Lock up your kids its Marilyn Manson

[blackshadow]

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson @ Festival Hall on Friday night.

Pretty tough lighting/shooting conditions... lots of reds or really harsh lighting/deep shadow and a 2 song rule in force. Very crowded and narrow photo pit... which hampered movement, basically you got a spot and stayed there... there would have been a dozen photographers and about 15-20 security guards. Anyway enough of that here are the photos - Enjoy! C&C welcome.

1.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2311/1506325118_70fcfdd81d_o.jpg

2
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2334/1505456687_2102d6d4e8_o.jpg

3
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2291/1506301494_fb5f77aef4_o.jpg

4
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2114/1506315402_e95b139188_o.jpg

5
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2281/1505446505_ae0c466f72_o.jpg

6
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2345/1505426711_9c6c6e7987_o.jpg

[calicokat]

Great shots considering the lighting, #1 is my favorite. I saw Marilyn Manson and Slayer back in August so I know how difficult the lighting was

[Emberghost]

I think the shots are great, especially the second when you can see the crowd and their expression. I personally despise the guy though, but to each their own.

[blackshadow]

Thanks - #2 is my favourite too... for some reason those faces in the background look tortured/haunted and remind me of those photos of dead bodies piled up in **** death camps which I think works really well with the image of MM and the knife mic in the foreground.

[blackshadow]

OOH censorship! The word was N A Z I...

[AlphaChicken]

Looks like number 2 is the consensus best here. I add my vote for that one as well. Perfect use of the lighting. Very dark, resembles his style. Also captured him in the moment with the highlights falling into perfect place.

[René Damkot]

# 2 and 6 get my vote.
#5 is nice as well, but #2 is better. Good expressions in the audience as well!

[skifurthur]

Nice job, Richard. I also like # 2. Good use of B & W. What process did you use for the conversion? I always crack up at MM's imagery and on stage persona. He's a swell chap offstage. One of my daughter's favorite snapshots of me is one of Ozzy, MM and myself backstage at Denver's Mile High Stadium during one of the OzFests. She used to show it to her friends when they asked what her father does for a living..."Oh, he skis and mountain bikes for a living and hangs out with some interesting people." :eek:

[blackshadow]

Thanks Renee and ski.

I think I used a TLR action for the B&W conversion - I probably played around a little with curve adjustments as well. Good story about your daughter... she sounds pretty cool.

[simonSE15]

I agree #2 is a great image. very striking.

the background faces look like zombies from a horror movie to me.

[german]

Great shots richard, 1, 2 and 4 get my vote..just something bout 4 that has that scary edge to it.

Got same set of rules for brisbane gig last night, just wish I was little quicker with my camera settings..All we had was mainly red lights and then little bit of white when he walked out onto his little platform at the front.

[livewire-photography.com]

ooooo i really love number 4 great stuff! No2 aswell.
did u stick around for rest of the show?
seeing him in December i think
Cheers

[superdiver]

What is the 2 song rule?

[René Damkot]

Take pictures for the duration of the first two songs, then out you go ;)

[thelightofsound]

i think i'm going to have nightmares about those kids in #2. great set.

what kind of venue is that? the ceiling looks really low.?.

[superdiver]

Why do they have that rule?

[blackshadow]

James - no I didn't get to stick around for the whole show it was one of those escorted in shoot two songs and then escorted out deals.

superdiver the 2 song rule is a variant of the famed 3 song rule... it means you are allowed to shoot the first three (or two in this case) songs from the photo pit and then out. The origins of this rule seem lost in the past... I have heard that Led Zeppelin or Rolling Stones management introduced it in the 1970s and since then it has become fairly standard for bigger concerts throughout the world. The most logical reason given for the rule these days is security but some of it has to do with bands/artists being precious.

TLOS Festival Hall is a big old hall used for concerts and other events - the ceiling isn't that low but as it is light in colour it is noticeable in some of the shots due to the angles I was shooting from. I shot a gig there with much better lighting a few weeks ago and no sign of the ceiling in any shots.

[DwightMcCann]

Lovely, Richard! He's kind of a cross between KISS and GWAR, eh? :-)

[saturnin]

how did you hook up for that?

[nicolerork]

What a strange man. Nice pics.

[dou_b_14]

number 2 almost looks like a design for a poster or some ad of some sort....like a lot of the other people, that was my favorite one also.

[AlphaChicken]

Yea number two is just amazing. It looks like it would fit right into a rolling stones issue.

[Joetaco]

#2 is a really cool shot.

i like how the knife shines out in all the pictures!

btw, what lens were you using? thanks.

[blackshadow]

Thanks everyone.

In answer to a couple of questions - a publication I shoot for arranged the photo pass and all shot with a 24-70 f2.8L on a 1d Mark IIN

[Soliz387]

Those are hands down bad aZZ. . .

[DallasPhoto]

What a strange man. Nice pics.


May be a strange man, but he's a great artist. I believe that you don't necessarily have to agree with someones music or lyrics to enjoy it! He has a great sound! But yes #2 is amazing. I just shot my first concert and I loved it. I wanna thank everyone that posts here for inspiring me to shoot musicians! SO much fun

[Azzure_7]

A great artist. Look at his art. . .
It's just amazing.
I like your shots.

[Compact Diss]

Nice!

You must be big time out there because getting credentials for MM when he came to MA was pretty much impossible...

[ereid]

Nice shots, #2 gets my vote too, ps that mic is rad!!!

[UmbraDigital]

Yeah, these look like the same lighting conditions as the NZ show. You did a really good job, as everyone else is saying pic #2 is awesome.

I'm very jealous - this was the first concert in New Zealand I've actually had to pay to go and see in a long long time due to the scarcity of photo pit passes! It was totally worth it though...

[shesgotthepic]

2, 4 and 6 works best for me. Well done.

[roman_t]

i like 2,3 and 6. thanx for sharing. i see blackshadow post - thats it! wow
this artist is very great in visual aspect for helloween (off-topic) but i'd hardly call that music. i think the best i heard of him was cover of eurytmixs sweet dreams. that mic-knife works great.

[livewire-photography.com]

Hi Richard. sorry to bring this thread back up. i watched Marilyn last night on this tour, and all i can say is ( apart from an awesome show) you have done extremely well, the lighting was shocking, you could hardly see it with the naked eye.
Well done Richard.

Cheers

[blackshadow]

Thanks James; he puts on quite a show!

Did you shoot or were you just there to enjoy proceedings?

[verty]

what a freak of nature! looks like tricky lighting conditions like you said

[Burrelly]

Love the shots, I found out to late I had photopasses for manson when he played in glasgow on saturday.

Did he burn the bibles at this show?