Local rock band Triggered Response contracted me back in December to do their first serious photoshoot. They wanted to take some explosive imagery that showed them off as a band so the idea to have this series of water explosions was born. Minus a flooded room, the shoot went off AMAZINGLY ^_^

Over 10 hours of photoshop was invested into the shot to blend the 8 or so images together! If the interest is there, I can prepare a short Tutorial showing how it's done!

In the mean time, I invite you guys to come check out the Making of Video by Eva Jinn Productions: http://vimeo.com/19996118

Credits:

Clients: TRIGGERED RESPONSE - http://triggeredresponse.com/

Kayla St. Cartier - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Abdiel Friedman - Lead Guitar
Alan Pick - Bass Guitar
Patrick N. Perrin - Drums

Makeup:
Lisa-Marie Charron

Assistants:

Anick Morel Photographie
Linda Zheng
Christine Claire Delta

—

Thanks for viewing my photostream =)
Please leave a comment and feel free to throw in some constructive criticism!

©VonWong
Montreal Conceptual Photographer
vonwong.com - Facebook - Twitter - Flickr

Local rock band Triggered Response contracted me back in December to do their first serious photoshoot. They wanted to take some explosive imagery that showed them off as a band so the idea to have this series of water explosions was born. Minus a flooded room, the shoot went off AMAZINGLY ^_^

Over 10 hours of photoshop was invested into the shot to blend the 8 or so images together! If the interest is there, I can prepare a short Tutorial showing how it's done!

In the mean time, I invite you guys to come check out the Making of Video by Eva Jinn Productions: http://vimeo.com/19996118

Credits:

Clients: TRIGGERED RESPONSE - http://triggeredresponse.com/

Kayla St. Cartier - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Abdiel Friedman - Lead Guitar
Alan Pick - Bass Guitar
Patrick N. Perrin - Drums

Makeup:
Lisa-Marie Charron

Assistants:

Anick Morel Photographie
Linda Zheng
Christine Claire Delta

—

Thanks for viewing my photostream =)
Please leave a comment and feel free to throw in some constructive criticism!

©VonWong
Montreal Conceptual Photographer
vonwong.com - Facebook - Twitter - Flickr

Since a recent member shuffle happened, I was contacted by Stareblind to shoot a second official promo shot for their press kit. For those interseted in purchasing their recently released album, please click HERE.

Special thanks to Teresa and Zhang for helping me with this shoot. If you wish to assist me sometime, let me know!

In addition to the standard flash photography I gave a shot at fooling around a bit more in photoshop and came up with these results.The shoot was fun, simple and to the point with a minimum amount of planning. All concepts (location included) were spontaneous!

Hard work but great fun.

Enjoy

More Info about StareBlind from Asher Media Relations:

NEWS RELEASE

Contact - Jon Asher - Music Publicist - 514-581-5780 - ashermedia@gmail.com - AsherMediaRelations.com

Montreal, QC - July 21, 2009

Stareblind Has Something Left Unexplained - Release Debut Album - July 21st, 2009

From once a humble side project to now one of the most innovative groups to break out of Montreal’s alternative metal hotbed, Stareblind releases their debut album Something Left Unexplained. Featuring aggressive, yet lyrical vocal textures coupled with a crushing rhythm section.  Stareblind’s 11 track album presents a distinctive and identifiable sound that reflects the proficiency, cohesion and like-mindedness of the group and its individual band members.

“We’ve spent the last year in studio working on this album; we refined a sound that we felt was Stareblind.” says vocalist Manu.  “It’s amazing how we came together as just a side project at first and from the reception in Montreal and other parts of Quebec, have evolved to become a more serious fixture on the metal scene.”

Progressively gaining the respect from both peers and audiences in the Quebec metal scene, StareBlind are preparing to display their ground breaking compositions to the rest of Canada later this fall when tour dates will be announced.

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

To see the full album please click on the photo above or HERE.

The rock group Plants and Animals grew out of an auspicious encounter between three young musicians in the halls of Concordia University: Warren O. Spicer (guitar, vocals), Matthew “The Woodman” Woodley (percussion, vocals) and Nicolas Basque (guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals). Nova Scotia natives Spicer and Woodley were old friends who had played together regularly in various high-school bands. When they met Basque in Concordia’s music department, the Montréal trio came into being. Together, they formed and nurtured Plants and Animals. In February 2008, their first CD Parc Avenue came out on the Secret City Records label, and it’s still making waves. In the past year, Plants and Animals has toured Canada, the United States and Europe. The band is now about to head back into the studio to record a follow-up to Parc Avenue. [read more...]

Probably one of the best concerts that I had a chance to cover over at the Nocturnes in the Museum of Contempory Art of Montreal, Plants and Animals put on a fantastic show that had the whole crowd clapping and calling for more.

Using a mix of on camera flash and pure ambient as well as a the brand new Tokina 11-16 f2.8 that I had purchased, I once again went for extreme unconventional shots that hopefully gives you a feel for what the event was like! Note: Shots such as the cover chosen are multiple exposure shots, not photoshop created  =)

Hope you enjoy the shots.

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

Emerging from a blend between contemporary metal and rock idioms, Stareblind kept its followers in amazement throughout their musical journey by tastefully merging raw power and twisted ambience. Rock solid rhythm section, bone crushing guitar riffs and lyrical vocal textures are at the forefront of their aesthetic, which developped outside the mainstream. “I think the variety of our musical influences eventually led the way to an original voice which somehow stands off the beaten paths” -explains frontman Manuel Guilbault. [... Read More and/or listen to their music HERE]

Last Friday, I was hired by the band Stareblind to shoot a set of portraits in order to prepare some shots for them in anticipation of the release of their first brand new album on May 16th at the bar Alize.

Since we were shooting in the metro, I did not want to set up lightstands and umbrellas for risk of getting booted so I enlisted the help of 6 assistants to help me act as voice activated light stands. Special thanks to the volunteers: Jenifer Tram, Mark. A Cadiz, Ivan Zupancic, Anna Li, Jessica Fiset and David.

Before further ado, let me present to you the band members:

Oli - Drums

Manu /Vox

Jake /Guitars

Nico / Bass

—

Since the entire shoot was dedicated to RAW power, I chose to work with dramatic rim lighting (side lighting!) on almost all the shots. For the single portraits, a single assistant on each side hold up a flash at approximately 90 degrees. A third assistant would be holding a reflector to help bounce some fill into the face and a final assistant was tasked with holding a flash on a tripod high above the head of the artists to create a top light.

All in all, it looked somethign like this:

For the opening group shot, the shot was compiled from a series of shots -

• Shot of all 4 band members posing. Flash on either side at 45 degrees with some front fill.
• Shot of all 4 band members + assistants running up and down the escalators to create the motion blurs (x4~6 of these shots)

Thats it!

Personally, I had a great time shooting them and I had pretty  positive feedback from my assistants. If you’re interseted in assisting me some time, send me a message on facebook or leave a comment here!
Once again, don’t forget to check out the band’s website!

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer