The Legendary Life of I Shot Chad

The Dives & Headshots

2010-04-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some of my recent photos from the dive clubs and bars, as well as some of my new portrait and promo shots. I have been crazy busy to start the year 2010. It has been awesome. I have made 2 trips out to Chicago to do work with Flatfoot 56 and Old Shoe Records and have been busy here at home in California as well. Here are a few shots from the first part of 2010. Hope you enjoy them. Sign-up for my newsletter, The ART of MUSIC: Music Documented

THE SPARRING

STREET DOGS, 3-23-10 @ SLIDEBAR

SCARLET GREY

KNIVES, 2-13-10 @ UNITY CHURCH

PURPLE MELON, 2-4-10 @ THE MINT

THE RINGERS, 2-4-10 @ THE MINT

FLATFOOT 56

DEALS GONE BAD

CHARLES MANSION, 2-13-10 @ UNITY CHURCH

CAT PARTY, 2-13-10 @ UNITY CHURCH

BOMBPOPS, 3-5-10 @ GALAXY THEATRE

DEALS GONE BAD-PORTRAITS

FLATFOOT 56-PORTRAITS

Punk Rock Christmas

2009-12-25T00:59:00.000-08:00

I recently shot a few really great punk/hardcore shows. It started with Against Me! on 12-17-09 at Spaceland in Silver Lake, then Suicidal Tendencies at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach and Against Me! again at the Troubadour in Hollywood on 12-19-09 and then ended with Title Fight at Chain Reaction in Anaheim on 12-20-09.
Against Me! did a short tour of playing in small clubs. They were supported by Roll the Tanks and O Pioneers. I bought a ticket to the Spaceland show and brought my camera in hopes of being able to shoot the show. Spaceland said I had to have a pass, but I snuck my G10 in anyway. I was ok with this situation, but it turned out my friend, Joe, was now playing drums for O Pioneers, so he was able to get me a "real" photo pass. So now I was armed with my good camera for what I hoped to be an amazing show. There is no photo barrier at Spaceland, so the best angle is from the crowd. It has been awhile since I have shot a punk band from the crowd. There have been times where I have thought I was "beyond" that, but I wouldn't have done it any other way that night. I got shoved, hit, yanked, grabbed and elbowed the whole time and it was amazing.
I had to leave the Spaceland show a little early, but my friend, Joe, offered to put me on their list for the Troubabdour show on 12-19-09. I told him I would love to go and shoot Against Me! agian, the only problem was that I was asked to shoot Pennywise, Suidical Tendencies and TSOL at the Long Beach Arena for my friend who was doing the production. And on top of all of that, it was my friends' Christmas party. So I had some choices I had to make. Also at this point I was feeling sick and didn't want to do anything. After going back and forth with people, I apologized to my friend that I wasn't going to make his Christmas party, drove out to Long Beach and shot TSOL and Suicidal Tendencies and bolted to Hollywood where I got to the Troubadour just as O Pioneers was taking the stage. The Troubabdour show was so amazing and I ended up being the only "pro" photographer there. Standing on the side stage as I shot the incredible concert, I realized I made the right decision.

I was asked by Alternative Press Magaizne to do some photos of a band called, Title Fight. I had only known the name because I had seen it around. To prepare for the shoot, I started listening to them. I was pretty much stoked on them right away. So much so, I was making it a point to stick around for their show that night at Chain Reaction in Anahiem. I can't show you any photos from the AP shoot yet, but keep an eye out for them in an upcoming issue. But here are a few shots from the concert. Holy cow, it was so awesome. I can't wait for Title Fight to come back in late January. They were good dudes and I left with new friends and a new band I can't stop listening to.

Title Fight @ Chain Reaction, 12-20-09

Cold World @ Chain Reaction, 12-20-09

O Pioneers @ Troubadour, 12-19-09

Against Me! @ Spaceland, 12-17-09

O Pioneers @ Spaceland, 12-17-09

Roll The Tanks @ Spaceland, 12-17-09

Against Me! @ Troubadour, 12-19-09

O Pioneers @ Troubadour, 12-19-09

New Uploads to Flickr!!

