PASIC 2008 - Austin, TX

Percussive Arts Society just held their International Conference " PASIC 2008 " on November 6th - 8th, 2008 in Austin, Texas. This impressive event ties the best components of NAMM, DCI, Modern Drummer Fest, and education all together. PASIC has multiple components: a tradeshow that features manufacturers of everything drum & drum related, storefronts for popular drum outlets, magazines, and schools; halls in which famous & accomplished drummers & percussionists give clinics and performances; rooms in which lectures are given; and meetings w/commthread groups & think tanks.

I was lucky enough to attend PASIC 2006, also in Austin, and to again be able to attend PASIC 2008. Promark Drumsticks and Modern Drummer Magazine had issued me assignments to cover various artist performances. Jon Feustel, Director of Marketing and Communications for Percussive Arts Society, was kind enough to send a couple more clients my way: DCI Magazine (published by In Tune Magazine) and Dynasty Drums.

Here is a handful of photos from the event!




Above and Below: Marko Djordjevic performed on the first day, with a bass player.






Above: Derek Roddy , who performed at Modern Drummer Fest less than 2 months ago, soon took the stage over in Exhibit Hall A. He informed the audience that anyone in need of caffeine was about to get a shot of it... and he made good on that promise! Blast beats tore through the hall, followed by rhythmic drumming.



Above and Below: Derico Watson , whom I had the opportunity to see at Sabian Live @ NAMM 2008, put on a wonderful performance.





Below: After Derico's performance, two musicians whom I had never seen perform took the stage. Percussionist Fausto Cuevas and drummer Stanley Randolph . Little did I know, these are two of the 3 rhythm section members of Stevie Wonder's band! They put on a spectacular performance! An original song was covered as well as some Stevie Wonder hits. The whole crowd really had a great time.









Above: Stanley Randolph tearing it up with a new prototype for the yet-to-be-released Vic Firth LED color changing, USB chargeable drumstick.


Below: Over in monstrous hall 5, percussionist Taku Hirano and drummer Gorden Campbell began a clinic & performance. These guys are young yet have resumes and credits that most musicians dream they could have! The clinic was education, the performance was great... what else can I say?!





Wow... I'm not even a quarter of the way through the amazing performances at this year's PASIC! I will be showing only a handful more in this blog, though.


Below: Late in the afternoon, superstar drummer Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty, Eric Clapton) performed a solo, hosted Q&A, told stories, and brought a band onstage to play some rock'n'blues with. This was yet another fun & entertaining performance!









Above and Below: The next day, one of the performers was Terence Higgins , of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Terence's clinic & performance were a great kick-start after my early lunch! With the fun still in mind... I amp'd up these two shots in post-processing.





Below: Now this one had an interesting start. I walk onto the stage where Johnny Rabb and Marco Minnemann are supposed to be setting up their gear for a performance in 25 minutes. Marco is hard at work, but Johnny is playing around on Youtube! (Story continues after the photo)



Above & Below (Continued): I ask Johnny why he is watching the hilarious "Buck Nelson: Lifting the Cloak of Mystery off Rock Drumming" instead of setting his gear up. Johnny, with a serious look of concern on his face, says "I left my samples for the show at home... in Nashville." His performance was to include audio clips from the Buck Nelson video, and he had to rebuild it for scratch. It's a good thing Roland has Johnny program Roland V-Drums about 5 times a day, as his fast programming was vital in getting this done. Johnny finished up just about 1 minute before performance time. Thank God for Macbooks, WiFi, and Youtube.

Johnny & Marco put on am impressive series of solos and duos, ending with an absolutely hilarious duo that featured the Buck Nelson audio clips. I hope someone caught this on video to share with the world!














Two more amazing performances...



Above: Dafnis Prieto , another unique drummer who performed at this year's Modern Drummer Fest.

Below: Modern Drummer Magazine's "Progressive Drummer of the Year" Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree. Gavin did a great job, really entertaining and educating the crowd... and even taunting the photographer ;) Gavin was also featured at this year's Modern Drummer Fest.





Below: The last performance/clinic at PASIC featured a couple of monsters at the kit - Ray Luzier of Korn (formerly David Lee Roth's drummer) and Seven Antonopoulos of the late Opiate for the Masses.

Man, these guys really go nuts on the kit. Not only did they amaze everyone with their engaging solos, but they performed as a duo... while tossing sticks at each other and having a great time!








