Christopher Romano Photography

A Very Sweet 16

Christopher Romano — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:43:06 +0000

This weekend I shot a Sweet 16 for a girl Melanie, and what a heck of a time it was.

Even though, for the most part, I am running around like crazy trying to capture the essence and story of the event, I do have a good time. One of the main reasons for having such a good time at this Sweet 16 was primarily because of just how well I was treated.

*Note To Self, Always Take Silly Group Portraits Alongside Formal Ones, These ROCK

More after the break…

The special treatment in this particular case was because Melanie is the cousin of one of my best friend’s wife. They happened to remember me from my friend’s wedding, and treated me like family all throughout. It made my job easier, and that much more rewarding.

From the dancing, to the tables, to the family members, there was a bounty of things to photograph, such as this little dude who is going to be a champion dancer some day:

And this wonderful table place settings candle:

Overall, I had a wonderful time throughout the night. Melanie was a joy to shoot, and would provide me with a wide smile every time she noticed me. I came away with a wide assortment of fantastic shots that they will undoubtedly be pleased with. And to think, when I turned 16, all I got was some Carvel cake and I don’t even think it was Willie the Whale.

I know I haven’t blogged in a long while, there isn’t much to write about when I’m shooting sports and products. When it comes to events like this, I can’t resist but make a mention of it. More tk..

Metal Concert

Christopher Romano — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:39:33 +0000

Just what IS death metal? It is heavy. It’s aggressive. It’s angry. And in this shooters opinion, it is awesome.

Nergal holds his guitar upward, letting it ring after playing a song ending chord

More after the break.

Recently, I had the chance to shoot a variety of metal bands who were playing at a local venue, The Crazy Donkey, which is located in Farmingdale, NY. As I’m sure some may ask, I was able to get the pass by contacting Roadrunner Publicity. The person who contacted me was extremely fast and nice, and I had zero problem bringing my equipment into the venue.

Frank Mullen of Suffocation screams like only he can.

Up first during the night was Thy Will Be Done, follwed by Goatwhore, Suffocation, DevilDriver and Behemoth. DevilDriver was the headliner, but due to the band needing to get to Canada for a show the next night, Behemoth offered to close the show. And close the show they did. All the bands were great, but as someone who doesn’t necessarily enjoy Behemoth’s music, I can easily say they put on a fantastic performance. Luckily enough, security was kind to me during Behemoth, allowing me to shoot in the photo pit during their ENTIRE set! I didn’t get the opportunity during the other bands, unable to get in there at all for Thy Will Be Done and Suffocation, and only for 4 songs for Goatwhore and Suffocation.

Jon Miller of DevilDriver, calm and steady.

Most of the shots were taken between ISO 1600 and 3200. As I was pretty restricted by my lenses, and it was pretty dark in there, I had to crank the ISO up while using my 18-105 lens and 70-300 lens, as the lowest aperture on those lenses is somewhat high. Go figure however, that some of my favorite shots are taken with the good old 50mm 1.8, usually at around ISO 1600, 1/125 sec shutter speed, and an aperture of 2.0. I never used flash, but I saw another photographer literally shoving his flash into the faces of the performers to get shots. While it was quite disgraceful, and I felt that security should of kicked him out for doing so, I managed to get a couple shots with his catchflash at times, which only made my shots better.

Sammy Duet of Goatwhore shreds it up.

I really had a blast shooting this, and look forward to shooting more concerts in the future. Certainly not as back breaking and exhausting as shooting an event, but I did feel like there was just as much luck involved with shooting as there was skill. And in reference to the post-production – I had almost NO idea how to edit some shots, because the options were almost ENDLESS. Some shots worked just as amazing in black and white and they did in full color, half color, 60% desaturated, anything really. Certainly a nice change I felt. A few more for you viewing pleasure.

Orion of Behemoth pounds away at his bass.

Jeff Kendrick of DevilDriver shreds it up.

Seth of Behemoth. Shredding like crazy.

Winter Wonderland

Christopher Romano — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:53:56 +0000

As it is winter here in New York, it often snows. On a recent snow day, I used this opportunity to grab some shots.

More after the break.

In fact, I liked a few of these so much, I decided to add them to my portfolio.

Be sure to leave some feedback in the comments!

Labor Day in Sandy Hook

Christopher Romano — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:52:33 +0000

This past Labor Day, I spent a few days with my friend’s in Sandy Hook, which is on the coast of New Jersey.

My good friend Mike, who is in the Coast Guard, is stationed there, so myself and a few other friends made the two hour trek there.

I used the opportunity to try a few new things…

On Saturday, we went to Dorney Park, located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. As I was planning on going on rides, both wet and extreme, I decided against bringing a DSLR to the park. Just in case I saw a shot I did not want to miss, I brought a point and shoot with Manual and Aperture Priority options (a Canon PowerShot A509 IS) and realized that even with a camera no bigger than one of my hands in hand, I can still nail a few actual photographs, and not just snapshots.

On Sunday, we did a bit of surveying the nearby coastline, and I had my DSLR in hand.

The first thing we did was we make a trip to the Quick Stop, the well known location that the movie Clerks was shot at. It’s only about 15 minutes from Mike’s house, and he hadn’t been there yet himself. We went into the store itself, and it smelled pretty bad. Also, the video store had closed down, but still stored many VHS tapes.

After that, we started exploring the nearby high grounds; mainly because I wanted to, and I was driving, so my friends were stuck coming along.

While in one of the spots, I had Mike pose for me a bit. One of the photos I took of him was pretty good, but I wanted to make it better, and spent a little time in Photoshop touching him up. Hover the following image to see the original; brace yourself, its not pretty.

Scroll over for original:

And a few more from the trip to the higher areas around:

The next day we continued to crave our Frisbee addiction while at the beach. Mike got really into it.

Perhaps too into it. But that’s just how he is.

And we ate soft pretzel rods. Lots of soft pretzels.

I’m On a Beach

Christopher Romano — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 07:34:10 +0000

Get your towels ready its about to go down.

So, anyway, last week I was at Lido Beach with two of my good buddies:

Ercan:

and Kyle:

It was a jolly time. When we went down to the actual beach, the life guards wouldn’t let us in the water, because of the hurricane that was nearby, the waves were totally narly. This caused some of the beach to crack and crumble away:

And some birds to make baths out of little ponds on the still available land:

As I’m sure you can tell by now, I brought my camera with me (as I do everywhere.)

Once 6pm hit, the lifeguards were no longer on duty, and it became a free for all. Surfers tore up the waves, getting tossed back and forth. Unfortunately, at only 300mm max zoom on my Sigma 70-300, I didn’t get any shots of the surfers that I’m really satisfied with. I did however get some decent views of the skyline per say of the beach:

But overall, I learned two things; one: Av is awesome, and I would of accidentally over/under exposed many shots if I didn’t use it instead of M and two: SPF50 sunblock is not enough for my skin. Damn my Irishness. One last one photo for giggles: