This Blog Has Moved

I've revamped my homepage totally and have integrated this blog there. I won't post any updates here any more. Please update your bookmarks etc. - find me at http://www.lonesometiger.com :)

Turned 3!!!

Der Graf of Unheilig at Greenfield Festival in Interlaken

Elton John performing at a concert at Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland

Yes, it's that time of the year again. It's time for the annual "yet another year of lonesome tiger" picture loaded post. So buckle up, and assume some sort of bracing position, because for the rest of this post, I'm just gonna write about me, me, and, well, me.

Killswitch Engage showing off their muscles at Greenfield Festival

Skin of Skunk Anansie sings during the band's concert at X-Tra Club

The last 365 days started with a boatload of shows that I covered for 20 Minuten Online. I became a regular visitor to the major venues in town shooting my "3 songs only". You know you hang around there too much when the dudes from the photo agencies start greeting you with "you again!".

James Hetfield of metal veterans Metallica performs at Sonisphere festival Switzerland

Singer Pink during her show at Hallenstadion Zurich

I got to shoot Elton John and P!nk, and Europe and Nena, and the Cranberries and 30 Seconds To Mars. And a bunch more.

Alice In Chains live in concert at Sonisphere Festival Switzerland

Danko Jones playing a concert at Greenfield Festival

Following the freezing time came the time of festivals: I covered Greenfield, Sonisphere, and OpenAir St.Gallen. At least the latter was sunny....

Joey Belladonna of Anthrax at Switzerland's Sonishpere Festival

And shooting so many bands gave me a great excuse to buy some new camera gear: New to the family (since back then) is my beloved Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 :) . These last days, Nikon's been announcing new stuff like crazy, but I'm still trying to save my money for when they announce the D4. Ok, enough of the camera geekness.

Sonisphere Festival Switzerland - and that was *before* the fans were allowed in...

Another year, another milestone. My first year was all "trying to figure out how to get photo passes, scrape togethere the courage to actually ask for them, and shoot shows more or less regularly". That, and getting a decent camera (upgrade from Canon 20D to Nikon D3 *grin*).

La Brass Banda live at Openair St.Gallen

Juliette Lewis in concert at Greenfield Festival in Interlaken, Switzerland

The second year I dedicated to becoming really good at what I'm doing. Kinda easy if you got a D3, but still a lot of work. Seems I didn't do too bad; right at the end of year 2 I got my deal with 20 Minuten Online.

Jared Leto of 30 Seconds To Mars interacts with fans during the band's live performance at Openair St.Gallen

Year number 3 brought me tons of shows in big places, awesome light, a lot of exposure on 20 Minuten Online, and a couple of pics in the newspaper (Switzerland's biggest - yay, $s!). I got to cover said festivals, which was like a huge training camp for me (loved it!!).

Ian Astbury of cult band The Cult sings live in Zurich, Switzerland

Live concert of Coheed and Cambria at Greenfield Festival, Interlaken

And, as usual, the question remains what I'll be writing about in 365 days from now. All I can say now: Working on it, and determined to continue kicking serious a**!!!

The Cult play a live concert

Derrick Green of brazilian metal band Sepultura during the band's live concert at Greenfield Festival

Robb Flynn of rock band Machine Head during a live concert in Zurich, Switzerland

Jared Leto and his band, 30 Seconds To Mars, at Volkshaus Zurich

Bye, AdSpace

After holding council with my pillow and cats, I have decided to delete my MySpace account. It's gone.

This is not a question of "why don't you use an ad blocker". This is not about me. It's about the people who visit my page and what they see. I do not want them to see an ad for a religion. My thoughts on this are the following (go get yourself a sandwich and some soda, this gonna be a long post):

I'm a very spiritual person, though I wouldn't call myself religious or affiliated with any religion in particular. I strongly believe that whatever answers or questions or truths it may be that a person is looking for in a religion, lies within themselves. Just as we are all unique human beings, so are our needs, beliefs, and truths. There isn't one reality, or one religious truth - there are as many as there are people, and probably more. Reality and truth are what a person feels, and what it feels like to them. So for someone it may be right to be a Catholic and join a monastery, for some it may be that they truly are Wiccan, and in their perception of the world, that is the perfect truth, and it is as true for that person as it is false for the next person, who can't but laugh about witches.