As a bonus to this post... I'm including a photo that was taken of me behind the kit on a point & shoot camera... Thursday night, Todd Sucherman of Styx and his wife Taylor Mills (singer w/Brian Wilson) threw a get-together at their place. The attendees were all wonderful folks and great musicians - much of the Promark family, the Ludwig crew, Gavin Harrison, Johnny Rabb, Derek Roddy, Corey Miller (of LA Ink), and other great drummers & people were there.

After a relaxing period of everyone just hanging out, there was a massive migration to Todd's drum room (which is more of a drum house, out behind his house). Todd has 4 full kits set up in this one room, ready to play, including a massive kit all mic'd up for recording. I would've loved to have had my camera gear there to capture what happened! A drum jam broke out... All of the pros and many of the other drummers all sat in! It was a blast! After some of the pros circled through what must have been 60 solos, I had a chance to sit in and jam with them. I'm a super-basic novice rock drummer, but it was still great to play with the greats!


The shot of me is followed by a few other small point & shoot cam shots that captured part of the scene.










I had a great time taking photos & spending time with all of my wonderful clients, acquaintances, and friends at the event. In the drum community, everyone is family... and it felt great to be entertained & educated by this family.

Dream shoot: Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy

Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater

Each year, I make a list of musicians & bands I want to work with. The list has included The Black Eyed Peas, Slayer, John Blackwell, Ringo Starr, Neal Peart, John Legend, and a handful of others. Each year I have been able to line up work with most of the list! So far, out of the folks listed above, only Neal & Ringo remain.

One such member of the list (for about 3 years now) has been Mike Portnoy.

This past Sunday, June 1st, I was able to cross him off of my list!

Dream Theater rolled into Clearwater around 3:30pm on Sunday, but Mike was immediately carted off for an autograph session, with the plan to return between 6pm and 6:10pm.

The plan called for us arriving at 6pm, shooting Mike at his monster drumkit before doors or between bands (with the curtain down), and shooting live.

At 6pm, Kristen and I pulled in right behind Mike's driver. We walked in, linked up with his management, and were escorted to the stage. It was now about 6:20pm and doors were opening in 10 minutes. As we had to be completely clear of the stage by about 6:29, the shoot itself had about a 4 1/2 min limit.

Mike was great to work with! He's a pro at being in front of the lens! Just like working with an experience model (I know I know... sorry about comparing world famous hard rockin' drummer Mike Portnoy to a model), Mike set into action when the camera was lifted. Click, new position (I'd say pose, but that's too model-y), click, new position, repeat, repeat, repeat, done.

I even snuck in a shot of myself with Mike at his kit taken by the lovely Kristen Riley.

(Mike's kit is huge and he frequently brings guest drummers to sit alongside him. There are always two thrones at the kit, which he alternates between.)

We shook hands, cleared set, and waited for the show! During the live show, I spent some time up at the drum riser taking some live shots. Mike is amazing at the kit!

Here are some shots!

Tony Thaxton of Motion City Soundtrack

Tony Thaxton of Motion City Soundtrack:

Pink Converse! How can it get any better? Motion City Soundtrack's rockin' drummer Tony Thaxton braved the Florida sun and crowds of onlookers, many of which began taking photos of our Disney area shoot. Tony's focus was not broken at any point!   Thanks for being a good subject!



Strobist info: Canon 580EXII Photog/Camera left & eye level @ 1/16 power with 1/4 CTO gel, Canon 580EX Far Camera Right @ 1/8 power with 1/4 CTO gel. Triggered with Pocket Wizard II's.

Tony:

Phantom Photoshoot: Jeff Conrad

Jeff Conrad of Phantom Planet:

Shooting Jeff was a real pleasure. Besides playing for the band that has one of the most recognizable theme songs on TV right now ("California" on the O.C.), Jeff is an amateur documentary filmmaker, which gives him a fair amount of understanding of image & photography.

For the shoot with Jeff, we went Strobist key shift style!

Here's a video of the shoot:

Will Hawkins Photography: Jeff Conrad (Phantom Planet) shoot from Will Hawkins on Vimeo.



Strobist info (for the outdoor shots): Canon 580EXII Photog/Camera left & eye level @ 1/16 power with 1/4 CTO gel, Canon 580EX Far Camera Right @ 1/8 power with 1/4 CTO gel. Triggered with Pocket Wizard II's.

Panic at the Photoshoot: Spencer Smith

Ok ok, no panic at the photoshoot... but it was a photoshoot at Panic at the Disco :)


Spencer Smith of Panic at the Disco:
Panic at the Disco is one of the bands that has been getting very heavy rotation in my playlist for a while now. Creative, fun, catchy, unique, talented, I can listen to these guys for hours! The youngest member of the band, Spencer Smith, 20, was in need of new shots, so I traveled out to the Orlando area, camera gear in tow.

