Posts from the ‘Music’ Category
Pussy Riot – NYC Photo Shoot
I love the randomness of my job. I always get calls out of the blue from my editors to rush out of my apartment with a moment’s notice to photograph just about anything. Just this past week I was summoned to rush down to Soho where I was to connect with a reporter and find the two still-in-hiding members of Pussy Riot, a Russian feminist punk-rock collective based in Moscow.
I keep up in the news, so I was very aware of their collective and the prison sentences some of them are serving for their recent unauthorized provocative guerrilla performance inside a church to protest of the Orthodox Church leader’s support for Putin during his election campaign. After playing only for 40 seconds before security guards stopped them, three ended up being charged with hooliganism and sentenced to prison and two fled Russia to avoid prosecution.
This shoot was different from most for a number of reasons. First, my subjects were anonymous as the group members wear brightly colored balaclavas and use only nicknames during interviews. I was photographing Fara and Shaiba. When asked who was who, one responded, “It doesn’t matter”.
When I arrived, the two small girls were unmasked and very warm to myself and the writer. They were crashing, at least temporarily, at someone’s home prior to the premiere of their HBO documentary at a nearby theater, which they ended up attended unmasked in secret. What an experience to have to sneak into their own premiere.
I was told by one of their handlers that it was imperative that we not photograph their faces because the Russian government was after them. At the beginning of the shoot, they only wanted me to photograph them while masked inside the elevator of the building. Because that seemed very limited, I asked if we could try quickly taking their portrait, masked, at street level, but they didn’t want to risk causing a scene on the street and getting tracked, especially since their documentary premiere was just a few blocks away. There’s a good chance they’d be recognized and cause a scene.
I ended up scouting the stairwell of the building where, at the top, I found a ladder to the roof of the building. I pitched the idea of climbing up to the roof so we could photograph them outside in the golden light. They liked the idea, so we climbed up and made some really cool images.
I really had a fun time with this shoot. The secretive nature of the shoot was exciting and it felt like I was part of something somewhat historical. Good times!
Bruce Springsteen Rocks The Apollo
I’ve shot a lot of concerts in my days as a news photographer….especially in 2010 when I shot 85 Justin Bieber shows (yeah, seriously) when I was touring with the kid making his book. But rarely do I shoot a single concert that makes all my (older) family members envious. Last night I shot Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Apollo Theater in Harlem for the New York Times as part of a VIP concert for Serius Satellite subscribers who were celebrating their 10 year anniversary.
I was tasked with not just shooting the show itself, but also to try and get a sense of who was attending this VIP show being held in one of the smallest venues Springsteen has played. I arrived around 6:30 to the Apollo and there was already lines of folks waiting to get in, as well as many people just loitering around in hopes of snagging a loose ticket.
I don’t come to Harlem all that often, but I think it might be safe to say that there were more white folks in their 60s than this venue sees in a month…not to stereotype a Springsteen fan…
Some of the more famous VIPs that I saw there included Michael J Fox, Tommy Hilfiger, Brian Williams, Coach Tom Coughlin, Harry Belafonte, Ben Stiller, Elvis Costello, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and a host of others who I didn’t personally know.
The set list was long and consisted of early hits and tunes from his newest album. It was my first time seeing The Boss in concert and I must say I was impressed an old white guy could rock a stage like he did.
On top of simply being a fun night at work, I got to see an old pal from the Bieber tour, Adam Courtney, who was my busmate for 6 months while I toured with Justin Bieber, and is now touring with Springsteen. Good seeing you bro.
Fun times!
Got Bieber Fever? New Justin Bieber Photo Book Now Available!
I was approached about six months ago by the father of an extreme Justin Bieber fan who, along with another girlfriend, had written a book entitled Got Bieber Fever? about the varying degrees of “Bieber Fever”. After discussing the project with her father and working out the arrangements with management, the book was a “go” with 100% of the proceeds going directly to Pencils of Promise, an charitable organization that raises money to build schools in the developing world. Just the first print run alone will build TWO schools! How awesome is that?
With the designing expertise of my beautiful, graphic designer-wife Laia Prats, we put together a super high-quality, coffee table-sized book of my photos and their story.
If you’re interested in more details about how this book came about, you can download the press release or check out the article in the San Francisco Chronicle!
The book is available on Amazon for $17.95 and includes an amazing, oversized, glossy, fold-out poster behind the dust jacket (below), alone worth the price of the book! Get your copy today and support an amazing charity!
On the set of the Gayle King Show with Lady Gaga
I recently had the opportunity to visit the set of the The Gayle King Show (Oprah’s BFF) for a profile piece in the New York Times.
Thus far in my career, I’ve found shooting on television or movie sets to be an exciting and rewarding experience. I love seeing all the work that goes into producing television and film. Learning how all the different people on and off set work together to make TV is almost magical. It’s actually pretty intense, especially on this particular set because her show is LIVE and there’s no room for mistakes!