I believe that if you're truly seeking, you will find your way. Everyone who's truly seeking will find their way. At the end, all ways end up at the same mountain top - and if you're atop a mountain, who asks which way you took to get up? When you're atop a mountain, all that matters is enjoying being there. So find your way. And it lies within yourself. It is your way, and there is no way that somewhere out there you will by magic or happenstance find your truth. Even if you would come across what would be your truth: If you don't know what's within yourself you will have no way of knowing that this is the truth that would match the you, and you would go on tossing it out just like any other option before.

There is a lot written about and promised about "mountain tops" (or enlightenment, or whatever it may be that we're looking for in religion or spirituality). Some people don't care about it, and some do. Above, I wrote "truly seeking". In my opinion, there are a lot of "false seekers": People who do feel this urge to reach the mountain top, but they don't want to work on themselves, turn their gaze to their inside, and acknowledge and accept what and how they truly are, and find a way from there. To me it seems that there are a lot of people who want to ignore their own true self, their inside, their thoughts and needs, and instead they're looking for some sort of back entrance or shortcut to the "mountain top" without having to walk their way.

Walking your way may not always be joyful, in fact, it might be painful and you will meet many obstacles and you'll be tempted to go all "fuck the mountain top, I just want to rest". If your soul is truly seeking, you will keep walking, maybe taking a rest, but you will not be able to stop yourself from trying to find your way up. False seekers will keep trying to look for shortcuts - paying someone to carry them up there, discussing how one could build cable cars or shoot a rocket or whatever else they can think of to reach the mountain top if they just don't have to look inside and find their own way. The point is - you can't get there if you don't walk *your* way, and you do it yourself. Either you accept this, and you go and look for your inner way up the mountain - or you don't, and you will stay down, not matter how long you look for a shortcut or if you just don't care about the mountain.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with not wanting to be on top of a mountain, not at all! (I hate real-world hiking, by the way). But if you're a seeker, you can't but try and walk up, like you can't stop thinking about eating when you're hungry. There's nothing really you can do about it when you are a seeker.

Finding and walking your own way is very hard, sometimes not very pleasing (talk about looking in the mirror and seeing yourself for what you truly are and feel), and oftentimes totally confusing and frustrating. It can help a lot to talk about the finding of your way to other people - Mountaintop Wayfinders Anonymous - or to talk to someone who's been seeking and walking for a while, and might have one or the other advice for you (which you can then ignore or choose to take). Some of these people, and some of them are already on top of the mountain, dedicate a lot of time and effort into helping other people finding their way. I agree that even if they're high up or on top of the mountain, they have to buy food, pay rent, gas, clothes, and so on. If they dedicate so much time to others, they probably don't have enough time to work a regular job; so it is only fair that in exchange for their help, you pay them something.

Usually, these people are called priests, or teachers, or gurus, or monks, or nuns, ... every culture has something like that. And we give them money so they can make sure that the knowledge about finding one's own way up the mountain isn't lost, and that they can help seekers to find their way.

Ha! Where there is money, there are crooks. They don't give a shit about mountains, seekers, ways, or you. They care about money. And if it is pretending to carry you up, showing you a way that "works for everybody, but we're only showing it to the chosen ones", or pretending to build you a cable car that makes you give them money, hell they will pretend the sky being pink if that's what it takes. And they very well know that they're screwing you over.

So,

• zero, no two ways up the mountain are the same, just as no two people are the same
• one, the way lies within yourself, only you can find it, your way is unique, and nobody can tell you what it is or find it if not you
• two, advice helps a lot, and just as you will find your way, you will find your teacher.
• three, there is nothing wrong with paying a teacher a fair amount in exchange for their help
• four, a true teacher knows that you will find them along your way if they are truly on your way

Which leads me to the conclusion that a true teacher will not advertise. Because they know they would only attract false seekers who are too lazy to go find and walk their own way. And because they know that the only people for they can really be a teacher will, inevitably, find them along their way and recognize them. True seekers who pass them along their way, and for whom they are not the right teacher, will know and keep on walking - you meet a lot of people who aren't your teachers along your way.

So if someone who likes to see themselves as teachers (a "church" or "cult" or whatever you call it) goes around ringing doorbells or publishing ads, it can only be that they are false teachers out to get your effing money and abusing your urge to get farther up the mountain to screw you over. You don't pay money for an ad if you don't expect to make more money out of the people seeing that ad.

I don't care if visitors to my MySpace page would see an ad for Justin Bieber's album or one for Ben&Jerry's. That's stuff that people make to make money; ads are necessary to make money, cause (for practical purposes) nobody goes out there seeking the perfect brand of ice cream that matches their taste buds. But that doesn't hold for beliefs. Religion is about the irresistible urge to seek within yourself - and only then you will find. Your true teachers - you will find them along your way. If someone forces themselves into a place along arbitrary people's ways by smashing an ad in their face, chances are they don't want *you*, they want just anyone who'll give them money. Just like Ben&Jerry's.