2009-06-06T15:21:00.001-07:00

I have been busy uploading a bunch of photos to my Flickr account, so go check them out. And don't for get to follow me on Twitter!

THE FACES OF MUSIC, Series 02

CRO-MAGS

COP, BAD REACTION, INSTANT ASSHOLE, DECRY

FACEDOWN FEST 2009

The Faces of Music is Still in the Works

2009-06-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

As you have seen on older posts here, I am working on a portrait series called, THE FACES OF MUSIC. I am making a collection of portraits of people who are a part of the music industry. Over the weekend, I was able to add Jon Berry, bassist of RunnerRunner, and John Joseph, author and singer of the Cro-Mags, to my ever growing collection! I am posting the rest of the shots from these sessions, as well as, all the shots from Series 01 on my Flickr page. So go check them out!

JON BERRY

JOHN JOSEPH

A Little Spread in Alternative Press Magazine

2009-06-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

Some of you have already seen this, but I recently had a photo run as a 2-page spread in Alternative Press Magazine! Pretty excited about it. Hopefully this is just one of several to come. Stay tuned.

A Flickr and a Twitter

2009-06-01T21:59:00.000-07:00

Well, first off, I now have a Flickr and a Twitter account. So you can follow me on all my wild adventures on Twitter and then checkout all the incriminating photos on Flickr. It's a win-win situation. You can now live vicariously through me!

Flickr- www.flickr.com/chadsengstock

Twitter- www.twitter.com/ishotchad

So go add me already.

Here are a few selections from the shows I have recently uploaded to my Flickr site.

THE RINGERS @ DETROIT BAR

RELIENT K @ GLASS HOUSE

RUNNER RUNNER @ GLASS HOUSE

DEEP SEA DIVER @ GLASS HOUSE

CRO-MAGS @ CHAIN REACTION

Hello from 30,000ft above the US!

2009-04-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

I just had to post a blog as I am flying to Chicago. I am visiting my friends in Flatfoot 56 and shooting their sister's wedding on Saturday. I am hoping to catch a Cubs game tomorrow, though it will be tough to convince my White Sox fan friend to take me. Definitely going to have to eat as much pizza as possible. I think I might be seeing the Slackers on Saturday after the wedding as well.

This week has been insane. I shot promos of my boys in Scarlet Grey. Shot Silversun Pickups for OC Weekly. Went to see Jenny Lewis play. Saw my friend's band, Deep Sea Diver play for the 1st time (amazing!). And that is what I did after work!

For work I did some special shots that are going to be used for something special, as well as 2 different lifestyle shots for some cool collections on Shockhound.com.

Crazy long week, but a good one!

Twitter!

2009-04-05T14:57:00.001-07:00

I joined the twitter world. Come follow along as I capture the world of music one shutter click at a time.

@ishotchad
http://twitter.com/ishotchad

Long, Long, LONG overdue postings: Part 5- Portraits and Promos

2009-03-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

I don't JUST shoot live performances. I like to capture the people off the stage as well. So here are some of my more recent band shots, portraits and some bonus pics from my Faces of Music project.

TOTAL FURY (FROM JAPAN)

THE IMPOSTERS

TAKE IT BACK

SEDERRA

SCARLET GREY

ROMEO DELTA

MIKE MCDOUGAL

KASH REACTION

JOE HURSLEY

RUNNER RUNNER

THE MAINE

DEAR AND THE HEADLIGHTS

THE FORCE

AUDACITY

NICK TOWNSEND

RUNNER RUNNER

RYAN OGREN

JAMES ULRICH

PETER MUNTERS

NICK BAILEY

JON BERRY

FLATFOOT 56

DJAY BRAWNER

CHOICES MADE

CHARLES PECORARO

Long, Long, LONG overdue postings: Part 4- The Faces of Music

2009-03-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

I am still working on my project called, The Faces of Music. After shooting 73 people using the same lighting setup for each one, I decided to call that batch, Series 01. I am now starting Series 02, which will allow me a lot more freedom to be creative and cater to each individual to capture their personality in their own unique way. It will also be easier to do on the spot portraits than it was doing Series 01. Here are the 1st four shots of Series 02. Please let me know if you are interested in being a part of this project and we will set something up.