I feel the most in my element when I’m allowed to float around a room and simply document what’s happening around me….and this assignment was just that. I obviously had to be aware of not getting in the way, but Gayle’s crew was very welcoming to me and let me float all around.
As it turned out, Gayle had some cool guests that day on the show. First was host of NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams, and second was the music and fashion sensation Lady Gaga….freshly hatched from her egg at The Grammy’s.
I’ve always enjoyed newsman Brian Williams because behind the stern anchor, he’s actually very funny….I’ve seen him on many talk shows hamming it up as well as his comical cameos on NBC’s 30 Rock.
The only time I was asked not to take photos on set was for 1 minute as Lady Gaga came out to the set. Gayle thought it would be funny to strip to her undergarments and stand on a pedestal to get a reaction out of Gaga as part of a personal joke in honor of Lady Gaga’s unclothed interview on “60 Minutes.”….and it was pretty funny, I must say….unfortunately I don’t have photos of that!
Anyhow, Gaga came out wearing 10″+ platform shoes, a shoulder-less, leather outfit (for lack of a better word) while sporting faux, pointy, alien-like shoulders with spikes on her face and a large, egg-shaped hairdo. She was quite a site….though I wasn’t surprised as the last time I ran into her she was wearing a dress made of meat at the VMAs.
So yes, it was quite an experience. Gayle was super kind and chatted with me about my photos in the Justin Bieber book, who had recently been a guest on her show.
I was impressed with Gayle’s kindness and professionalism on set. Her team all worked well together and made me feel very welcomed. It was fun to run into Gayle a week or so later at the United Nations for a movie premiere I was covering. She remembered me and reminded me to send her the Bieber book….I delivered it the next day!
See more photos of Gayle King, Lady Gaga, and Brian Williams in my archives.
Gayle King Show – Blog – Images by Robert Caplin
On the Road with Justin Bieber
What a ride I’ve been on. Literally.
Many of you may have noticed my lack of blogging in the past two months. If you haven’t been keeping up with me on Facebook or Twitter, it’ll come as a surprise that I’ve been on tour with the one and only Justin Bieber documenting every facet of his life on his first headlining North American tour.
If you recall, last December I had my first encounter with Justin while shooting an assignment for the New York Times. It was at that point I realized I had documented something pretty special as he played Madison Square Garden for the first time.
Long story short, after the assignment, I put together a prototype book with the help of my fabulous designer Laia Prats, and proposed a Justin Bieber documentary to his management (at the TODAY Show) and a number of publishing houses. After a few months of hustle and luck, I was told to meet up with Justin and company in Nassau, Bahamas where he was performing at the Atlantis Resort. That was in mid-June….and I’ve been on the road with him ever since.
The bus tour has taken me all across America from the east coast to the west and as far north as Minnesota and as far south as Texas. Soon we’ll be traversing Canada, Justin’s homeland, eh?
So what’s happening with my pictures? Many things!
First and foremost, Harper-Collins is publishing an illustrated book with about 150 of my photos along with text written by Justin himself talking about his transition from a normal kid to international social media celebrity and touring music sensation. The book is hitting the presses very soon and will be on bookshelves worldwide beginning in October.
Beyond the book, I’m creating an exclusive archive of Justin at every one of his 80+ North American shows both on-stage and off. Those photos will be released in some new and exciting ways to his fans and media. More to come soon on all that!
I’ll be on tour until at least the end of his North American tour, which ends in early January 2011. Rumor has it a world tour is in the works! Until then, the best way to keep up with me is through Facebook and Twitter.
I hope to continue blogging from the road, so if you all have any questions or blogging requests, please let me know and I’ll try to answer them as the tour goes on.
Thanks for all your support! I’m really excited to see what comes of all this.
Justin Bieber LIVE on TODAY Show
This morning I covered Justin Bieber’s appearance on NBC’s TODAY Show in Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.
I had to arrive at the crack of dawn to wait, along with hoards of other press, while enduring the shrieks of Bieber’s diehard tween fans. I was in need of an Aspirin after this shoot. If headache is a symptom of Bieber Fever….I can certainly say I caught a case of it listening to them scream!
I quickly found that the press riser where many of the celebrity photographers lined up to shoot was not a viable option for me as I would’ve been crammed behind 40 other photographers. So I opted to shoot from the rear of the stage where nobody was shooting from. I really lucked out because I was able to pull off some nice frames shooting through the crazy fans. I like to stray from the pack and get something different….at least my photographs are unique versus everyone shooting from the riser getting the same canned shots.
I was also able to give Justin and his manager my prototype books containing the images from my all-access coverage at the Z100 JingleBall and they very much liked it, which made me quite happy. Perhaps a new project in the works!
Here’s the source of the headache:
Take a peek at a slideshow Justin Bieber’s TODAY Show concert.
Justin Bieber TODAY Show Concert – Images by Robert Caplin