That is why I do not want ads for any religion of any kind anywhere near me, or anybody else.

I Don't Want Nothing To Do With Scientology

... or any other religion; at least when it comes to flashing banners on my MySpace page.

At the moment, they're showing a giant colorful animated banner ad on top of my MySpace page. I'm not going to discuss Scientology, it'd make me as mad if it were Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, or followers of The Flying Spaghetti Monster. I respect everybody's right to choose their own religion and to believe whatever they want to. But I do demand that I be treated the same way. Moreover, I expect a third party (ie. MySpace) to respect my own religious beliefs and the ones of the people who visit my page.

So I'm seriously considering deleting my MySpace account due to this fact. Even though it still seems as if MySpace was still a good networking tool in the music biz. I'm interested in you guys' opinion:

feedback surveys

Placebo Can Go F...otograph Themselves

I take photos at rock shows. At small rock shows, the bands fall all over themselves thanking me for taking photos, they throw free drinks my way, let me give them hints on how to place the lights and pose patiently. Some of them even offered to pay me, which I usually refuse since I know that essentially they're still paying to play.

At medium-sized shows, the lights are usually better, there are no free drinks, 3 songs only, but lots of great posing. Except for those medium-sized shows where the artist hates photographers - there, the lights tend to suck.

At big shows, the lights and stage are usually friggin' awesome. Sometimes it's 2 songs only, and sometimes they only let you take photos from the kingdom of far, far, far away. Sometimes the musicians are so scared someone might want to screw them over by selling whatnot with their face on it (God forbid someone promote them or their music) that they make me sign some chit that essentially says any and all the rights to the photos taken at the event are theirs.

There is quite some discussion going on about this (read the post in the link - it reflects my opinion pretty well). Photographers hate these contracts, and with reason. Why should I not be allowed to cover my expenses (for example the $6000 camera and the $2500 lens I'm shooting with) by selling a photo to a newspaper two months later? But oh well. We lack leverage - no signature, no photo, no fame.

Today I got a contract that takes the biscuit. Not only do they ask for any and all right to reproduce the photo in anywhichway they want (for example on their next album cover), I am also required to send them to management within 2 weeks, and they are entitled to make money off of my photos.

Read the contract for yourself, here. Thoughts?

In my opinion, that's like a studio owner making a musician signing a contract that says "by using my studio, you sign over all rights to the music you record here to me, and I am free to make tons of money by selling it".

Seriously, what the @#?!. Under these circumstances, me, my copyright, and all of my contact sheets and "j.peg" files will stay home next Tuesday and enjoy a pizza. For all I care, Placebo and their management can collectively go F-otograph themselves.

For the record: As of now, I do not get paid even if my photos are online at 20 Minuten Online. But yeah, I feel I'm really ripping off artists by promoting their shows </sarcasm>.

20 Minuten

Over the last couple of months, I've been looking for alliances with Magazines, both online and offline, to get easier access to photo passes, and frankly, to make a $ or two. New lenses and custom earplugs just don't grow on trees.

Dir En Grey from Japan play a live rock concert at Alte Börse Zürich

My first alliance was with Laut und Spitz, a so-called "party portal" that also covers concerts. My dear friend Maceman (who's also an awesome concert shooter) has been with them for a couple of years and gave me the opportunity to shoot concerts for them. Thanks to LUS, I got to my first show at Hallenstadion - the wonderful Anastacia.

Anastacia's concert at Hallenstadion, Zurich

I have left LUS to avoid a conflict with the new alliance I'm announcing in the title: I now work (still as a freelance concert photographer) with 20 Minuten Online, the online version of Switzerland's newspaper with the biggest circulation.



The premiere for our collaboration was yesterday night, when Alte Börse celebrated its 5 year anniversary with Swedish rock 'n' rollers The Hives. Check it out on
20 Minuten!

Yay me!

Copyright of photos in this post: Anastacia and Dir En Grey © by lautundspitz.ch, Giant Robots © by katrin@lonesometiger

Happy 2nd Birthday To Me!

Chris Cornell, formerly of rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave, performing a live solo concert in Zurich, Switzerland

Wow! Another year? Already?! Two years ago last Wednesday, I started my webpage and went from compact to shooting concerts with my SLR. My first year was amazing, and so was the 2nd...