Long, Long, LONG overdue postings: Part 3- Cool Things my Photos were Used For

2009-03-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

Some of my photos have been featured on some cool things you may have seen on myspace. Here are a few that I actually saw and saved. I know there is probably a lot more out there. I wish people would send me these types of things when they use my photos for something.

RUNNER RUNNER

ROMEO DELTA

WAR OF AGES

RUNNER RUNNER

WE ARE THE FURY

SCARLET GREY

RUNNER RUNNER

Long, Long, LONG overdue postings: Part 2- OC Weekly

2009-03-14T21:45:00.001-07:00

I am still shooting for OC Weekly whenever time allows and there are some good shows in town. I have even been given the opportunity to shoot some photos for the printed edition.

THE PRETENDERS

ZZ TOP

FOO FIGHTERS

JAY LENO

ROBERT PATRICK & PETER FONDA

ROBERT PATRICK

NEW YORK DOLLS

LOST BEAN (FOR PRINTED EDITION)

OF MONTREAL

HIDDEN KITCHEN (FOR PRINTED EDITION)

H2O

GORILLA BISCUITS

CSS

CRO-MAGS

BLOC PARTY

Long, Long, LONG overdue postings: Part 1- www.shockhound.com

2009-03-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I have been working at Hot Topic, INC. as the staff photographer for www.shockhound.com. I just had my 1 year anniversary, and I am very excited on how things have been going. I look forward to growing and pushing myself everyday there. It's an amazing opportunity and I love it a lot. Truly a blessing. Anyway, here are some of my favorite recent shots.

The Beast Has Been Unleashed!!!!!

2008-10-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

I am VERY excited to announce that ShockHound.com has officially launched! If you weren't aware, I have been the photographer for ShockHound.com for almost 6 months now. I am their product photographer, so pretty much any photo of, or related to the product was taken by yours truly. I didn't speak much about the job because there wasn't a website you could go checkout. Now there is, so get your butts in gear and go checkout ShockHound.com!! Look up I Shot Chad and add me as a friend!

-Chad Sengstock
Photographer for ShockHound.com

Slow Dancing at the Orange County Performing Art Center

2008-10-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

I was asked by OCPAC (Orange County Performing Art Center) to shoot a special event the OCPAC and KCRW were having on Saturday October 11th at the OCPAC. The event was called Slow Dancing. Click HERE to read all the details on what it was, but it was really cool. I wish you all had gone. DJ Jason Bentley of KCRW was amazing and the art by David Michalek was superb. It was an entirely new way to look at dancing. It was very cool. It would have been a perfect date for those of you with significant others. Anyway, here are some of my photos you will find on the OCPAC page.

David Michalek

DJ Jason Bentley

I Am Ready for My Close-Up

2008-10-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

Somehow I managed to become an extra for the new Black Tide music video last Saturday (Oct. 4th). I saw the band play on Sept. 27th and they made an announcement that they needed some extras, so I figured, why not? I have talked with Zakk, the bass player, and Austin, the guitar player a few times, so I had them trying to figure out a way that I could shoot photos of the video instead of just be an extra. They couldn't figure out who to talk to and since they are on Innerscope Records, it probably would of been hard to make it happen. So, I arrived at Fairfax High School in Hollywood at 11am and sat in the auditorium waiting for my "big break." Around 4pm, my break came. They finally called out the extras. I won't tell you what we did, you will just have to wait for the video to come out. My ears hurt and my neck was sore from head banging. That's all I will say. More than likely you will see my ugly mug in the video, so keep an eye out for it, Black Tide "Shout." I will be the bearded old fart next to all the teenagers, haha!

I snuck in my point-n-shoot camera and took a few photos inbetween takes. Hope you like them.

Crap! I Look Like Kid Rock!

2008-10-07T21:29:00.001-07:00

This Sunday was Hot Topic's Manager's Awards Party. We had to go dressed up with futuristic theme. Thanks to the suggestion by Valarie, my co-worker, I went as Kid Rocketman. I was a little disturbed when I looked in the mirror and realized I actually looked like Kid Rock. Scary.

I am NOT Dead!

2008-10-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well, just so you all know, I am not dead, I have just been swamped. Which is a good thing. So I threw together a few photos of my recent photo adventures. I hope that you like what you see. Hope all is well.

