Kirk Hammett of Metallica at Ozz Fest 2008 - more photos...
photo by Jeff Barringer - Staff Photographer |
I think that if I died on January 1st 2009 I would leave here with a huge smile on my face. I don't know if it would even be possible to come close to shooting as many bands or so many major bands again. All told I was invited to shoot 231 artists and bands, covering everything from local talent to top shelf acts such as Metallica, ZZ Top, Rush, Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Petty, Judas Priest, Motley Crue and more. The list just seems to go on forever. Along the way I got to do some great festivals such as Mayhem Festival, The Warped Tour, Ozzfest, and the massive SXSW festival, and in turn I got to talk to, meet or just hang around with lots of cool musicians, culminating in a few rounds of jaeger shooters with Kerry King and his wife in the fall.
What a great year.
It would be hard for me to pick which one show was my favorite, there were so many good bands, so many good shows. Hand's down the messiest and probably one of the funnest was the GWAR show at La Zona Rosa. Probably the best show I saw this year is the only one I couldn't photograph and was extremely lucky to get invited to at all, the Foo Fighters Austin City Limits taping down at the studio on the UT campus. Playing in a small studio to a standing room only audience comprised mostly of Austin's music industry elite, we were treated to an unbelievable performance that I can't wait to experience again on HDTV when it airs on PBS in January.
I probably blew 100,000 raw photo frames and culled around 20,000 of the best to hang in our galleries. To check out all the bands I shot this year click on the link below to view the thumbnail gallery.
http://club.kingsnake.com/2008gallery.html
