Shooting Monster
Massive or,
"How I learned to stop worrying and Love the Jungle Room" |
 |
20,000 in attendance,
20,000 stories, 20,000 photographic opportunities. 20,000 choices,
only 6 rolls of film. |
 |
The
way I shoot, as a publisher, I shoot only what looks like a shot.
Usually, it's something I've seen before, a shot I picked out
of the over 300 rolls of film I've developed for Ravers Digest
(and Rave On Magazine before that). I don't have to invent all
that much, it's not like writing or design, all I need to do
is see it and recognize it. Then set the camera and shoot. For
a normal party, I can cover it in 3 rolls, or maybe 4. I don't
try to capture everything, just enough so that you, the audience,
can get a good idea of what was there. For a small party, it's
cake. You walk around, see a hundred shots, and take them all.
A massive, on the other hand, has a hundred shots in every room,
plus a hundred shots between the rooms and outside, plus talent
that you might never get to see again. So what do you do? Okay,
just to make things interesting, you also need to get a cover
tonight. Oh, and you don't get any type of special access, so
you have to risk getting tossed for a decent crowd or talent
shot. Of course, you know there isn't any decent light inside
the arena, and Go Ventures only gave you one GL spot for photography,
so you won't get a break all night and all the pressure is completely
on you (thanks for adding that extra element of challenge, Reza). |
 |
And
here we are, at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. After walking around
the entire venue one and a half times, we get to the Guest List
and are cleared by Reza himself, as there are no more Guest List
Tickets or wristbands.
Who cares, we're in. Just
barely, but we're in. Finally I can relax. There is always a
chance that for some reason or another I won't be allowed into
a party, at which point I sneak in, but I digress. Yes, it is
a rush to sneak in and you do have a whole new level of appreciation
for a party you had to sneak into, but I digress. Either way,
don't sneak into parties. It's bad, really, really bad. I only
do it because I have to for the magazine (and I love raving).
|
 |
Anyway,
like I said, we're in. Right away I see a shot, and another one,
and another one. This is how it's going to be all night. Good
shots are everywhere, so I need to think about getting a variety
of shots, and most importantly a cover. For Ravers Digest, that
means finding the perfect cover girl. |
 |
i am NOT this good of a photographer!
i just got lucky on this shot, or maybe i should be thanking
the drum n bass godz fer this one? |
 |
Larissa is the girlfriend of
the infamous Mike G., but not the original Mike G, the real Mike
G. |
 |
Mithcah and Kristen (what you
don't know is...) |
 |
 |
 |
violet, baby!! sorry this shot
sucks, all my shots were either great or sucked tonight !! 37 |
|
There are a lot of things
on my check list, including: one good shot of each room, great
dancers, the all important crowd shots, shots of cool costumes,
sexy girls, random stuff, shots that give you and idea of what
was there, shots of the talent, and whatever strikes me as a
good shot. What makes this so hard is that most shots only exist
for a few seconds, and then are gone forever. I can't tell you
how many shots I missed by less than a second, and this is with
an auto focus, auto shutter speed, auto aperture, auto everything
camera. I have no idea how Sam shot raves with a strictly manual
camera.
To make a long story short,
I spent all night looking for the perfect cover girl only to
have not found her by 3:30 a.m. I stayed in the
Jungle Room, guessing that this would be the right spot. The
Jungle room was outdoors, had some available light (at least
it wasn't black) and was really truly going off, so this had
to be it.
I eliminated literally
thousands of girls since they were: in the wrong light, camera
shy, not photogenic, fuct up, couldn't dance, had boring outfits
or lacked personality.
|
 |
The perfect
girl turned out to be Max, a 22 year-old brunette who was topless
except for a handful of leaves. Max if you are reading this,
"Thank you!!" Max had the right look, right outfit,
perfect body, perfect attitude, loved being in front of the camera,
could really strike a pose, and most importantly had charm. I
had 10 shots left, rapidly using 9 of them on Max and saving
the final exposure for a shot of me with my beautiful cover girl.
-37 |
 |
 |
 |
oh my, i love her sooo much
!!! what a goddess |
 |
|
|
 |
why can't we have a party in
here every month? too much happiness? |
 |
here is another shot that came
out way better than i deserve |
 |
ok, here is a shot of the hardcore
room, i know we always ignore hardcore,
but it's not my fault i'm a junglist, uhm, i mean housecat |
 |
uhm yeah, i was asked to leave
the upper deck where i shot this from |
 |
but i came back again later
!! haha |
 |
i was also asked to leave this
area, but i love this shot.
i had to time the light coming down on the crowd up front. |
 |
guess what? i was behind the
fence for this shot and got tossed back into the crowd, special
thanks to Sean AKA the DJ SDF-1 who cleared me to go on stage
later, allowing me to get this next shot with MC Skibadee, who
by the way did not "Over-MC" during DJ SS's set at
monster |
 |
"this is the mister skibadeedoo
with the matter, and your rollin with the drum n bass arena RINSE
OUT" |