Counting Crows shot for OC Weekly

Augustana shot for OC Weekly

Maroon 5 shot for OC Weekly

Rancid shot for OC Weekly

H2O shot for H2O

Testament shot for Adrenaline

Mosh pit for Motorhead

Crazy Judas Priest fans

Motorhead shot for OC Weekly

Valiant Thorr shot for OC Weekly

John Mayer shot for OC Weekly

Jesus Wept

Family Force 5 shot for AP Magazine

Jeremy Engik

Jeffree Starr shot for MVDD

Tipper's Gore

Acid Reflux

Annihilation Time

Broken Needle

C.O.P.

Confide

Tipper's Gore

Broken Needle

Negative Approach (1st ever Cali show)

John Mellencamp shot for Dusenberg USA

Foxy Shazam (the aftermath)

Paramore

Brittany Rae shot for MVDD

Subways

Bad Reaction

Trash Talk

Well, those are a few of my photos from this summer. Hope you like them. Take care and God Bless!

WHAT?! The JONAS Brothers!?

2008-07-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, I bought a Jonas Brothers' "The Burning Up Tour 2008" t-shirt. Get over it. I couldn't resist. Maybe I can sell it on eBay when I want to buy a house, haha!
That's right, the Jonas Brothers. So what? You're just jealous I got to go and you didn't, haha! I had the opportunity to shoot their July 13th show of their Burning Up Tour at the Honda Center for OC Weekly. They are such a HUGE band right now, thanks to the genius marketing machines at Disney, that I couldn't resist seeing what it was all about. There was probably close to 17,000 people in attendance. Three fourths of which probably couldn't have driven themselves to the show. Just hearing the constant crazed screaming was an unique experience. The show, of course, was a super over-the-top production, which Disney is famous for, but it only made the show that much more interesting. The shows I typically attend are usually just the band on a stage playing music, so it was fun to see such a big production like that. I will also say the music was better than I was expecting. It wasn't unbearable.

It's crazy because I almost missed the show! The email I got from the Jonas Brothers publicist said the show started at 7:15pm with Demi Lovato opening and then the Jonas Brothers would go on at 8:30pm. I got to the Honda Center at 6:45pm thinking I made it in plenty of time. I walked up to the press entrance where the security guard told me I just missed the show! Apparently, the email I got was for Monday night's show. The Sunday show started at 6:15pm and was only the Jonas Brothers. So I stood there bummed for like 10 minutes when we found out the show was over an hour late getting started. The photo escort ran back up to get me and I was able to make it down to the floor 5 minutes before the Jonas Brothers came on stage! It worked out so amazingly! We got stuck shooting from pretty far back because they were filming a 3D movie of the concert, so I had to shoot over the heads of a 1000+ screaming fans with big "I love the Jo Bros!" signs and 2 huge camera cranes. I left thinking I got nothing but crappy photos. Thankfully, I was wrong! Check them out!

I was done by 7:30pm which was awesome because I was able to go to my friends, Scott and Becky Bates', farewell party. They are moving to Denver. After the party, I edited my photos until close to 2am. Good times! Hope you enjoy the photos!

My awesome Bible study Brothers!

Cornerstone 2008 Entry Number One: The Videos

2008-07-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few videos I took of my recent trip to Chicago and then the Cornerstone Festival. Hope you enjoy them.

The Scurvies are an amazing band from Fairbanks, Alaska. They stayed at my place awhile back and we have been friends ever since. They are a peculiar bunch, but some of the nicest guys you will ever meet. They put on a crazy show and they get better every time I see them. Check them out!

Dan Otto Nobot Petersen is the vocalist/lyricist for one of my all-time favorite bands, Blaster the Rocketman. He gave a lecture at Cornerstone about monster in the Bible. a very appropriate subject for him if you know anything about Blaster the Rocketman and/or his new band, Voice of the Mysterons. He is now a missionary in Scotland, and I had the privilege to stay with at his place for a week when I went to Scotland for a week. I had never meet him before then and he opened up his home for me and my friends. It was an incredible witness of hospitality. Anyway, I hope this spoken word version of "The Behemoth cum Leviathan cum Cherubim cum Seraphim Monsters of Heaven and Earth Meta-Flesh Manifesto" will make you want to checkout his bands.

This is the band I stayed with in Chicago and then rode with to Cornerstone. Flatfoot 56 is an amazing band and put on an incredibly fun show that anyone can enjoy. They over-filled the Underground tent on Wednesday July 2nd for their Toga Party. The crowd was insane. Tons of people in togas, even a guy in a chicken suit. They also had the biggest mosh pit the Underground Tent has seen in awhile. This video is just a glimpse of the madness. They played the Main Stage that Friday to open up the 25th Anniversary of Cornerstone Celebration. They had tons of fans show up and just took the place over. Checkout this video on YouTube of their Main Stage performance. Click HERE. You can kind of see me shooting pics of the mayhem. I am the guy in the white shirt in front of the stage. After Flatfoot played their 2 songs, everyone in the mosh pit left and the place was almost empty. Bummer for the next few bands, haha!

There was a Facedown Records day at the Underground Tent on Thursday July 3rd, so of course I went to hangout and snap a few pictures. I took a little video of xDeathstarx. Good, heavy hardcore from the Inland Empire.

I was excited for the chance to see Sexually Frustrated, Kyle from Flatfoot 56's side project. SF is an old school hardcore all about remaining pure from sexual immorality. I had only heard like one song of theirs and loved it. I bugged him all weekend before leaving for Cornerstone that SF had to play because when else would I be able to see them. They are from Chicago and don't tour, so I knew this might be my only chance. Talks began and they decided they would play a few songs right before Flatfoot 56 played Saturday night at the Fat Calf Tent. They started to tell everyone that SF was playing and people were getting stoked. Well, late Thursday night, they found out that the guitarist and bassist wasn't going to make it out to Cornerstone. Kyle didn't want to not play after telling everyone that they were. Thankfully his buddy, Brandon, pretty much knew all the songs and Adam from Flatfoot told Kyle that I could play the bass. Kyle told Brandon and I that if we could learn 3 songs, then we could play. Brandon and I grabbed my laptop and a copy of SF's demo CD and set to work trying to learn the 3 songs Kyle wanted to play. With acoustic guitarist and an unplugged bass, we strained our ears to see if we were playing things right. We thought we had them down well enough. We had a brief run through with Kyle and Justin (the drummer), and we all felt we had it down well enough to make it through the set. I was completely nervous because I would be playing in front of probably the biggest/rowdiest crowd I have ever played in front of before, not to mention we were playing right after Blaster the Rocketman (one of my all-time favorite bands) and right before Flatfoot 56, another amazing band that attracts big crowds. Thanks to the encouraging words from my friends, I just went for it. I definitely butchered a few parts, but we got through the songs and the crowd loved it. It was an amazing thing to play in front of that many people and you yourself are hearing how you sound for the first time as well! It was incredible. Check it out yourself. Thankfully it cuts out right when I am butchering a bass solo, haha!

The Demon Hunter is Searching for a Living Sacrifice

2008-06-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

After seeing Anthrax and Iron Maiden the night before (May 30th), what better way to cleanse the soul than seeing 2 of the best Christian metal bands ever! Demon Hunter and LIVING SACRIFICE!! That's right, they are back! I was super excited about this night because Living Sacrifice has been one of my favorite bands for a long time, plus I have been a fan of the Clark Brothers ever since Training for Utopia. Remember that band? Unreal! Anyway, their latest band, Demon Hunter, is insanely good and they destroy every venue they play at. So you can see why I was so pumped for this show. I unfortunately missed Advent because I drove back out to Irvine to buy myself and TJ from War of Ages epic Iron Maiden tour shirts. And I do mean epic. You will probably see TJ rockin' his on a stage near you soon!

Needless to say, I really wanted to shoot some of these guys for my Faces of Music project. Things were way hectic after the show, but thanks to my buddy and Punk Rock, Hardcore Extraordinaire, Dylan Johnson, he was able to round up Jon Dunn of Demon Hunter, Alec Barainca and Patrick Judge of the Demon Hunter road crew and Bruce Fitzhugh of Living Sacrifice for me to shoot for my project, as well as himself. And thanks to my assistant Shaun Centers, we got Bob Martinez who works the door at the Glass House and Joseph Meersseman who does merch for Oh Sleeper. I also shot Mike Ojeda who is the General Manager for the Glass House and then Sonny Nigro who owns Needles and Pins Records. I owe Shaun another shout out for his gift of finding power outlets. He actually got someone who has a place along the alley to let us plug in from their place. It was completely random that he actually knew someone who was over at the time, but it all worked out and Shaun is the man! Another late night, but when is it not? Enjoy the photos!

I Shot Showbread, Now Watch as Each One DIES, 5-29-08

2008-06-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I have posted anything about my Faces of Music project. It's not because I haven't been doing anything, it's because I have been doing a lot! I have shot almost 70 people for this project already and there's just no stopping me. I am trying to edit them as quickly as possible, but it takes a little time. I am overwhelmed by everyone's willingness to participate in this so far. It is kind of unreal.

Anyway, back to the story on hand. On Thursday May 29th, I headed out to the Stronghold in Chino to see my friends in Showbread. They just released a new album, so I was excited to see how the new songs sounded. These boys have always been crazy and they certainly didn't disappoint. I also got to see Josh's side project, DIES, for the first time. Going to the Stronghold is always a good time because I usually know half the people there. This night was no exception. It was a regular old party. You should have been there.

After the show, I convinced Patrick Porter, bass player of Showbread/DIES, to pose for the Faces of Music project. Thanks to him and my newly appointed Faces of Music assistant, Shaun Centers, we rounded up everyone in Showbread, Patrick's wife, 3 members of Ember Days, and the Youth Pastor at the Stronghold. I shot a total of 12 people. I would have lost it without Shaun's help keeping everything organized. It was another very late night. Shaun stayed till the end (1am or later) and he had to get up to open Starbucks at 4:15am!! I only had to be at work at 7am! Oh the things we do for the sake of art. Anyway, here are the 12 people I shot.

It was a crazy time trying to shoot these portraits with all the bands loading up and all the things they do to entertain themselves. Enjoy these videos I shot because I just had to, haha!

I Got Away with Murder: The Untold Story of How I Shot 16 People in 2 Days

2008-05-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

TUESDAY MAY 20, 2008

This crazy band called Foxy Shazam decided to roll into town and play at the Glass House in Pomona. I didn't really want to go because I was tired and not feeling too great, but being the Silent Assassin that I am, I am always looking to shoot people. I am in the process of collecting heads, and I thought Foxy Shazam would look nice above the mantel.

Foxy Shazam is probably one of the craziest live bands I have seen in awhile, so I knew it would be difficult. I figured I would at least shoot one of them. Little did I know I would shoot all 5 members, 2 members from The Dear Hunter and the Tour Manager for Fall of Troy. I was on a killing spree. Foxy Shazam was so stoked to be shot, they asked me to shoot some promos for them as well!

What I thought would be a bang bang and run, turned into a full on shoot. It was amazing. It was strange being at a show for the entire time and only shooting one performance. It was pretty sweet. Watch the video of Foxy Shazam, it will give you a taste of their madness!

THE DEAR HUNTER

TOUR MANAGER FOR FALL OF TROY

FOXY SHAZAM

FRIDAY MAY 23, 2008

My next night on killing was much like the first. My mission was to shoot Andy Serrao. He is the talent buyer for Chain Reaction, as well as a band manager. One of the bands he manages (Eye Alaska) was playing at Chain Reaction that night, so he had me shoot them as well. Along with their tour manager and the guy who does a lot of artwork for the band. It started to rain on us, so I had to quickly breakdown my gear before it got soaked. I ended up sticking around to shoot a few shots of Eye Alaska's set. After the show, I had the urge to shoot one more person. The lucky soul was Max Ritter, who does Music Marketing for Hurley! Thankfully it wasn't raining anymore, so I was able to shoot him in an alley. Shooting people is a tiring hobby, but so worth it.

