antoine graton, "MOTEL MONTREAL" album art

here is an album cover i did for a canadian artist called antoine. the label sent him on a greyhound bus to nyc for the photo shoot. we went scouting for location after a long night of karaoke. we finally picked the now defunct "295 bowery" which was the site of an old bar on bowery where there were multple suicides back in the heyday of the bowery. we had antoine climbing the fire escape in different costumes to sort of do "these are the people" in the hotel. the art director decided on this shot of antoine jumping in the middle of the bowery. check out his site antoinegraton.com for more shots from the day.

radio4, fader magazine

this is a photo taken of RADIO4 for a double page spread in FADER magazine. i shot this at the legendary speakeasy bar CHUMMLEY'S on bedford street on the west side. The bar is said to be haunted with the ghosts of writers and firemen, both of which frequent the bar. the walls are decorated with first pressing of books and medals of honor. check it out in the winter season and have a pint of "winter warmer", radio4 loved 'em.

radio4, gotham album back cover

this is the back cover photo for RADIO4's "gotham" album. the record pushed radio4 into the next level of their career. i gotta say i didn't like the way the art director put the photo on the back of the record. i think this is how it should look. but that's just me. this shot was taken at the 71st ave-continental/forest hills train station one evening while i had a 104 degree fever. we went to shoot the band inside the train from the outside. the G train takes 5-10 minute breaks here so we decided to shoot every 10 minutes or so. while waiting for a train i took this photo and it happened to turn out the best of the set. i was diagnosed with pneumonia and fluid in my lungs the very next morning!

injected, guitar world magazine

this was a shoot of INJECTED for "Guitar World" magazine. i rode in a town car from midtown manhattan to somewhere in the middle of nowhere new jersey with 2 publicists from Island Records to see Injected play a gig that night. we got there early to do the shoot. i had the luck of already knowing D. Grady and the rest of the band through numerous friends, so they trusted me and let me have fun. we shot everywhere in the venue including the bathroom. just when we thought we were done i spotted this in-ground pool out of a window. the sun was setting and we went with it. we wound up shooting another like 10 rolls of film just in the pool. this was the shot "Guitar World" picked to run. definitely one of the most fun shoots i've ever done!

kerry king, slayer

i'm not sure if these photos need too much explaining. KERRY KING of the legendary SLAYER!!! my favorite band of all time. i've been listening to these guys since i was in the 4th grade. i've gotten the privlege to shoot Slayer a number of times. The first half of this comes from a shoot i did to accompany an interview i did for a magazine called "Muddle".

this was shot in Slayer's dressing room in Asbury park before they played. Kerry was playing video games and didn't really wanna be bothered, so i made it simple for him and just used his dressing room for the background. mainly i did this because i spotted one of his flying V guitars just sitting on the couch. i also shot him playing a racing game on play station.

the live shot is from a show at Roseland Ballroom in NY. i shot this show for a collage that Island Records wanted to use in one of their offices.

nokia unwired tour

here we have Tyson Ritter from ALL AMERICAN REJECTS and Dan Estrin from HOOBASTANK. i spent a month on the road with these guys during the NOKIA UNWIRED TOUR. on our off days we spent alot of time bowling. these guys were all so much fun to hang out and work with. i look forward to another tour this fun.

idlewild @ irving plaza

this is a photo of Roddy Woomble from one of my favorite bands IDLEWILD live at Irving Plaza. i've gotten to see IDLEWILD play so many times but this was the only time i got a pass to shoot them. i remember the set being nothing but amazing and hearing all of my favorite songs. check out "Warnings/Promises" their latest record. "The Remote Part" and "100 Broken Windows" are also great records.

dad portrait

this really is my Dad! i wanted to catch him the way i see him. this is the man who i look up to and who taught me all i need to know. I used a 4x5 camera on black and white polaroid film. i shot this in his backyard and made sure he didn't know i was actually shooting. natural lighting and a slow shutter speed helped get all the detail. this is how i see my dad.

cky, island records

i was asked to shoot CKY for Island Records at a show in NYC. for those unfamiliar with the band it stands for Camp Kill Yourself and shares the name with a series of skateboarding videos put out by Bam Margera, brother of Jess Margera, CKY's drummer. CKY's music has been featured on the CKY videos, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, as well as the MTV series "Jackass" and "Viva La Bam".

the venue was small and packed with kids obsessed with the band. the place went off from the first note. only one song in and a kid stagedove on my head ripping my flash off its socket. using a chord and a lot of gaffer tape i was able to get it working and continued to shoot the mayhem. the show ended with fireworks off of this guitar. definitely a fire hazard...

autopilot off, island records

AUTOPILOT OFF are a band i got to work with very frequently. i shot the photos for their first EP on Island Records and also was asked to shoot their promo shots. this was the third shoot i did with them, which became yet another publicity photo for the band. we shot this in an upstairs room in the famous Roseland Ballroom in NYC. it was just before their set supporting Sum41 who they did a bunch of touring with. i caught up with the band again while i was touring with another band and got to shoot them live almost every day for 3 weeks. i love working with these guys.

errortype:11

Errortype:11 consisted of a bunch of my close friends from NY. they put out several records on Some Records. after breaking up Artie and Adam went on to form the band Instruction with Tom Capone, (of influential band Quicksand), and signed to Geffen Records. i toured with and shot photos of Instruction for the best part of two years.

Ali

i met Ali while he was on tour with Papa Roach, a rock band on Geffen Records that toured with Instruction. another cool portrait picture.

taking back sunday, detroit 2004

this photo was taken of Long Island band Taking Back Sunday while i was conincidentally in Detroit on the same day they played. i grew up with Eddie Reyes, their guitar player, and we actually had a band together before he was a big rock star. Adam, their singer, i've known since he was a 16 year old kid in North Carolina. how things change!

Taking Back Sunday "you're so last summer"

inspectah deck, wu-tang clan

Inspectah Deck is just one of the many members of the legendary WU TANG CLAN. i shot this set for his solo album on Koch Records. the art director had planned for a "funky 70's" theme shoot and i arranged for a location to fit the bill. Deck showed up with nothing more than these NY Knicks clothes and wasn't into the whole "funk" vibe. so we changed everything and shot out in the streets of NYC's Lower East Side. Avenue B reminded him of his homespot in Staten Island and worked well for the shoot.

the crowd, weezer @ roseland ballroom