Shooting a Death Metal Concert

For our final project we were asked to produce a photo slide show complete with an audio track. We were asked to find an event worth covering and go shoot it, record audio, and then marry the two together to tell a story.

Far from a traditional college “final” experience, this project still required preparation and planning time, the actual experience of shooting an event, and then learning new software in our to create the finished product. Luckily, it was all pretty fun.

I chose to cover a concert that I wanted to attend regardless. It was an all-around learning experience for me as I had never photographed a concert before. The show was Hatebreed, Dying Fetus, Code Orange, and Twitching Tongues performing at The Majestic Theatre in Detroit.

Hatebreed is a classic metal/hardcore band who began in the 90’s. This tour was a celebration of the 20th anniversary of their 1997 album, “Satisfaction is the Death of Desire” as well as the 15th anniversary of their 2002 album, “Perseverance”. I used to listen to them a lot in middle school.

Dying Fetus is one of the heavy hitters of the death metal genre. I just saw them perform for the first time over the summer on a separate tour. They are insanely fast and technically proficient while playing some of the heaviest and most gruesome death metal you will hear.

Code Orange is one of my favorite bands at the moment. They released their third album, “Forever” at the beginning of 2017 and have blown up the mainstream scene since. They are now nominated for a Grammy because of it, which is unheard of for a band in this genre of hardcore.

Luckily one of my classmates, Kailey, happens to be a concert photographer. I quickly requested her help on how I would get into the venue as a photographer and what to expect. She was super helpful and it paid off. I sent an email to the press contacts for all the bands on the bill, and got a response from Dying Fetus’s record label. He set me up with a free ticket and a photo pass. I was ecstatic.

I was unsure what to bring, so I went in with my Nikon and a 50mm lens. I noticed the other photographers had bags of lenses and were much more well-equipped. I wish I would’ve brought more gear, but once the action starts there is no time for switching lenses, at least not at my experience level. So the house rules are stated that you’re allowed the first 3 songs to stand between the stage and the barricade that the crowd stands behind. The bands are all very animated and the lighting was mostly backlit. This made it very challenging to get good shots. Had to have ISO up way higher than I was comfortable with, and I'll have to play with that some more in the future.

Once the 3 songs were done I explored the venue and caught some different wide angles as well as recorded the audio that accompanies the slideshow. Hatebreed came out to the stage with a Christmas song playing so I thought it worked great as a playful and ironic intro to the photo slideshow containing violent-looking heavy metal bands.

I was also completely new to the software of Audacity and Adobe Premier. Learning those programs just enough to get the job done was exciting, and makes me want to explore them further.

After all of this, I have to say this was one of the most fun and valuable “finals” I’ve ever had. I had to think and plan, and jump some obstacles. I had to consult fellow classmates who had more experience and learn from them. I had to throw myself into the fire of a rabid death metal concert where some of my favorite bands were playing. I learned many tricks for shooting that I will be mindful of next time I venture out to shoot a concert. Then I had to learn two new software programs and end up with a cool slideshow to show for it.

Lori King’s class was great and I learned plenty of skills to take with me into whatever field of journalism I might end up in.