Warped Again
July 27, 2009 by David Bergman
Last weekend I covered the 2009 Warped Tour at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island for Kerrang magazine.
Just like last year, crowd surfing seemed to be the biggest attraction. It’s not every day that you see someone covered head to toe in a skin-tight green suit riding on top of a large group of music fans.
(Nikon D3, 24-70 lens, 1/200, f/14, ISO 400, SB-800 flash on-camera)
This year I wasn’t assigned any specific band portraits. However, I had to make some photos of this guy when I saw him in the crowd.
(Nikon D3, 24-70 lens, 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 200)
There was plenty to shoot with 73 bands playing on seven stages over nine and a half hours.
Frank Carter, the tattooed lead singer from Gallows, spent most of his band’s set in the middle of the audience.
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(Nikon D3, 70-200 lens, 1/1250, f/4, ISO 1250)
Throughout the day, I saw quite a few young fans with “free hugs” written on their chest or stomach. I thought it might make an interesting sequence to show the varying style and placement on each person.
As I randomly stopped people to take their picture, I noticed some had changed the words or put them in different places.
Considering these were mostly teenagers, the temporary ink got more risqué as the day went on.
It’s worth noting that I didn’t see anyone take the girls up on their offers. The only hug I saw was this young couple on the pavement at the end of the day.
Dude, your wife must be really cool. lol
great photos. i had seen a"free hugs” sign a few months ago, but only on one person. at a northern california farmers’ market in the spring . glad the message is moving around.
With that many bands, what do you do about memory cards maxing out and all that? I have a portable backup drive that transfers my files off my CF cards, but the battery dies quickly (after 2 full 8 gig cards, typically). What do you do?
Rob,
I usually bring over 50 gigabytes of cards – one 16 gig card and ten 4 gig ones. At this Warped Tour, I shot 2,182 RAW files for a total of just over 30 gigs.
Excellent shots. Love the green mohawk against the blue sky.
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