Due to multiple publicity obligations, there was no time for a 1 on 1. Climbing through a tangled maze of cables & gear, I sat in at the kit for two songs during their 2nd night of back-to-back sold-out House of Blues shows at Downtown Disney.

Light was extremely limited and flash was not an option, but we got some keepers! The below images are in dire need of sharpening. I hope to get time to clean them up soon!

Spencer:









Respect!

- Will

Greg Upchurch of 3 Doors Down

My third and final installation of drummer images from 98 Rock Fest!


Greg Upchurch of 3 Doors Down:
Greg, the former drummer of Puddle of Mud, has been with 3 Doors Down for a few years now. Sitting by Greg during his performance was quite an experience - I have never seen anyone BEAT the drums so hard! I'm surprised he isn't dislocating shoulders, breaking sticks, and tearing apart his drumheads! He's either part drummer, part superman, or he is taking some excellent anti-inflamatory medications!



Greg:








Peace!

-Will

Joey Dandeneau of Theory of a Deadman

My second installment of images from 98 Rock fest:


Joey Dandeneau of Theory of a Deadman:
Joey, the most recent addition to Canada's Theory of a Deadman, is also a recent addition to Promark's roster of endorsed artists.

Only 24 years old, Joey's schedule has him playing festivals, hitching onto numerous tours, and soon will have him traveling the world!

Joey was definitely holding up well in the Florida heat, even though his home town still had some snow melting from the last snowfall!

Joey:


Strobist info: 2 handheld Canon 580EX's triggered by pocketwizards. 1/4 CTO each. 1/32 and 1/32 +.7. Camera left & right, different heights (I think camera LEFT was higher)






Respect!

- Will

Barry Kerch of Shinedown

My first installment of images from 98 Rock fest:

Barry Kerch of Shinedown
Barry is one of the 2 remaining original members of platinum rockband Shinedown. Shinedown has been killing it on the airwaves for a few years now, thanks to their singer's incredible voice, Barry's driving drums, and some excellent writing.

Working with Barry was a pleasure! Not only is Barry a friendly, talented, and loyal guy (maintaining the same band & equipment endorsements for over 6 years), he is also an amateur photographer! Barry had a classic antique Hassleblad aboard the bus, but the schedule did not allow for a test drive ;)

Here are a couple shots of Barry:

(Yes, I admit.. there was a little bit of HDR and sharpening going on there!)





Cheers!

- Will

Client: Promark Drumsticks. Subject: 3 Drummers. Location: 98 Rock Fest, Tampa, FL

Tampa Bay's 98 Rock throws an annual show called 98 Rock Fest just outside of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer's Raymond James Stadium. The show always features a fair number of rockers. This year's lineup included Kid Rock, Shinedown, Filter, 3 Doors Down, Serj Tankian, and Theory of a Deadman.


Promark Drumsticks hired me to shoot three drummers during their performances as well as in private sessions. Due to the crazy schedule, I shot all three musicians live, but only had one private session.

My lovely assistant Kristen and I went through all of our gear & battery checks, loaded everything into the car, and drove out to the event. Kristen brought her brand new Canon Rebel XSi along, and I brought my usual Canon 5D, Canon Speedlites, and Canon L Series-Series configuration.

I'll be posting the images in followup posts!

Cheers!

- Will

Where in the world...????

I haven't blogged in a while, been dancing in a while, blogged on MPN (MusicPhotographers.net) in a while, haven't thrown a dinner party in a while, nor have read the paper in quite some time.  

    Frequently, I hear questions that are basically along the lines of Where in the world have I been and what have I been doing?  So, I'll give you somewhat of a response, and follow this up with a re-entrance to society!

    So far this year, I've spent 100 days away from home.  I'm on target for my average of 200 days per year, starting late in 2000.  Within a few weeks, the travel may lighten - which would be a much needed break from the mayhem!  I'll post about that when I know more :)

    As I am a sucker for punishment, I have gotten involved in several gigs, which pretty much lands me as a busybody with 4 jobs.  Not all blessings feel good the whole time!

Luckily, I have had the opportunity to take on a number of shoots, in-between flights.  

I will post soon with a few photos!   Thanks for reading :)

Best,

Will

Client Testimonials: Musicians, Celebrities, Editors

Recently, I asked a handful of clients to submit testimonials about the images I made for them, the experience of working with me, or whatever came to mind. These quotes were being collected for my 2008 NAMM Photobook. The response was spectacular!

