Music Photography Blog

by Adam Elmakias

Yelawolf

I snagged a shoot with Yelawolf a few months ago. He had a show at a small teen center in San Diego. I really want to start working with solo artists more, so this was a step in the right direction. I didn’t know much about Yelawolf prior to getting this shoot. Once I got the e-mail saying I was confirmed I did some research. From what I gathered beforehand this guy was basically a hood ass white man from”‘Bama, Bitch”. The last two words are from one of his songs. But really, totally different for me. Regardless, I had fun.

Casey helped me out that day. This is him and his girlfriend on our way to the shoot.

We got the venue at about 5:00 and set up against a wall out in back where I wouldn’t be bothered. The plan was to photograph him right after sound check.

I set up my lights and took some shots with my friends to get it right. I decided to just go with one light into a dish. I think I had two others for rim set up, but I never used them.


I edited this one for him, here it is.
This is Matt

This is Tanner. We used a cell phone to focus cause it was pitch black out.

It took awhile for Yelawolf to come back I had spoke with him for a minute right after he was done sound checking. Then he left in a really nice car and didn’t come back for a few hours. Either way, I wanted the shoot so I just waited around. I always clear up whole nights, even if it’s just for a ten minute shoot. I gotta get my shots right! Once he showed up he switched into snowboarding boots and some Stars and Straps gear.

I ended up editing one shot from the shoot so far. Here it is.

Towards the end of the shoot this little rapper boy showed up. His name is Lil Niqo, he wanted some shots with Yelawolf, so I took them.

After the shoot I stuck around for his show. He let Lil Niqo play for five minutes before him, it was sick. Yelawolf‘s set was ridiculous. Great live rapper… if you have a chance scope out some of his videos.