VAN HALEN ROCKS DETROIT

Twenty years since he left the David Lee Roth joined the band again, after many years of drama, and they are now out on a big arena tour with a couple shows here in Detroit. I was a Van Halen fan back in the day and saw them twice when Sammy Hagar was the frontman but never with Dave. I still think they were one of the greatest rock bands of all time. They always looked like they were having a blast on stage. I was assigned to shoot the concert for the Detroit News tonight. They sounded good tonight.


I always wanted to photograph Eddie Van Halen, the rock guitar god he is, so it was cool to do so twenty years later. Even if we were kept way back by the sound board, the fans were in the way often, the light wasn't that great and Eddie was behind the mic stand most of the time. But at least we got to shoot 3 songs when many times its 1 song and thanks to the Detroit News for letting me use a 400mm 2.8 lens to shoot with. We were so far aways I could not have gotten a shot without it. Thanks Chris! Good thing I am switching to Canon and had a Canon 40D body. (More on my switch in a future post) So with the 1.6 conversion factor I had a 600mm and needed it.


Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's 16 year old son is playing with the band. Not a bad thing for a kid to be out on tour with a bunch of rock-n-roll legends. Everyone I knew when I was in high school wanted to be a rock star!



I touched on it some above but I might try writing more about the behind-the-scenes so to speak of some of my assignments. I just don't like writing that much and I'm usually in a hurry or tired, but I'll try. If you ever have questions post them in the comments and I will answer.