It is wonderfully flattering to have clients respond so well! Even further, the clients I polled are all musicians, editors, directors, etc. that *I* am a fan of!

Here are the responses:

"What can I say, William is the MAN!!!!!! No one does it better. His eye for the right shot to bring out your personalty always shines through on his photos."
- Keith Harris, Drummer/Producer/Songwriter, Black Eyed Peas


"Will Hawkins is INCREDIBLE! The photo shoot he did for me went very smoothly, everything shot was done professionally - Will is THE MAN when it comes to getting photos done."
- John Blackwell, Drummer, Justin Timberlake/Prince/P-Diddy


"Will is a phenomenal photographer and a great friend. He is the consummate professional and it's an honor to be on the other side of his lense."
- RJ Ronquillo, Guitarist, Ricky Martin


"Will has a 3rd eye when it comes to capturing the true image of an artist. He is also very knowledgeable about the music industry field, period. Always a gentleman and just a kool dude to hang out with, too. Again, he kicks ass in taking pictures!"
- Swiss Chris, Drummer/Musical Director, John Legend


"Will Hawkins is always on the scene, capturing not only the focal point of the performance, but all the other details that surround and support it!"
- Stephen Tirpak, Horns, John Legend


"Will is a great photographer. He doesn't just take pics of artist... He takes shots of the whole band and gets up close and personal with every shot! Most photographers take shots of solely the front artist, but we peasants in the band (LOL) want love too and Will sure does give us some! I mean he's on the stage and in our faces during sound check where all the real stuff and the realness of everything can be seen! Need a photographer? CALL Duh D-D-Duh Duh Duh Duh DUHHHHN...WILL HAWKINS!!!!"
- Allen Arthur, Saxophonist, John Legend


"Wills photos are awesome... great shots and quality! and great to work with!"
- Eugene "Man-Man" Roberts, Keyboards, John Legend


"On probably the hottest gig of tour near a swamp in Florida, Will got me to look relaxed, rested and visibly un-afraid of the lurking "skeeters" and "gators" that surrounded us...
The best photo shoot I've ever experienced! The best shots anyone, anywhere, have gotten of me. Will knows drummers!!! And gators! "
- Dan Konopka, Drummer, OK GO


"Will always provides fantastic artist photos that Pro-Mark uses worldwide. He's an image maker!"
- Kevin Radomski, Director of Artist Relations, Pro-Mark Drumsticks


"Many photographers come up with a lot of reasons why the drummer in the back of the stage is hard to get a good shot of. Will for some reason does get the shot & offers incredible photos no matter what the situation. He is the kind of professional that offers solutions instead of problems."
- Benny Greb, Drummer/Composer/Producer


"Over the years I've worked with a good amount of Rock n' Roll photographers, some of them good, some not so good. In my opinion, Will Hawkins is one of my preferred photographers to work with. He's on time, professional, easy-going, listens to the artist's ideas, and he gets a good shot every time!"
- Jason Bittner, Drummer, Shadows Fall


"Will Hawkins' photography captures the essence of live performance. His images always impress me with their clarity and emotional appeal. The talent that Will has for making you feel that you are sharing the concert experience is amazing."
- Dirk Shumaker, Bassist, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy


"I thoroughly enjoyed working with Will Hawkins and would reccomend him as quickly as I would hire him again. A true craftsman, Will invests more time collaborating with his subjects than any other photographer we've ever hired. He labors tirelessly over both the conceptual and technical aspects of a shoot, encouraging musicians to work with him in rising above the conventions of band photography. The results speak for themselves."
- Albert Mudrain, Editor-in-Chief - Decibel Magazine


"Will is easy to work with and very knowledgeable. His sense of capturing the energy of a live performance on film is flawless. 100% professional."
- Matt Bachand, Guitarist, Shadows Fall


"Will Hawkins is the best photographer I've ever worked with! He is very friendly with a lot of experience. He is creative, quick, very precise, innovative, patient, uses high quality equipment, etc. I could go on and on with about this talented individual, but all I can say is that Will is going to be one of the best soon, if he's not already."
- Pete Sandoval, Drummer, Morbid Angel


"I have worked with countless photographers over the years and I can say that I very much enjoy working with Will. He's a man that gets the shot because he "Gets It." Will is creative, professional and personable. I look forward working with him again."
- David Vincent, Singer/Bassist, Morbid Angel & Genitorturers


