Fstoppers Original: David Bergman Photographs Bon Jovi

Fstoppers Original:  David Bergman Photographs Bon Jovi

Back when Fstoppers was still pretty much just an idea, I contacted a few photographers I respected and asked if they would be interested in sharing their knowledge and images to an audience of photographers online. One of the photographers I reached out to was David Bergman. What really grabbed my attention was his amazing one of a kind image of President Barack Obama's historic inauguration. I also recognized many of his Sports Illustrated covers he has shot over the years and thought our readers would enjoy hearing from David himself on how he approached his craft. Little did I know what the final Fstoppers video would wind up being about.

Fstoppers Original: David Bergman Shoots Bon Jovi from FStoppers on Vimeo.

Dave and I were in contact for a few months, and he really loved the idea of our site and wanted to be a part of it. We had a few problems with David's schedule since he was on tour with various bands early in the year so the video kept getting pushed further and further back. Then one day I got a phone call from Dave. He said he would be shooting Bon Jovi for 4 nights at the new Giants/Jets stadium and that it would make a great background for his tour photography feature. I really couldn't believe what David was suggesting because the first 4 records I owned as a kid were Bon Jovi albums and my first concert at the age of 7 was Bon Jovi in Anchorage, AK in 1989. The giddy little kid in me was completely flipping out, but I knew I had to keep a collective mind about how to make the best possible behind the scenes video featuring a subject so many photographers are interested in shooting: Tour Photography!

Needless to say, gaining access to any of the New Meadowlands shows fell through. There were talks about us flying over to London for Bon Jovi's impressive 12 date residency at the O2 Arena, but that provided other scheduling problems. I began to think having an Fstoppers video featuring Bergman and Bon Jovi was just wishful thinking; there was no way Bon Jovi's notoriously tight "family" was going to let two young kids run around backstage, let alone film video of it all. But when Jon Bon Jovi announced that the band would be returning for one more show in front of their hometown fans in New Jersey all hope was not lost. David was able to get everything in place, and at last Lee and my schedules both coincided with the show. On the heals of our most successful BTS video (iPhone Fashion Shoot), the next Fstoppers video would be David Bergman photographing the biggest tour of 2010: Bon Jovi!

Upon arriving in New York, David met up with us at Adorama where he was picking up some hard bound books he had made for the band. On the car ride over to the stadium, it was clear that the type of photography we would see at the show favored more of a sport photojournalist angle in place of a traditional "first 3 songs" approach that is so common in music photography. This was going to be all access and all angles! I guess coming from his days working with Sport Illustrated, Dave has incorporated his remote camera technique in with shooting live events. If you have never seen remote cameras used before, basically David will mount D700 cameras with 14-24mm lenses in various locations around the stadium with Bogen Magic Arms. When paired up with Pocket Wizards, David can shoot images from multiple locations at the exact same time. So if he is shooting from the audience towards the stage, with a pocket wizard on top of his camera he can trigger a remote camera that is placed onstage facing back towards the band and crowd. When Jon Bon Jovi jumps up in the air, David can get two very different angles at the exact same moment. He can also place these remote cameras in areas that are hard to access during the concert such as the very top back section of the stadium shooting the entire crowd of people. I have never worked with remote cameras so I was extremely excited to see how David was going to pull this off.

Another interesting story we were able to hear first hand was how David was able to create the most widely viewed US presidential inauguration photo of all time. If I remember correctly, David was at Obama's Inauguration shooting for Corbis. He also just happened to have a Gigapan with him at the event. So instead of trying to fight for position for a classic photo like Obama's swearing in, David decided to try the new tool he was recently given. If you have never seen a Gigapan, basically it's a computer monitored swivel head that allows you to choose the number of photos you want taken in a set time frame and it perfectly maps out the movement of your camera. So with nothing more than a Gigapan unit and a Canon G10, David was able to take 220 images over the course of 20 minute to create a single 1,474 megapixel image. I think it's this sort of thinking outside the box that makes David Bergman such an amazing photographer and brings so much life to his concert photography.

