Headlining the Rockstar Energy drink Mayhem Festival this year was Slipknot. This was my first time shooting them and it was pretty good. Now this was a little different from any of the other shoots during the Mayhem day, first off, there were only a handful of photographers allowed to shoot, about 20 instead of the 75+ that shot the rest of the day. This made the pit less crowded and that was a good thing, since there was a huge fear that the pyrotechnics used would come out off the stage and possibly fry the photographers to a crisp.

That didn’t happen, but the fear (and security) kept us pushed as far back from the stage as possible which meant we had to watch for the crowd surfers coming into the photo pit feet first.

This was a great way to finish off a full day of shooting. Good lights, space to work and subjects that actually seemed to pose at just the right moments.

Thanks Slipknot.

The full gallery is here: