ABOUT NICO
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Nico Nico Wobben
d-nurse
originally from Heerlen (Netherlands)
moved to Regina (Canada) in 2008!
October 15th, 1960
registered neurology/stroke-unit nurse

nico at nicowobben dot com
http://www.nicowobben.com
my wife Marlies Wobben

photography, the world wide web
heavy metal music - cds, concerts & festivals

Evergrey, Nevermore, Death, Pain Of Salvation and Into Eternity

with Doro (Wacken 2001) with Micke of Evergrey (Wacken 2001)
with Paul Di'anno (Wacken 2001) with Terry Gorle of Heir Apparent (Wacken 2001)


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PHOTO EQUIPMENT

Nikon D70s
Nikkor 75 - 240, 1:4.5 - 5.6D
Nikkor 35 - 70, 1:2.8
Sigma 80 - 210, 1:2.8
Nikkor 50, 1:1.8
Nikkor 18-70 AF-S 1:3.5-4.5G ED
Nikon SB 28

WHAT I DID AND WHAT I DO NOW

When I was still using the analog F60 camera, I used to push the Fuji Press 800 films to 1600 or even 3200 ISO. Of course these would also have to be developed as 1600 or 3200 ISO in the photolab.

I tried to avoid using flash, but a lot of gigs in the smaller venues didn't have enough lights on stage, so I had to use the fill-in flash.

At the end of juni 2005 I decided it was time to get a digital SLR! As I already had some Nikon-lenses it had to be a Nikon, so I

the happy couple :-) would be able to use them. In 2004 a friend got the Nikon D70, which I was really fond of so I bought the successor, the D70s, it's about the same camera with some minor improvements. At the moment I'm still getting used to this camera, figuring out how it works and reading the manual over and over again:-)

I still have alot to learn, so if you have any tips for me, don't hesitate to contact me at: nico at nicowobben dot com! I used to play around with our first digital camera, but it wasn't a professional one (Minolta Dimage S304) and digital photography still had some serious disadvantages in this pricerange. We'll be using that camera for simple snapshots only from now on.

MY HISTORY IN METAL

In 1974 a friend lent me some albums/records, yeah, good old vinyl and most of them were hardrock. Don't you ask me what bands they were, but I really loved them. About a year later that same guy let me listen to a KISS album (Alive) and after that I was really into this band. I also listened to Uriah Heep, Foghat, Ted Nugent, Deep Purple, Golden Earring and bands like that.

My first big festival I attended was the Pinkpop festival back in 1978 with a.o. Journey, Mother's Finest and Thin Lizzy. I was 17 years old back then and never realized Thin Lizzy would later become one of my alltime favorite bands.

Together with a friend I took over the Jaguar-fanclub in 1982, from friends in Eindhoven, but although the fanclub never had any members, we met the band a few times, even stayed at vocalist Paul Merrill's house for about a week and had lots of fun. Too bad they had to change their style of music…

Early1984 I bought my first videocamera and a few weeks later Warlock were announced to play the Dynamo with Bobby of Overkill  (Wacken 2001) Club in Eindhoven. I asked the manager if I could record the show on video and he agreed. After the first two Warlock-gigs a friend decided he wanted to run the fanclub and with two other guys I helped him for almost 4 years. We had about 180 registered fans, visited Warlock's hometown Düsseldorf many many times and saw 20+ Warlock-shows in just a few years.
During that time I recorded several videos of Warlock but also from bands like Slayer, Testament, Savage Grace, Heir Apparent, Exodus (never got to see that tape, Paul R.I.P.) Candlemass, Agent Steel, Helloween, King Diamond, Crimson Glory, Hades, Laaz Rockit, Helstar and Sacred Reich, but also less known bands. The Dynamo Club had a balcony opposite the stage which was a great place to film from.
Sometimes I even sneaked in the camera into venues so I also have recordings from Lee Aaron, Pretty Maids, Bon Jovi, Vinnie Moore and also Lee Aaron and Slayer from the 1985 Heavy Sound Festival in Belgium (and no, I don't trade anymore!).

During the Warlock-years I also tried concentrating on taking pics during shows and I even got a photopass for with Gene Hoglan (Dynamo 1999) a show (Dio/Keel - Brussels - 1986), but because of lack of money I had to quit that. Two of my pics from Warlock were used on the insert sleeve of the Hellbound album and Rock Brigade (Brasilian print-mag) used several of my pics.

In 1982 I first heard Metallica (the "No Life 'Till Leather" demo) and they blew me away. I started to collect everything they released (albums, 12", 7" shapes, promos and videos) and also stuff they didn't release ;-) A few years before the end of Metallica (around the end of 1990) I collected almost 100 bootleg-albums but I realized I had to quit the insanity and started selling them, my personal collection. My new job (as a registered nurse) and the money from the Metallica-collection made it possible to go to the USA for the first time in november 1991.

After Metallica released "Download" :-), I never, ever followed a band as fanatically as I did follow Metallica…

PHOTOGRAPHY

April 2000 I realized I had to pick up my old hobby: photography. I started asking webzines if they would be interested in using my pics and since then we (my wife Marlies and myself) are friends with Victor and Manos from Metal Guide from Greece - Chania, Crete to be precise. Marlies wrote live-reviews and I delivered the pics.

Since then my pics have been used online at a lot of official bandpages, webzines and fanpages. All I want is credits and a link to my PhotoPit. For a list of all my publications on CDs, magazines and in some books, check publications. About how to get the pics for print (on CD-covers, in CD-booklets, in magazines etc.), please check contact for details.

In the late summer of 2002 Marlies and some female friends decided to start their own webzine called Morrigan's Pit, so she stopped writing for Metal Guide and started doing her own thing. As the name suggests the zine is closely connected to my PhotoPit. It resulted in the infamous quote: "I'm only the ph-ph-ph-photographer ;-)".

January 2004 I started an education to become a professional photographer, but after finishing the basic course, I had to put that on ice because I also started a new job in March, again as a nurse on a neurology-ward, but now in my hometown Heerlen (so back in Holland again). Here I got the opportunity to specialize in neurology/BCU (braincare unit) by doing extra courses, after working almost 10 years on a neurology-ward in Aachen (Germany).

Since our September 2004 trip to Canada, we have been considering emigrating to this wonderful country. Because of the preparations I hardly did any photography in 2007 (and Marlies closed down Morrigan's Pit). In February 2008 we finally made it and moved to Regina, Saskatchewan! Once we are settled, I might concentrate on photography or even consider further education again for scenery or portrait photography (I've been told on the Dutch Photography School they wouldn't be able to teach me much when it comes to concert photography).

Bang that head that doesn't bang - Cliff R.I.P.
Nico

last update: March 2008