When we arrived at the stadium, the three of us went backstage to a room where most of the inner workings of Bon Jovi's fan club and merchandise was housed. We straightened up our gear and began a tour of where we would be filming. David took us out to Bon Jovi's sound check in the blistering sun and then underneath the stage to see how the overall production of the show was conducted. It was really interesting to see how the stage hands and guitar techs prepared everything for each song and outfit change. We then took some time backstage to get all the juicy details of David's photography through his days shooting sports all the way up to his portraits of rockstars. Unfortunately David gave us so much information that there is no way we could place it all within a short 10 minute video so maybe we will revisit his interview in the future.

After working frantically to capture as much backstage video footage as we could, it was time to meet the band and give them the books David had printed. I never in a million years would have thought I would be escorted deep inside the Meadowlands Stadium to Bon Jovi's personal dressing room to meet the band...yet there we were; and filming it nevertheless! Jon, Tico, Richie, and David were all alone in this huge room waiting to be called out for other press releases and interviews. They immediately lit up as David made his entrance with his special gifts. Everyone was so nice to us and it was amazing to see how genuine and down to earth everyone was towards us. I really cannot say how much I personally thank Jon Bon Jovi and the rest of his management for allowing us as outsiders to come into such a special and reserved place that few ever get to see. In the moment though, all I really remember telling myself was to keep the camera stable and in focus haha...oh well for meeting and chatting with childhood idols.

The rest of the day was spent pretty much just shooting the concert. We were able to warm up for the Bon Jovi show by shooting a lot of footage of Kid Rock's opening performance. Kid Rock is a great entertainer and one hell of a musician. It's a shame all of his footage will probably never see the light of day. Security was really great to us and even helped us with our tripods and cameras from time to time. When Bon Jovi hit the stage the whole stadium cranked up to 11 and the energy level was unlike anything I've experienced before. At times I would look over to Lee and wonder "how in the hell did we find ourselves filming this video?" Shooting this behind the scenes video was a complete blast and just like David, we too tried to get as many creative angles of the concert as possible. It wasn't easy at times trying to move from front of stage, to middle of the stadium, to backstage, then back to the extended catwalk. I also was not as familiar with Bon Jovi's stage show for this particular tour so trying to film the highlights was tough too. Luckily David was a seasoned pro and could cue us in when something big was about to happen. We followed David everywhere and were able to really get a perspective of what it is like shooting as the band's main tour photographer. With multiple remote cameras, two D3 cameras, 24-70 lens, 70-200 lens, and a 600 telephoto lens, there really wasn't anything for which David was not prepared. We even taped a GoPro HD Hero camera to David's 24-70 lens to capture a POV perspective throughout the day (seen a few times with the band rehearsing backstage).

So after about 2 months of culling through the footage, working with David and his images, and editing everything together this should give you a unique perspective into the life of a tour photographer. David is one of the best at his craft and after playing with the high resolution files he sent me for this video I can say that his work is beyond impressive! I think Dave says it best when he says making standout music photos is more about having great access than simply having the best gear. There really is only so much you can do when shooting available light even when that light is perfectly designed for a stadium tour. You really have to go the extra mile or two and try something different that will distinguish your images from everyone else's photographs. David Bergman does this best by learning a band's setlist inside and out, using remote cameras for unique shots not normally possible to take, and building great relationships with the artists he works with. I hope this video is as fun to watch as it was to film and create. Thanks so much to David for taking on this project and letting us take a peak into this crazy world he has made his career. Be sure to head over to his tour photography site www.TourPhotographer.com as well as his blog at www.davidbergman.net/blog

Oh and this video has been given the thumbs up by Mr. Jon Bon Jovi himself :)

Here are some links to some of the gear David uses to create his images. I've split it up based on the images shown in the video for reference.

