Killswitch Engage at Roseland Theater

DanOstergren · 2026-10-07T21:01:43-0500

I don't often photograph live concerts. As a matter of fact this is the second one I have photographed in a decade, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph one of my all time favorite bands after their lead singer invited me to, so last monday I did exactly that! I know that my expertise is in portraits, not live shows like this, so I know they could be much better. Per the venue's policy, photographers could only be in the pit for the first three songs, then all of the photographers had to exit the pit and take photos from other spots in the venue. I chose to just enjoy the rest of the show instead of "work", and it was an INCREDIBLE show! I messed up and didn't get any shots of the drummer, but in my defense I was extremely over stimulated and really wasn't able to focus on much else other than what was directly in front of me. Lighting in this situation was also very challenging to work with and I was constantly having to change my settings and just hope it was enough to capture the shot well enough. The tricky lighting paired with a moving and very high energy band on the stage honestly had me worried that I wouldn't get a single good shot. On top of that, though I was using a camera which I absolutely love, my camera is a model that came out almost 15 years ago, so the auto focus definitely struggled. I can see how a modern camera would make this sort of job easier, and had I been paid to do this I would have likely rented one. All things considered, in the end I managed to get several shots that I really love. The black and white shots are intentionally soft and grainy, because I like the look and felt it suited those particular shots (and in a couple of cases the black and white was necessary to save the shot). Thankfully this was a no-pressure gig so I felt comfortable taking time to enjoy the show and photograph it using my dinosaur of a camera.

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