This was my third time photographing Anthrax in concert and it was the most intimate venue yet. I previously photographed them on the Jaegermeister tour and at the Big 4 and both those shows were great but the show that Anthrax put on in San Diego last Monday night was the best yet. It seems that being out as the headliners and supporting a new album really turned the show up to 11.

I had a goal for this show, and that was to catch Scott Ian in mid leap. The first time I saw them, I was over in front of Scott and during the third song I saw him take these big purposeful steps, then launch himself up in the air. I got a shot but it wasn’t great, but I remembered the way he walked right before the jump and made a note of to so that when I got the chance to shoot them again, I would better be able to capture the jump. The Big 4 show in Indio was the second time I was going to shoot Anthrax and while they had a big stage and plenty of space, the photo pit was a crowded mess. I saw Scott go into the windup for the jump and was better prepared this time but it still wasn’t what I wanted. So on Monday night at the San Diego House of Blues I was ready. I made sure that I was in the right position at the start of the third song and kept one eye on Scott the whole time waiting for him to start the jump wind up.

There is was, the purposeful steps, the angle to the front and I brought my camera up to my eye, only to realize that I had brought up the camera with the 16mm fisheye set at a lower shutter speed that I was using to capture the audience interaction with Joey and not the camera with the 24mm-70mm f/2.8 with the higher shutter speed that I had set to capture the jump. There was no time to change so I just tracked the action and fired away. I like the shot but it certainly gives me something to work towards the next time I photograph Anthrax.

All in all, it was a great shoot. Here are a few of the standouts to me and the full gallery is below.