Obama Inauguration Photo:
Gigapan Automated Panoramic Stitching Hardware
Canon G11 Point and Shoot Camera

Bon Jovi Concert:
Nikon D3 camera
Nikon D700 Camera
Nikon 14-24 Lens
Nikon 24-70 Lens
Nikon 70-200 Lens
Nikon 600 Lens
Pocket Wizard Plus Multimax
Pocket Wizard Remote Trigger Cable
Manfrotto Magic Arm for remote camera mounting
Bogen Super Clamp for mounting Magic Arm
Sandisk Extreme Compact Flash Cards
Think Tank Airport Roller
Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly Sensor Cleaning Kit
Etymotic Ear Plugs He claims these are the most important piece of gear to bring to a concert...I don't know about all that though

Portraits and Studio Shots:
Dynalite Studio Lights
Dynalite Uni400 Portable Lights
Lastolite Hot Shoe Softbox
Chimera Two Speedlight Speed Ring This is my favorite on location speed ring as well; thanks David for the recommendation
Nikon SB-900 or if you can find them SB-800s

Written by Patrick Hall. Patrick Hall is the cofounder of Fstoppers.com and a wedding photographer in Charleston, South Carolina

Patrick Hall's picture

Patrick Hall is a founder of Fstoppers.com and a photographer based out of Charleston, South Carolina.

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80 Comments

hey David they finaly put it up . We need to do another meet up I had a lot of fun the last time.

good job yall.. i liked this one a lot

This post is really all Patricks doing. Pat edited the whole thing by himself and he wrote the whole story, so thank you Patrick for all of your work on this. I also wanted to thank David for working so hard to make this happen but most of all I want to thank the management team for Bon Jovi and the band. Most bands this size are totally unreachable and they really went above and beyond to allow a small website like fstoppers.com back stage. The band and their team have made a life long fan out of me and I will never forget this experience.

Great video! I've never done too much concert photography, but now that I'm doing some photojournalist-type stuff for my university, I'm getting into it a bit more.

One thing I've been wanting to try is the camera triggers to get some neat angles, but it hasn't quite happened yet.

Awesome post and I'm glad you guys got this opportunity. You earned it. :)

Killer! Y'all are continually stepping it up; keep on rockin!

You guys knocked it outta the park on this one. A far cry from the looped single song you have on the earlier videos -- this one rocked from start to finish, because you embraced the band and their music through the whole video. David clearly deserves the success he has had, and this was a great insight into his setup and process. Thanks for bringing this to us!

OMG! This is amazing. Thank you guys for this awesome video!

Awesome images. Talk about total access; that was nuts. If you wouldn't mind answering a few questions I would love to know what camera settings you use on the remote camera e.g. Shutter speed, apperature, ISO etc. and how you trigger them. Are you doing that manually meaning thumb on the pocket wizard transmitter or is the transmitter mounted on the camera your holding and everytime you press the release, the remote camera take a picture? Thanks.

Wow. This is just great. The only thing that I am wondering about is how did David set the exposure on the remote cameras? Were they on automatic or has he just photographed enough concerts to know? Because when he set up his equipment it was still light out, right?

That was one hell of inspiring video. Amazing Photography, great video showing the work of David, who definately made me think about a few things concerning music photography.

Thank you for this.

amazing guys! that is totally wicked!!

Does anybody know what that thing was on his lens hood?

This is absolutely amazing! Thanks heaps for putting it up Patrick. Would love to do something like this one day.

Coolest video ever 4me! You guys managed to bring together my biggest passions: photography and Bon Jovi while providing very insightful informations! Amazing!

AWESOME you guys keep it coming I love your Originals, and all that Fstoppers has to offer. Well Done.

Man, that's the kind of stuff that you can show your grandkids and say "back in the day, I got to shoot this concert.....". Really great stuff there, Patrick and Lee! So how many hours and hours was that editing?? ha ha!

wow.

Loved this one. Loved it. Great work everyone involved!

Fantastic work!

Great job! Thanks.

This is just insane. You guys keep raising the bar higher and higher! Very talented photographer. I bet yall had a hell of a time! Awesome job!

Incredible work.

Patrick - Fantastic video! So awesome what you and Lee are accomplishing.

Hey, thanks everyone for the kind words. Patrick and Lee, you guys really kicked ass producing this video. I sincerely appreciate it!

To answer some of the questions on here...