TALENT BUYER/BAND MANAGER

EYE ALASKA

ARTIST/EMPLOYEE AT CHAIN REACTION

TOUR MANAGER/SECURITY GUARD AT CHAIN REACTION

MUSIC MARKETING AT HURLEY

Red Eyes and Ringing Ears: My Week From 5/9/08 to 5/17/08

2008-05-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

This was a crazy week for me. A very good week, but crazy. It started on May 9th. I worked all morning at Hot Topic. It was kind of slow, so I had my friend, Charlie Pecoraro come in to pose for me. He is a musician, so I did the Faces of Music portrait of him. I took off a little early and drove out to Irvine because my band, the CIG, was playing our second to last show at Reuben's (the guitarist) house. We played for over an hour to about 15-20 people. It was a blast, of course.

I got home late, dead tired. I think I stayed up past 2am. The next day, Saturday May 10th, I went to see my friends in Scarlet Grey play at Chain Reaction. I shot photos of them as well as Burning Tree Project and Eudora. After the show, the Snider Brothers and I went across the street to an auto repair shop to setup lights to do my Faces of Music portraits. I shot both of the Snider Brothers, Josh and Jon and then Ben Grey and Danny Duran of Scarlet Grey. I then went to Wendy's with the Snider Brothers for a little late night snack and chat. I got home around 1:30am and started working on Ben's picture. I went to bed around 3am.

I woke up Sunday the 11th and went to the first service of church before heading out to Rancho Cucamonga to have Mother's Day lunch at my brother's house. From his house, I drove out to San Bernadino to shoot promos of War of Ages. I stayed until the end of the show which was close to midnight. I had setup my lights during the last couple songs of WOA and they were nice enough to all do the Faces of Music portraits for me. Even after shooting promos of them for a couple hours already. We then went to In-n-Out for some late night grubbin'. Then it was off to home, only an hour car ride away. Needless to say, I got home late again.

I had to get up early on Monday May 12th to go into work at Hot Topic. After work, I watched hockey before heading back out to Chain Reaction to see my friends in Means play. They of course headlined the show, so it was another late night. After their set, I did the Faces of Music portraits of Matt and Todd, their guitarist and bassist. I hung around for a little bit after that, but I needed sleep. I think I went to bed around 2am again.

I spent most of my day Tuesday May 13th kind of getting ready for my band's last show at Di Piazza's in Long Beach. We opened for Tipper's Gore and Social Circkle (from Boston). It was a fun show. There wasn't as many people as I thought there would be there, but it was still a good time. It was a sad thought knowing that we wouldn't be performing again. I am going to miss it. It was another late night. Tipper's Gore didn't even go on until 11:30pm. But it was well worth the lack of sleep.

I woke up early again on Wednesday May 14th to do another half-day at Hot Topic before meeting up with Damion Lloyd (a photographer I assist) to go shoot a banquet for ST Jude Hospital. The banquet seemed to go on forever. Damion and I both struggled to keep our eyes open. We got good shots non-the-less. The banquet ended well after 10pm and I still found a way to stay up well past midnight.

On Thursday May 15th, I had a full day at Hot Topic. I shot about 27 shirts and some posters. For my lunch break, I tried to take a nap in my car. Besides it being blistering hot and me feeling like I would blackout, I think I actually slept a little. I was looking forward to Thursday night because all I had was Bible study. I did almost fall asleep a couple of times, but it is always a good place to relax and focus on the Word and not on our busy schedules. Bible study ends around 9pm usually, but I again managed to stay up late.

I had to wake up extra early on Friday May 16th because I was assisting Damion with a shoot for Oakley. The call time was 7am. The plan was that I was going to work from 7am to noon with Damion and then from 1pm to 6pm at Hot Topic. Thankfully there wasn't much to do at Hot Topic, so I think I ended up leaving a little early. I spent the evening with my friends Matt, Casey and Jon. We ate at Pepe's and then chilled in the spa. Finally a restful evening! I did stay up past midnight again though.