"Will likes to take a lot of pictures of me and my friends, and they always seem to make us better looking than we actually are. He must be talented to accomplish such a feat. For that, I thank him."
- Justin Foley, Drummer, Killswitch Engage


"Will gets in there... down and dirty in the trenches, all for the shot. Actually, he's dirtier than a cheap hooker in an Asian port of call. BOOM!"
- Adam Dutkiewicz, Guitarist, Killswitch Engage


"Will has an amazing talent that allows him to channel the emotions of the moment into a single photographic shot. Not many photographers in the business can capture such candid emotion as Will can."
- Jonathan Milton, Saxophonist

LUMU Florida Workshop

Today was Nick Haskin's Light It Up Meet Up (LUMU).

The event was held at Fort Cooper State Park in Inverness, FL - about 70 minutes drive time from North Tampa.  The park had a small event hall, a playground, trees, open areas, and a swampy pond.  Around 30 photographers and 5 models were in attendance.

The day began with a brief meeting, division into groups, and model shoots.  Each group started with 5 to 7 photographers, but the groups dissolved and photogs moved freely between locations and models throughout the day.  

Lunch was catered by Sonny's and was followed by instruction by Nick Haskin on his flash techniques, which are nearly identical to David Hobby's Strobist techniques.  

Having a Saturday Strobist workshop followed by Sunday LUMU was an excellent way for me to learn, retain, and practice small flash usage in outdoor environments.  

About 6 of the acquaintances I made at the Strobist workshop were in attendance at LUMU, in addition to my buddy Zekeshem Parsons.

Thanks to the talented and skillful Nick, his assistants, and the models for sharing their time & experience to make this event happen!

Here are a couple of shots from the event:

Nicole

Chris

Gigi

Strobist Saturday in Orlando!

Today was a special day in Orlando!

David Hobby of Strobist ( http://www.strobist.blogspot.com ) conducted a one day workshop at the Embassy Suites on International Drive in Orlando.

I was lucky enough to sign up for the class before it sold out!

David started the day with a presentation in which he discussed methods, exposure, techniques, etc.  The second half of the day David demonstrated those techniques, using various "models" from the room (I was picked as a "rock star" model).  

Among the 40 student photographers in the class were a couple of special guests - Scott Kelby (http://www.scottkelby.com ) and Rafael Concepcion (RC).

Here are a couple of low-res candid shots taken  from my small Canon SD870IS:

David Hobby shooting RC with a single light setup while Scott Kelby looks on

David demonstrating his 2 light clamshell technique

Late in the afternoon, David demonstrated motion techniques - zooming, shaking, and panning during an exposure.  His zoom demonstration included a shoot of a "rock band"  - including yours truly!  Here is the shot:

For this image, David lit the background with a halogen work light.  Two snooted lights were camera left and camera right but behind the subjects.  One light in front of the subjects.

After the workshop, we hung out and drank free beer at the hotel's happy hour :)

I learned a lot and met a bunch of great folks today! 

Thanks, David, for the great workshop!

The launch of www.MusicPhotographers.net !!

I'm very excited to announce the following:

Will Hawkins & Walter Rowe are proud to announce the launch of...
www.MusicPhotographers.net

The Music Photography blog & forum of Will Hawkins & Walter Rowe,www.MusicPhotographers.net, officially launched this morning! 

This site will be replacing the 3,611 member "Concert Photography" Myspace group/forum
It will include:
- Tutorials
- News
- Blogs 
- Galleries
- Book Reviews
- Interviews

Additionally, we are pleased to announce that the 100 member MusicPhotoForums.net merged into MusicPhotographers.net!


Thank you for making our Concert Photography group so successful!  We look forward to having you in our new community!

Please register on MusicPhotographers.net today!

This site is really going to house a great community and be a great resource for photographers of all types, although it is certainly targeted towards photographers on the music side of the biz.

Walter and I have been planning, researching, and working on this concept for months!   We're thrilled to see it launch!

Please come on by and check it out :)

- Will

Tampa Photographer Meetup in Ybor!!

What a beautiful day this past Sunday turned out to be!  And no better timing for it ;)

Courtney Fries, a wonderfully talented (and photogenic!) Tampa area photographer, had posted a blog about getting a handful of photographers together for a shoot in Ybor on February 3rd.  The idea was that we would shoot each other - leaving with images for our portfolios, from both sides of the lens.  

Courtney had a suggested limit of 5 model/photogs (and the rest would just be photogs) as we weren't sure how the timelines would run.  I had responded too late to be an official 'model', but the way things worked out, I had the interesting opportunity of getting in front of the lens anyways!

