The 12-12-12 benefit show for Hurricane Sandy was one of the coolest events I’ve ever experienced. I’ve photographed most of the bands before, but to see The Rolling Stones, The Who, Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and others all in one night was simply epic.

I even got to bring one of my famous photo students into the pit.

The day started like any other big festival show. As Bon Jovi’s tour photographer, I made sure to set up a quick group shot after sound check showing the historical concert’s logo.

(Nikon D3, 24-70mm lens, ISO 2500, 1/160, f/4)

But backstage, Jon Bon Jovi ran into his old friend Paul McCartney (JBJ calls him “Beatle Paul”). After a quick exchange, Jon gave him a smooch on the cheek.

(Nikon D3, 24-70mm lens, ISO 2500, 1/160, f/4)

On stage, Bruce Springsteen joined the band for “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.”

(Nikon D4, 70-200mm lens, ISO 5000, 1/320, f/4)

In the dressing room, New Jersey governor Chris Christie told Jon a funny story that involved some cheek pinching.

(Nikon D3, 24-70mm lens, ISO 2500, 1/160, f/4)

When the Rolling Stones took the stage, Jon wanted to see them perform. I’ve been giving him photo lessons so when we found ourselves next to the photo pit in front of the stage, I handed him my camera and said, “Want to shoot?” He immediately took me up on the offer.

(Nikon D3, 24-70mm lens, ISO 2500, 1/60, f/2.8)

While he enjoyed shooting the Stones and The Who, Jon kept putting the camera down to cheer like all the other fans.

Here are two of his images.

(Nikon D4, 70-200mm lens, ISO 5000, 1/320, f/4)

Jon gave me a message to pass along to his fans.

“Photography is like golf, or so they say. One good shot and you’re in. David Bergman taught me how to capture the shot. The rest is luck and a good subject. See you on the road.”
—Jon Bon Jovi

(Nikon D4, 70-200mm lens, ISO 5000, 1/320, f/4)

Bon Jovi is posting some of my images on their Facebook page, with more to come soon.

| Leave a comment

“You’re makin’ it sound really sexy, David.”
—NBC’s Michelle Beadle, during her interview with me at the London Olympics

“He’s a gold medal winning photographer.”
—Leo Laporte, during an interview on his national syndicated radio show, The Tech Guy

(If you’re reading this via email or RSS, you may not see the embedded videos above. Click here to view them on my blog.)

| Leave a comment

** Buy prints of these images at TourPhotographer.com. I’m donating all of my profit to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief. **

———

I used to think the secret to making a successful portrait was all about the light. But now I know that’s not entirely true.

Last night, I had the opportunity to photograph some of the celebrities backstage at NBC’s telethon, “Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together.”

I knew I wouldn’t have much time with any of the subjects, so I kept my light simple: a Dynalite 1000 w/s power pack with one big soft box at camera right and a second bare bulb behind me at camera left bouncing off of a white scrim for fill.

I shot with the Nikon D4 and 85 1.4 lens, usually around 100 ISO, 1/250 at f/16. I toned the final images with Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Of course, I have to be confident and competent with my gear, but I wasn’t doing anything special on this shoot. A successful portrait isn’t only about the light.

So what’s the secret?

Human connection.

In most cases, I literally had less than a minute to shoot and was lucky to fire off 15 frames. So I needed to connect with each person on some level.

It started as we walked down the hallway together - I introduced myself and made a joke, or whatever seemed appropriate at the time.

When they finally stood in front of my lens, my job was to make them feel comfortable and immediately pull something out of them for the camera. I often use humor, because actual laughs are always better than fake smiles. But it’s different for each person.

The best story I’ve ever heard about a photographer connecting with a subject is when Platon asked Vladimir Putin what it was like meeting Paul McCartney.

Even though my time with each subject was very short, I think there is some genuine personality in the images. And I didn’t have to setup 6 lights with colored gels to get there.

———

I live in uptown Manhattan and my apartment was not damaged by the storm. But I have many friends downtown and in New Jersey and Long Island who will be facing the long road of rebuilding their homes and home towns.

I wanted to contribute in a meaningful way, so I’m donating all of my profit from licensing and print sales of these images to the American Red Cross. The photography business has been good to me for 25 years, so it’s the best way I know to give back.

Thank you to NBC and the 10 talented artists who posed for me at 30 Rock in New York City.

** Buy prints of these images at TourPhotographer.com. For publications wishing to license the photos, contact my agent .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). All fees will be donated to the Red Cross.**

| Leave a comment

A raucous crowd, DJ’s playing music after each point, and dancers on the sand during the breaks.

Add in some of the top female athletes in the world - wearing barely more than a bikini - and put the whole thing at Horse Guards Parade in the shadow of Big Ben.

