Photographer: Sunve Sunvemetal
Site: www.sunvemetal.de
Based: Weimar, Germany
ONE
Nargaroth. September 09th 2011, Meh Suff Festival, Switzerland.
“It’s quite a little time ago but a friend turned on his favourite CD mix and I coincidentally listened to Nargaroth for the first time in the form of the song Abschiedsbrief des Prometheus. The melody, melancholic rhythm and above all the text really caught me. When I was at home, I searched for some more stuff of that band. If you know Nargaroth (and live in Germany/Austria/Switzerland), you can assume it wasn’t long till someone chewed my ear off with all the stories encompassing Ash, the front man behind the band. Firstly, I didn’t listen with half an ear. If you learn one thing in the music business, almost all the artists behind ingenious music are total crap: alcoholics, machos, whatsoever. I wondered how someone who may have done all that superficial shit could write such deep and serious lyrics. Far away from the boring run-of-the-mill black metal satanism and depressive misanthropy.
“Some months later, I blundered upon a really long interview with Ash, read it and wondered even more. The reading fit to the discerning lyrics. To make it short, I gained my own impression at Meh Suff Festival in Switzerland. How? If you take (live) pictures seriously, you keep an eye on every detail in facial expression, on every move the artist does on stage. You can’t imagine how much one person tells you about his or herself in these situations – if you’re just attentive enough. What did I find out? Folks, make up your owns minds. But one thing I can state for sure: There are not many artists, showing a deep impressive performance by honestly showing their true selves on stage, capturing the audience and transporting a bunch of energy to the crowd, just through their charisma and not because of some studied acting, detailed arranged equipment or bombastic pyro effects.
“Conclusion? Rarely have I seen such an authentic performance. Because authenticity and deep honest emotions are the only one thing I want to catch with my camera, this picture from 2011 is still my favourite. Even though I’ ve a lot improved in skills, technique and camera equipment since then.”
TWO
Dornenreich. August 31st 2012, Wolfszeit Festival, Germany.
“If you pull out a violin and can play it in some degree, you’ ve got me. I played violin myself for about five years but had to give it up for several reasons. Nevertheless, the fiddle (alongside the piano) is one of the most beautiful instruments for me. And Inve of Dornenreich plays it perfectly. You can see so much passion and joy in his face and movements when he touches the strings, almost like he strokes a child or snuggles a true love. He’s a real pleasure to watch every time.
“Maybe a few words to the post production of my images. Some people criticize the high mode of post production on many of my live pictures; there would be nothing natural left they state. As long as I am the boss of my own photographs, the pictures will always fulfil my first priority – don’t try to capture the person but freeze the emotion in the moment, by using all techniques and skills you have. This means perspective, image structure and post production. Unfortunately, the latter is far too little used by a lot of – in principle – really talented photographers. But that’s just after my fancy and tastes may differ.”
THREE
Behemoth. February 25th 2012, Full Of Hate Tour, Music Hall Geiselwind, Germany.
“If you have seen a show of Behemoth in the past two years since Nergal recovered from leukaemia, you know how absolutely impressive it is. The whole show is hard to beat for professionalism and perfection. All is perfectly choreographed and nothing is left to chance. Nonetheless, you will witness an awesomely tuned symbiosis of motion, effectively-placed exclamations and above all an amazing light show. Even if every single word was planned at the Full Of Hate tour, you got the impression Behemoth were playing an unique show for every single one of the audience. Then there was the highlight. Before starting Conquer All, everyone got goose bumps when Nergal screamed, sticking out of the back light like a god descended from Olympus, the arms widespread like he wanted to embrace the entire world: ”It feels good to be alive. It feels fucking great to be alive!”.”
FOUR
Sabaton. August 9th 2012, Rock im Betonwerk Festival, Germany.
“As well as Behemoth, Sabaton can’t be forgotten in this line-up. Never saw more joy, happiness and humour on stage. Both guitarists, as well as the bass player act, act like they have ants in their pants with a continuous grin on their faces. Even if the music is not really your favourite, you forget about it and are just blown away from their show – including a lot of jumps, cool posings and pyros. Maybe some people may find it a little ridiculous…take a breath.
“Even if Sabaton’s lyrics are mostly about serious themes, the way they transport their music to the people is totally party mode. Awesome for a photographer, especially if all musicians pose continuously straight into your camera.”
FIVE
Stahlzeit. March 10th 2012, Big Box Kempten, Germany.
“I found out about Stahlzeit (European’s most successful Rammstein cover band) by reading through the daily metal news. The following words popped out instantly: “STAHLZEIT – 15 tons of steal, 300.000 watt”. If you are involved into photographic business, you know that picturing Rammstein theirselves is a no go for every professional photographer because of the outrageous rights-grabbing contracts they have.
“Nevertheless, the show Rammstein offer is without no doubt breathtaking and really worth to capture – that’s the conflict. But why make it complicated when there’s a cover band with almost the same show and technical equipment? Thus, I talked to the manager, went to a weekend tour as their official photographer and pictured the most impressive light and fire show I ever had. The difference between the original and the cover band? Stahlzeit are technically and musically as good as Rammstein with more affordable tickets, less exaggerated superstar attitudes and ‘smaller’ venues – so you can enjoy the show and aren’t forced to watch it from far distance.”
SIX
Kampfar. October 20th 2012, Rekwi Festival, Germany.
“This one I like very much because of the image composition, the colours and the light. Altogether, they create a strong tension and are able to transport the strength you felt during the performance of Kampfar. Get away from the idea that a photographer just pushes the button and, if the performance on stage is good, you get a cool image automatically. Absolute rubbish. Yes, digital photography seems to be so easy – at least that’s what the camera manufacturers would like us to believe. Fortunately, it’s not the reality.
“It’s a high art and you have to train a lot merging all the techniques (including post production) perfectly together to get a high quality picture. Of course, these perfect light conditions you see on the photograph are far from the real ones at Rekwi Festival where I caught the shot.”
SEVEN
Eluveitie. April 5th 2013, Ragnarök Festival, Germany.
“This picture of Eluveitie I took recently here in Germany at Ragnarök Festival. It represents a typical long shot with my fish-eye lens. For non photo freaks, this means you let very little light in your camera, that makes it sometimes really hard to freeze movement on stage. In return you get a very sharp image. Nice but secondary. But especially important for me, as on one hand you can capture smoke on stage a lot easier and therefore the whole atmosphere appearing around. On the other hand, the back light is not only a blurry glow but forms shining stars.”
*All pictures contained in the article belong to the operator of Sunvemetal and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any manner without the express written permission of the author.
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