I love (and hate) photographing the Vans Warped Tour. OK.. that might be stretching the truth. I don’t hate it, but there are some things that can be really frustrating as a concert shooter. I’m going to talk about the bad, then the good, and the good really does out weigh the bad.
The Vans Warped Tour is a really big show with a ton of bands playing all day long on multiple stages. And chances are that you probably haven’t heard of some of the acts. I know I hadn’t. The first problem is that there is no posted schedule before the show so it’s really tough to plan out who to shoot and when before actually being at the venue.
The other issue is that the Warped tour seems to give photo passes to everyone who asks. I think that’s great, it gives those starting out a way to get some great band shots…. But they need to make some rules about at least having a camera and not just an iPhone. And the last thing… there are no stage lights.
On the plus side, the bands rock, there are numerous stages to shoot, security is very understanding, the bands give it their all and the image can really rock.
All the photos taken with the Nikon D4 and Nikon D700 camera bodies along with the 70-200mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/28 and the 16mm f/2.8 fisheye
Hi Alan
Great looking shots. I see your identified drawbacks…
Try Glastonbury / Isle of White Festivals sometime in the future. I hear that is a blast. organized and somewhat selective on shooters
Regards
T