In attendance, we had Courtney Fries, Nick Haskins, Zekeshem Parsons, Taka, Travis, Stephen, Erin, and a couple others! 9 photographers!

Here are some photos from Sunday:  (At the bottom you can find links for more photos from me as well as from 7 other photographers!)

The crew

Nick Haskins

Shem goofing off  (Through the Lensbaby)

Courtney, through the eye of a Lensbaby

Courtney through the 85mm f1.2 L

Shem

Erin Harvey

Courtney

Shem at f1.2

More of my photos:  

http://willhawkinsphotography.com/Ybor-3FEB08

Photos from other crew members:

Courtney Fries - Post 1

Courtney Fries - Post 2

Nick Haskins Blog

Shem Parsons Blog

Stephen Dohring Slideshow

Erin Harvey's Blog

Taka's Blog

Travis' Flickr

Swiss Chris: Drums, Grammies, Pop Stars, Photos with Will

Today I had a shoot in Tampa with Swiss Chris, the young & talented Musical Director & drummer for 5 time grammy winning pop/R&B star John Legend.

Swiss, a native of Switzerland (of course), has a lot of attitude & personality.  It was important that we let it show through.

Swiss and I met up in the Los Angeles area last week at NAMM.  While we were out there, he let me know that he'd be in Tampa the following weekend to play a private party on Derek Jeter's boat with John Legend.  He didn't know his schedule but I was to call him on the weekend.

I drop a line yesterday - he wasn't certain... but overnight, he sent a txt "Shoot @ 2 or 3."  It was set!

It was time to arrange some tech-savvy help.  Seeing as it was already 11am on the day of, arranging talent was going to be tough.

I called my trusty photographer-friend Shem up - she was on day 5 or 6 of being sick!  Yikes!  I called ABC News video/cameraman John Fulton - unavailable.  I drop a line to Bobby Blish - recovering from Gasparilla still.  

My creative & motivated girlfriend Kristen decided to step-up and pitch-in, as well as another amazingly talented drummer Eunitee.  

We loaded up the gear, picked Swiss up at the Hard Rock (after dealing with some serious hotel security), and pointed the car towards Downtown Tampa.

Shem had recently discovered a small location on the North side of Downtown Tampa and shared it with me.  This place worked well - every 10 feet you have different textures, colors, layers, etc.  

After getting a few different scenes finished up, we then shot multi-image sequences!  With the tripod-mounted camera going at the fairly slow 3fps, and Swiss going at near-full speed, we let Swiss go through a series of sticking sequences, rhythms, and tricks!  The resulting 6fps videos are fun to watch!  (I may not be posting them here)

Just before finishing up, we took a couple of shots of ourselves with the artist & Kristen snapped some shots of me playing the cans with Chris.

We shot until the absolute deadline to get Swiss back to the rest of the band, rushed him back, picked up some much-needed Gatorade, and called it an afternoon.

Some photos -

Welcome to my new blog!

Welcome to my new blog!

I will be sharing photos, stories, and technical information from photoshoots and other experiences on this blog.

A little about myself -
I have been involved with cameras for nearly 12 years. First being published in 1999, I wouldn't say that I was a "part-time professional" until several years later.

One of my passions in life is music and my path in photography closely followed that passion, working with musicians, makers of musical instruments, and music magazines.
Recently I began to branch out of the music industry, but I am certain that musicians & their instruments will always be at the center of my professional work.


Here is a mini-bio that my lovely Kristen wrote up for me to be included in my recent hardcover book which was shown around to various music industry clients (and potential clients):

Will Hawkins has been photographing musicians since 1996. His overwhelming passion and joy for music, combined with his love of photography made the match simply irresistible. For more than 10 years now, Hawkins has scoured the music scene to capture artists, their passion for music, and their love for their equipment. Hawkins has built a niche' in the drummer world as a long time photographer for Promark Drum Sticks. He is best known for his work with some of the world's most renowned drummers including Jason Bittner, Dave Lombardo, John Blackwell, and Keith Harris.

Will Hawkins Photography Highlights:
- Featured on over 10 magazine covers
- Published in over 300 magazines overall
- Featured in over 20 CDs
- Featured on retail posters
- Featured on 3 DVDs
- Photographer for world renowned Six String Masterpieces: The Dimebag Darrel Art Tribute

As an aspiring drummer himself, Hawkins continues his passion in music and has hopes to continue capturing the moments and memories in music for years to come.