Dan Nelson performs live with metal band Anthrax at Schüür in Lucerne, Switzerland

Lita Ford plays for the fans at Bang Your Head!!! festival in Balingen, Germany

Again, I've collected my favorite shots from last year in this post. They're sort of random, but I'm pretty damn proud of them!!!

Japanese rock band Dir En Grey plays a concert in Zurich

Scott Ian of Anthrax playing live at Schüür in Lucerne, Switzerland

So, what happened in the past 12 months to the tiger?

Chris Cornell performing live at X-Tra, Zurich

Goodbye Fairbanks from Berne play Volkshaus Zurich

Rob Caggiano and Scott Ian of Anthrax rock out live in Lucerne, Switzerland

I started MondayMorningRocks. To help you rock over rocky starts into the week, you get one of my photos every Monday morning.

Singer Chris Cornell playing a live show

Close-up photo of Enjoy Destroy's live set at Volkshaus Zurich

I gave my homepage @ lonesometiger.com a facelift. The wonderful smugmug is now hosting it, and I love their service! Thanks to them and their great tools, you can now also view galleries with fancy slideshows on my homepage.

Duff McKagan's Loaded at Schüür Lucerne

Escape the Fate make a KISS reference during their live show at Give It A Name festival in Zurich, Switzerland

Hey, have a look at the new page, it now even has a picture of me! Taken by myself with the help of some big window, a ladder, a reflecting piece of cloth meant to keep your car's steering wheel from melting in the sun, an old desk lamp, a shutter release cable, and the white wall in my living room.

Duff McKagan

Enjoy Destroy

Working more on the homepage front, I translated it to German, which is now the default, and also started a German translation of this blog - guck mal!.

Duff McKagan's Loaded

I shot my first festival at Give It A Name Switzerland thanks to my friends at leech*redda. I also got invited by them to cover an acoustic show by Lagwagon frontman Joey Cape - hope they really do release the live LP they recorded that night, cause the pics bloody deserve to be released (and the show was awesome!!!)!

Papa Roach play live at X-Tra Club

Beatallica, the perfect mix between The Beatles and Metallica, play a live concert

To get easier access to photo passes, I joined party photo portal LUS as a concert photographer (and I strictly only shoot concerts! No way I'm going to shoot parties...). They got me in for my first show at Hallenstadion, where for the first time in my concert shooter career I wished for a *longer* lens. Anastacia was wonderful, and I suffered gadget envy when one of the agency photographers showed up with a lens longer than my best friend stands tall.



Thanks to Ursi at Schüür, I also got to shoot two bands that I'd have killed for to see live when I was a teen. Anthrax with then-new-now-former singer Dan Nelson totally killed it (and if I were you, I'd kill still today to see them).

Under Oath live at Volkshaus  Zurich, Switzerland

Give It A Name festival Zurich

Killer number two I got to shoot at Schüür was Duff's Loaded. If the man knew how many posters of his former band I had in my room when I was 12, he wouldn't have shaken my hand at the meet-and-greet after the show. Legend!

UnderOath playing at Give It A Name festival in Zurich

What else... like all the cool kids (and Oprah), I got myself an account on twitter.





My 2nd festival followed in summer when I got an invitation to shoot Lita Ford right from the stage at Bang Your Head!!! festival (thanks a ton Bumblefoot for fries, friendship, and fun!!). Shooting with an Access All Areas pass was awesome, because the stage stood high enough for the photogs in the pit to wish for broomsticks to tie the cameras to to get a decent shot. And Lita's show deserves to be show, she looks awesome!!! Her new album "Wicked Wonderland" is about to come out, can't wait!

Rock band Thursday play in Zurich, Switzerland

I bought a ton of new gadgets and gear. Among others, I finally got myself some decent earplugs (fitted for my ears). And tons of other stuff that I hope to write about in the near future (harrrrr.... there's tons in the pipeline...).







I spent summer playing with said gear and forming new alliances. I'm loading my guns for year three. Wonder what I'll be writing in 365 days from now, but I'm pretty sure I'll be as amazed at what happened in such a short time as I'm now.

Metal veterans Anthrax (singer Dan Nelson and guitarist Scott Ian) perform live in Lucerne, Switzerland

Pop singer Anastacia waves at her fans in Zurich

Stage setup for Duff McKagan's Loaded at Schüür Lucerne

Fucking WOW. It's a hell of a ride, so stay tuned for exciting stuff to hit this blog...