I woke up to a knock on my door at 8am on Saturday May 17th. Matt (my roommate) and I were going to go to Steamers for breakfast. He told me they had good waffles, so I was craving them. We got there to find out they no longer make waffles, so I had to settle for a cheese bagel. It was good, but it ain't no waffles. After breakfast, I watched Dallas beat Detroit to force a game 6. Good game. Pretty much right after the game, I had to head out to Whittier. I shoot high school sports for Sanford Studios and somehow I got roped into helping out at a prom. I agreed because I was just going to assist and the dance was going to be on a boat cruising the Long Beach harbor! I had no idea how long of a day it would be. I got there at 3pm and didn't get back to the studio until midnight. It was a pretty fun gig, but I got stuck shooting candids, which gets kind of old when there are only 150 people. Never-the-less, it was a pretty easy job. So once again, it was a late night, but knowing that the following week would be a little slower brought a sigh of relief as I closed my eyes to finally get some sleep!

New Job

2008-05-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

I recently got a new job as the photographer for ShockHound.com, which is a new division of Hot Topic. It is a legit "corporate" job. I put that in quotations because Hot Topic is far from being like a corporation. It is publically traded, that's about all that makes it a "corporation." But still, I have never worked in this type of setting, so there are still things I am getting use to. It was definitely frustrating right at first, but things seem to be falling into place and I am loving it! Basically, I am shooting product for ShockHound. Whether it is exclusive band shirts or vinyl, I am shooting it. Keep an eye out for ShockHound.com. It should be launching soon and it should be a really cool site. I am blessed to be a part of it! God truly provides.

MY NEW OFFICE

Handcuffs and Portraits

2008-05-06T21:20:00.001-07:00

I am starting a new series of pictures I am calling for the time being, "The Faces of Music." It is basically going to be a series of portraits of musicians. My first such shoot for this was with Nik the Dick, who plays guitar in C.O.P. and drums in Bad Reaction. Two very good old school hardcore, thrash, punk bands.

I drove out to West Covina for the afternoon to hangout with Nik and takes some photos. We skated a little, ate fat burritos and took some candid photos and what not. It was all going so well until Nik recommended a spot he remembered going to back in high school. Of course, we had to hop a fence to get to the spot he was thinking about. The spot was basically a wash area in Monrovia. We were there maybe 10 minutes. We had just found this dry lake bed and I was just about to start breaking out my camera gear when I noticed someone walking out of the corner of my eye. Yep, wouldn't you know it. It was a cop. He told us to sit down and then he had Nik walk backwards to him up this loose gravel slope. I was thinking we would just be asked to leave, but then I saw them put handcuffs on Nik. Not looking good at all. Next they had me walk backwards up the loose gravel slope, put my hands behind my back and then I felt the cool steel of handcuffs. Now, I have had my fair share of police run ins, but I have never had handcuffs put on me. It is not something I want to go through again. It was not a good feeling at all. Nik had never been handcuffed either and he didn't like it much as well. The police searched my bag looking for spray paint. The report they had received was that we were tagging and then taking photos of it. It didn't take much convincing that we weren't and I even told them how to turn on my camera and look through the photos we were taking. We were still sitting on the ground, handcuffed. Not a very comfortable position to be in. They took down our names and addresses and then finally undid the handcuffs. With a stern warning, they let us on our way. They sent us out on the opposite side on the wash from my car, so we ended up having to walk all the way back around through residential streets. We finally got back to the car just in time to see the cop who busted us drive away. I was half expecting to see a ticket on my car. Thankfully, we got off with a warning, but it could have been a lot worse.

We went back to a tennis court that we had passed that I wanted to go to instead of the wash. We set up my lights, while two guys were playing tennis on the court next to us. We got a few weird looks, but soon got over it. After tweaking with the lights and settings, I finally got the photo I wanted.

NIK THE DICK

Nik actually saw the cop that busted drive by the tennis courts as we were unloading the car, haha! They were following us. We went back to Nik's where we did some shots of him playing the drums and then some in his room. I might post those later.

This is Me, I Shot Chad

2008-05-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

I am human, yes, but I have the power to freeze time. I stop action with the flick of a finger. Trapping that moment inside a rectangle frame. Forever it will remain in its frozen state, giving people the chance to travel back in time to remember those moments that are now in the past. They will laugh, they will cry, but they will never forget that moment, thanks to my itchy index finger. I am Chad Sengstock, aka I Shot Chad, aka I Shot Photography. I shoot people, music, events, action, product, etc., etc. So stay tuned.

www.ishotphotography.com