wrong way; I'm honestly just curious.

I am trying to make a living doing what I love and selling some shots of GNR to TMZ didn't seem like a terrible thing to do. It got my work out to a lot of people and it paid for a camera lens I needed for the South By Southwest music fest in Austin next month. I could have sent them some of the outtakes where Axl looks horrible, but I sent them a fair edit of what happened. The only time I would ever sell pics of someone that made them look bad would be if it were truly newsworthy. Like I once sold some pictures of a rapper who flipped out on stage and stormed off after one song leaving people who had waited 3 hours for her and paid $30 to see the show with nothing. I thought that was fucked up and I sold some photos of her flipping out. I actually saw her a few months ago and she very nicely posed for photos and its all good between us.

But while I think TMZ is sort of shitty and I dont agree with paparazzi tactics, its the old argument that they are going to be there no matter what, I might as well make money from it as long as I am not doing anything that goes against my ethics.

BTW I have some pretty funny pictures of the Jersey Shore cast in next months XXL magazine.

Actually I have pics in Bizzare, XXL, Penthouse and Inked Magazine in the next issues...

Thanks for answering. I was really curious as to your rationale!