Al Jourgensen from Ministry - Seattle 3/29/2008

[Metalphotographer]

Long time no post, I've been super busy with my "real job" and getting more into other areas of photography so I haven't done much on the music from this year. However when I got the opportunity to shoot Ministry on the final tour of a 20+ year career I couldn't resist.

Shooting this band was difficult to say the least. The front of the stage was covered by a baseball field type chain link fence similar to that seen in the film "The Blues Brothers." Lighting was tricky too, no whites to be found, just lots of blue floods. The following was my favorite shot of the night, done with a rented EF-S 17-55 f/2.8.

1. Al Jourgensen, the man behind the band for all these years. You can sort of see the fence if you look for it. ISO 1600, 1/160s. This is a straight RAW to JPEG conversion with only resizing.
http://www.blizzardbeast.com/mortado/al.jpg

2. Guitarist Sin and the fence :)

http://www.blizzardbeast.com/albums/ministry0308/ministry032908_38.jpg

The whole mess (everything I didn't trash) of photos can be found at http://www.blizzardbeast.com/modules/gallery/ministry0308

[Nouks]

Hmmm well, "different" is the right word to describe this, I guess ;)

1st one seems to be a bit OoF...

[blackshadow]

Great job Chris - I hope they decide to drag their butts to Australia (and not cancel) as part of their final tour.

They are one of the best and most brutal bands I have ever seen.

[moemoe6434]

Great shot, Ministry is pretty bad ass.... With that fast of shutter i think you would have been able to slow it down to get a lower ISO too....

[Metalphotographer]

I tried ISO 800 that with the opener and wasn't too pleased with the results, shutter speed was too slow to get decent exposures. Al was constantly rocking as well so I don't think 1/80th or anything like that would have frozen him sufficiently. Regardless I had no issues with noise (at least none that I found bothersome) so 1600 was good enough for me.

Blackshadow - This was the first time I have seen them and I'm glad that I finally did so. They put on a spectacular show with lots of cool projections behind them and had Burton C Bell (from Fear Factory) as a guest vocalist during their two encores. I would have loved to get some full stage shots (and some of Burton) but I was told explicitly by their publicist that all my gear had to be put away after the third song. As one who generally follows the rules I reluctantly complied :)

Gebruikersnaam - Thanks for the feedback but I am happy with the focus on #1. Al's face *might* be a little overexposed but I could care less. The whole thing reminds me of something out of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil." 2 is definitely OOF, I just posted it so people could see the fence I had to contend with :)

[DwightMcCann]

Excellent work given the bizarre conditions! They clearly are performers ... but are they any good as musicians? These things aren't very related and sometimes yes and sometimes no.

[docfav]

I saw them in Hawaii in 1992 or 1993. Put on a great show. My brother dislocated his knee in the pit. Had to carry him back.

Doc

[dragulaz]

I loved listening to Ministry back in the day. Errr, I can't believe I just said "back in the day". Umm, anyway, I had no idea they were still around. Focus looks good on number one to me. Wow, Al is sure showing his age, but then again aren't we all.

[Metalphotographer]

I loved listening to Ministry back in the day. Errr, I can't believe I just said "back in the day". Umm, anyway, I had no idea they were still around. Focus looks good on number one to me. Wow, Al is sure showing his age, but then again aren't we all.

Thank you sir. Al is turning 50 this year :)