That’s London 2012 Olympic women’s beach volleyball!

I’ve been producing super-high-resolution images at the Olympics since my opening ceremonies Gigapan, but this is one of my all-time favorites.

I created it during a match between the USA’s Jennifer Kessy and April Ross and Switzerland’s Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr.

I shot 200 frames using the 36-megapixel Nikon D800 and a 70-200mm lens zoomed to 200mm. Stitched together, the image resolution is 98,101 X 31,747.

That’s over three billion pixels, or 3.1 gigapixels.

You can zoom so far into the image that you can see what color Kessy painted her fingernails.

When I produce these, I shoot every frame manually so I can make sure to get exactly what I want in the frame. I also spend a lot of time on the computer overnight, compositing the image together and adding/removing elements as necessary.

See the full women’s Olympic beach volleyball Gigapan on the Sports Illustrated site.

Since opening ceremonies, I’ve also made Gigapans at gymnastics, swimming, and track and field. I have a few more planned, but this one is going to be tough to beat.

| Leave a comment

My first Gigapan from the 2012 London Olympics is now online. You’ll find it in three different places.

It’s on the official NBC Olympics website, Sports Illustrated’s site, and it was even on the cover of Time.com earlier today.

I made the Gigapan by shooting 425 images in a grid pattern (25 across by 17 down) with a Nikon D4 and 200-400 f/4 lens (zoomed to about 310mm) in a Gigapan Epic Pro. Each photo is 16 megapixels so, with a little bit of overlap on each one, the final high-resolution image is 81,992 X 37,520—more than three billion pixels.

I’ve made a lot of Gigapans, but this was one of my toughest. I like to challenge myself - otherwise it would be boring - but I’ll admit that I was sweating this one out a bit.

Since I shoot every frame manually, it can take 30-60 minutes to make one complete pass. I made one early in the ceremony when there was still some daylight and the crowd was nicely lit.

But I really wanted to have the athletes (and the Queen!) in the photo.

So when the athletes began marching into the stadium, I shot a complete pass for the sole purpose of getting the crowd. Those cool LED lights on the seats obscure some faces, but there was nothing I could do about that.

As the infield filled up, I went back and began photographing the athletes. At the very end, when everyone was finally there, I had about 30 seconds to finish up before they killed all the lights and went on with the show. I just barely got enough frames to make it work.

Overnight, I stitched together two complete Gigapans and then combined them so I had all the fans with the athletes on the field in the same photo.

The image is far from perfect as you’ll find quite a few stitching errors. I fixed many of them but every time someone moves between frames, there’s potential for a cut off head or half a body. Sorry to anyone I sawed in half.

I did make sure the Queen, William, Kate, and Harry all look OK! Otherwise they may not have let me out of the country.

In the end, I’m pretty happy with the result, considering that I stay up all night to get these massive Gigapans uploaded first thing in morning.

Tonight I’m doing another one at the swimming final. It’s a smaller venue, which can be difficult, but at least I won’t have to worry about cutting off the Queen’s head!

| Leave a comment

Over the next three weeks, I’ll be practicing what I preach to other photographers all the time:

Separate Yourself From the Pack.

In my public photo presentations, I talk about the importance of covering events differently than everyone else. There’s no reason to go to an event and shoot it just like the other photographers who are there.

This week I begin covering the London Olympics, but not as a traditional still photographer.

This is my fifth Olympic Games (Nagano ‘98, Sydney ‘00, Salt Lake City ‘02, and Torino ‘06). At all the others, my job was to make storytelling photos at the events, like this shot of Michelle Kwan, who came up short in her bid to win a gold medal in Nagano.

This time, I’m working for both NBC and Sports Illustrated in two unique roles.

Each weekday morning, I’ll be on the set of NBC’s Today Show with my friend, legendary sports photographer Neil Leifer. He’s doing portraits of the medal winners who come on the show (which is basically all of them). We’re setting up a photo studio in a trailer and the athletes have to come to us before they appear on the air.

I’ll be helping Neil with his Olympic portraits like I did when he photographed Muhammad Ali earlier this year.

I believe the Today Show will cut to Neil as they come and go from commercial breaks, so you might occasionally see us on the air.

Then at night, I’m producing Gigapan images at all of the big events. Since my Obama inauguration Gigapan, I’ve produced high-resolution panoramas at the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Final Four, NBA Finals, and even for Bon Jovi.

The plan is to do them at opening and closing ceremonies, gymnastics, track and field, swimming, basketball, and beach volleyball. They should be online the day after each event, and I’ll post links and status updates on my Facebook page.

Working the Olympics for two of the biggest media companies in the world should keep me pretty busy, and I plan on staying as far away from the pack as possible.

| Leave a comment