Bruce and Matt: Luckily, I've shot the shows enough so that I have a pretty good idea what the settings should be on the remote. I usually go at about 2500 ISO, 1/320 sec at f/4. The arena show is a little different from the stadium show and the light isn't exactly the same through the whole concert, but that gets me close most of the time. As for triggering, if I'm shooting from the stage looking out (the same angle as the remote), I'll have the Pocket Wizard fire with my hand-held camera. If I'm in the crowd (opposite side of the remote), I'll trigger manually with my thumb when Jon turns around.

Edwin: I taped a GoPro HD video cam to my lens hood. We weren't sure if Lee and Patrick would be able to go in the dressing room, so I put that on to get some video footage in there. Turns out I got them backstage, so they didn't use much of that footage - only a clip or two.

Great work...love all the photo's and a wonderful short film of the process!!! Keep on rockin' David!!

Oh wow! I never knew that the Go Pro was so tiny!

Wow! Other than Annie Leibovitz shooting for Rolling Stone, I've never thought a lot about photographing live bands. This was a great insight as to how much work goes into it and how great David Bergman is! I am also impressed with all the work that goes into FStoppers!

Thanks David! Awesome video! Very inspirational

Really excellent BTS, guys! Thorough, exciting, envy-creating, along with really technically proficient and creative filming. Will be sharing on my blog and Facebook. Good work!!!

HEy looks like the site from david is a little bit crowded - i get only errors "all slots are busy"-thing when trying to get to the gallery. fstoppers rock :-)

"I let him shoot my kids ! I tried shooting my kids but... they run too fast." Priceless !

Seriously, this video is insane ! Good job guys !

WHOA! This video was amazing. Fantastic work guys!

Your pictures are beautiful! The video was amazing and informative, you're so talented! Thank you for sharing it with us.

Hey guys, been following the blog for a couple of months now. Awesome work so far.

This BTSV really grabbed me, great subject, well shot, excellently edited. I love Bon Jovi and although I want to be a wedding/portrait photographer, I'm sure the life of an international band/music photographer must be awesome!

Keep up the good work guys!

Lee

That was a fantastic piece. Very well put together.

Awesome video!! And incredible photography, David!! I've shot thousands of frames of Bon Jovi over the years so this piece really hit home for me. David is spot on about great access being key for this type of photography. Great job, guys!! :)

Lovely vid - makes me want to give concert photography another go - as David says getting access is the clincher.

Would have liked to see a few more techie bits - like stuff and setting on remote cameras, use of pocket wizards, etc.

Ha - loved the lens-envy look at 9:13!

Ah see David has answered questions on remotes - thanks

Incredible photos and amazing bts video! You guys are really stepping it up!

Absolutely sick! Well done from beginning to end and what a huge thing for you guys. Your site is amazing btw, one of the best on the web right now!

Amazing. And really inspiring. Seems like a humble guy who gets to do these fantastic shoots. Please keep posting more videos like this.

Great video, i think sometime better than bon jovi productions.

Excellent job guys! The video was entertaining and very educational. David comes across as a really laid back and humble guy. Who said nice guys finish last? Thanks for posting!

Would not mind seeing the full interview. Very well done. Thank you so much for doing this.

You guys (or <i>one</i> of you guys) filmed this? It was done beautifully. Really great work. David Bergman does an amazing job as well.

You kids have really got something great going here, and I've got a feeling this site is going to get much bigger than you'd ever imagined it would.

Richard, yes both Lee and I filmed this video. It's definitely crazy how far FS has come since the launch in Feb. It's already surpassed my expectation for the first year and only better things are going to come as more people start creating BTS videos of their projects. Thanks for reading and for the kind words!

This is amazing!
As a Bon Jovi fan I was super excited to see this and boy, it really makes me take up from where I left with band shooting :)

Hats off, David Bergman!

incredible video guys! this is one of your best, for sure.

Well, you guys have done it again. And you will very obviously do it again and again and again. AWESOME. Such a ridiculously cool video and behind the scenes look at everything!!!! Proud to know yall!

Great video!
I'm proud of you even if I don't know you! :)

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