David Bergman — ALL ACCESS — sports, concert, and music photographer

I’m happy to announce that one of my photos was a winner in the first annual “Summer Music Moment” photo contest co-sponsored by Billboard Magazine and Photo District News.

The winning image is my shot of Dillinger Escape Plan lead singer Greg Puciato breathing fire out over the crowd during a show a la Gene Simmons.

It was my “photo of the month” late last year (see it here) and is in the new PDN magazine. The contest site says the winners gallery is coming soon.

In an in-depth interview on the PhotoShelter Blog, Portland-based photographer Craig Mitchelldyer talks about his work as a news, sports, commercial, and wedding photographer. I’m honored that he mentions my name alongside other photographers whose work he likes: Joe McNally, Vincent Laforet, Dave Black, Robert Seale, Chase Jarvis, and Darren Carroll. Quite a group.

In reading the interview and looking at Craig’s site, it really makes me appreciate great wedding photography. I’ve shot a handful of weddings over the years, but it’s usually a favor-for-a-friend type thing. Most of my energy has gone into my work as a sports and music photographer.

But weddings aren’t all that different from the big events I usually cover. Photographically, I have to deal with changing light and fast-paced action. I have to be a fly on the wall, while still being ready to catch a fleeting moment.

A wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event and there’s no room for error. The wedding cake will be gone by the end of the night and the flowers will die in a few days. But the photos will last forever and might be passed down for generations. For many people, it’s the only physical memory of one of the most important days in their life.

That’s pretty serious.

I have nearly 20 years of experience as a photojournalist covering news, sports, and music tours around the world. I have to nail it every time. I can’t call my editor after the Super Bowl and say that I don’t have “the shot” because my batteries died or I dropped my lens during the game-winning touchdown. The images are all that matter.

So in addition to my other work, I’ve decided to take on wedding clients during the upcoming year. I’ll also be shooting some engagement films using the newest crop of DSLR cameras that capture high definition video. It’s an exciting time to be a photographer.

I’m offering couples a special rate if they’re getting married in the next couple of months. If you or someone you know is getting married, feel free to get in touch at David [at] DavidBergman [dot] net or 212.851.3167.

A few months ago, Radar Magazine published Eric Spitznagel’s piece about the Barenaked Ladies rock cruise, which includes a voluntary group nude photo. The story starts like this: “Getting naked with hundreds of people you’ve never met might sound like a good idea. But it turns out to be kind of awkward and uncomfortable. Especially when it’s 10 a.m. and you’re stone-cold sober on the deck of a cruise ship somewhere in the Atlantic.”

As the band’s tour photographer, I’ve had the honor of shooting the infamous photos. I’ve previously posted them on my blog here and here (warning: not safe for work).

I had no idea that Radar had a writer on the ship last February, but was pleasantly surprised when the magazine contacted me to license photos for the story. They wanted to run the naked photo as the opener across two pages.

After talking with the band, we decided that it wouldn’t be appropriate to run it bigger than the size offered to the fans on the ship - about 7X9 inches (an 8X10 photo with a white border).

Radar ran the “before” photo as the opening spread and used the smaller naked photo inside.

Spitznagel recently republished his story, in a slightly different form, on his blog and you can read it here.

Unfortunately, Radar went out of business last week, citing current economic conditions. I’m sorry to see them go as it was a fun read. Maybe they would have lasted another issue or two if we had let them publish the naked photo much bigger.

By the way, the next BNL cruise leaves on February 1st out of Miami. I’m not sure if there are any cabins left, but you can go to the Ships and Dip site to find out. Maybe I’ll photograph you naked!

I got a pleasant surprise today when I received a congratulatory email from my friend, photographer Tim Zielenbach. The news was confirmed when I opened my mailbox and saw my photo on the cover of the new Sports Illustrated.

It’s an action photo from the Clemson - Alabama game that I shot on Saturday night at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Often the editors let the photographer know that they have the cover when the magazine closes on Monday night. But I didn’t hear from anyone this week and I actually felt like I had a lousy shoot. Shows what I know.

The cover story is about Alabama and college football’s Southeastern Conference. Coincidentally, two years ago I also had an action shot on the cover for another SEC story.

This is my seventh SI cover (not counting special issues), but it’s still pretty exciting news. My first one was five years ago this week. Four of the seven were college football photos.

I shot the Alabama game with the Nikon D3 and a 600 mm lens. My exposure settings were 1/800 of a second at F/4.0 (wide open on the 600) and a jaw-dropping ISO of 3200. The Georgia Dome is pretty dark and, since the game was at night, there was no extra light coming in through the translucent roof.

Unless I’m specifically shooting for a cover (which I wasn’t on Saturday), I generally leave my camera in the horizontal position. This photo was cropped into a vertical to fit the cover and held up incredibly well. The low-light ability of the D3 makes this photo possible. Images shot with cameras that were available even just a year ago would not have looked this good at 3200.

It’ll be interesting to see if the “SI jinx” affects Alabama. I don’t keep track, but I think it came into play with some of my other covers. If anyone wants to do the research, I’d love to know which of these “cursed” the team or player.

8/11/03 - Craig Krenzel / Ohio State
1/31/05 - Jeremiah Trotter / Philadelphia Eagles / NFC Championship
5/9/05 - Ben Wallace / Detroit Pistons / NBA Playoffs
11/28/05 - Joe Paterno / Penn State
10/16/06 - Tennessee football / SEC
1/22/07 - Drew Brees / New Orleans Saints
9/8/08 - Alabama football / SEC

If your favorite team was jinxed by my photo, remember that I don’t pick ‘em, I just shoot ‘em.

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.

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.