2012 was one of the busiest years that I’ve had. I took many pictures that some folks have called Epic Photos. I went to Synergy Live, RAMFest, Up The Creek, Oppikoppi, Mieliepop, Vodacom In The City and various other gigs in Pretoria and Johannesburg throughout the year.

I had the privilege to watch and photograph The Prodigy, AWOLNATION, In Flames, Infected Mushroom, Uriah Heap, Bloc Party, Eagles of Death Metal, Enter Shikari, Bullet for My Valentine and Seether. 2012 really was a great learning curve for my Photography skills.

Today I’m featuring 4 Epic Photos that I took of some of these International Acts in 2012. I’m also including a story with each of these photos.

Photo of The Prodigy At Synergy Live in Johannesburg: I made my way to Riversands Farm last year in December to catch the first Johannesburg edition of this festival. I was extremely amped up before hand to watch the Prodigy live for the first time and when push came to shove they did not disappoint me at all. I’ve never seen a crowd of close to 8,000 people dance like they way they did during the Prodigy’s set. If they ever come to South Africa again, I’ll be there to watch them again, no question about it. I snapped this photo of Keith Flint during their set. I had to time this shot perfectly because the lighting wasn’t the best I could work with.

Photo of In Flames at RAMFest in Johannesburg: I was at Riversands Farm in March 2012 for my 3rd RAMFest experience in Gauteng in a row. More than 15,000 people crowded the festival fields in anticipation for Swedish Metal Act In Flames. The rain did not discourage them at all. I made my way into the media pit with many other photographers and starting shooting like a photographer on steroids. Despite the fact that I was slightly tipsy at the time, I managed to capture this epic photo of one of the guitarists rocking out during their set.

Photo of Bullet for My Valentine at Oppikoppi 2012 Sweet Thing: I have to admit that I did not expect too much of the Bullet for my Valentine set at Oppikoppi 2012 Sweet Thing last year. I’m not a huge fan of Emo, but these boys from Wales blew yours truly and 20,000+ people away last year at the Wesley’s Dome Stage. Despite spending nearly 14 hours on my feet and taking photos of numerous bands on the day, I gathered enough energy to photograph their epic set before retiring my camera for the weekend. I snapped this epic photo of Bullet For My Valentine’s frontman rocking out during one of their songs. I was so gatvol for photography after Oppikoppi, I didn’t touch a camera for two weeks.

Photo of Uriah Heep at Mieliepop 2012: Mieliepop was definitely one of my favorite festivals on 2012. More than 2,000 people made their way to a resort near Lothair in Mpumalanga to enjoy Uriah Heep and some of the best live acts that SA has to offer. Photographing one of the legendary rock bands who have been around for more than 40 years was an awesome experience. They reminded me that you can still rock if you’re over 50 years old. I snapped this epic photo during their performance (which completely blew me away).

Well, there you have it. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading the stories behind these 4 epic photos that I took of International Acts in 2012. Share this post with your friends if you want to.

Watch this space for regular updates in the Photography and Music categories on Running Wolf’s Rant.