Interview: Concerts and Weddings

I get a lot of emails, from students and from people new to photography. Usually with questions about shooting concerts, but sometimes about business in general, or gear, or how I ended up doing what I'm doing. Recently, I had a photo student request a whole interview, and I thought I may as well post my answers here for the internet.Q: Why do you do what you do? Why did you get into this field? Did someone/something significant impact choosing this career?A: I remember my dad having a camera when I was young, he's not really in a lot of our vacation photos, because he was taking them. When I got interested in it at some point, he taught me the science around it. I was into all kinds of art in high school, and I ended up getting my BS in Graphic Design. Kind of like photography, it was a thing that I loved doing, and was surprised to find that people would pay me to do it. I took all the studio art classes I could get into, and every photography class they offered. I got my MFA in Film and Digital Media, and when I graduated, nobody was hiring. For every job listing, there were 100 designers sending in resumes. I worked random minimum wage jobs, and decided to go into business for myself. I sometimes refer to it as my recession career. I realized that I didn't need someone to hire me, I could just cut out the middle man and find my own clients. Since then, I've been doing a mix of design and photography on a freelance basis, with varying degrees of commitment to steady contract work in between.Ultimately, I love photography because I love telling stories. You get to freeze these fleeting little moments and keep them forever. I get so cheesy about it, but it's something that I really love. I've also joked that I got into photography because I have a terrible memory.Q: Is there any huge difference in shooting weddings than shooting live performance?HUGE. The way that I approach it, the relationship I have with the people I'm shooting, the way I pack gear, the goal, the photos that I'm aiming for, everything is different.In shooting concerts, you're shooting for press. It's not for the band or their label to personally appreciate (although it's always awesome when they do), you're trying to get photos that will run in a paper, or a magazine, or that can be otherwise used for publicity. It's called a press pass because you're there to get the band press. I'm looking for things that make a strong photo, and I'm also into paying attention to musicians' mannerisms, to kind of capture what they're about. Jeremy, from Worship This!, gets up on his tiptoes when he sings, so I wanted to catch that. Chris Dos from Anti-flag jumps a lot, and aside from being a great action shot, it's also just sort of his thing. So when I cover them, I'm looking for that. With the exception of bands that I already have some relationship with going in, I never really meet the musicians that I'm shooting. Sometimes at smaller shows you'll see them walking around and get to shake their hand, but for bigger arena shows, they never even know I was there. You come in, you get three songs in the pit if you're lucky, and you're done. That's the one similarity I can think of between the two, unlike with portraiture, where you can take your time and set up, when you're shooting concerts or weddings (or sports) you have a limited amount of time to nail the shot, and then the moment's gone.For weddings, I have an existing relationship with the people I'm shooting. I've met them, maybe I've done engagement portraits for them. I've emailed them. We talk about their plans. I'm basically trailing them all day, so they're very aware of me. In this case, I'm shooting for them, and nobody else. I'm considering things like how to string together a narrative of their day for their album, so I'm looking for details they'll want to remember. I'm looking for emotion, and connections between people. You have certain events to document - the bride or groom walking down the aisle, the kiss, the first dance, the cake cutting - every wedding's a little different, but they generally have a game plan with some major milestones you're looking out for. But I also get to talk to my couple about what's important to them. I'm generally at a wedding for 10 or 12 hours, which is infinity longer than you get in a photo pit. But within that day, you have all of these smaller scenes that are over so fast. Also, I rarely get elbowed in the head at weddings, but that's pretty common in shooting concerts.Q: Do you feel that you are forced to create generic wedding pictures because you are being hired by someone else?I really don't. Part of it is that, coming from a design background, I'm looking at every photo assignment as a visual problem to solve. My client needs x, how can I deliver that in the best possible way? Constraint drives creativity. Even when you're shooting for yourself, shooting fine art, you tend to give yourself parameters. This is the theme of my photo series. So when I have a client - and this isn't just weddings, it's live music, and portraits, and newspaper coverage - they're giving me parameters to work within. People hire me because they like me, or they like my style, they like how I do things. So when a couple tells me that these moments are important for them to capture, I'm not really changing the WAY that I shoot. It's dictating the content, not the approach. Even when people send me shots from Pinterest that they like, it's something that I'm pulling inspiration from, and not just directly copying. The same as an art director for a shoot will say, "We need these two people, 3/4 length, with room for the headline." It's sounds pretty specific, but there's a ton of artistic decisions that you're still responsible for making. How I pose them, how I light them, how I have them interact with each other. I feel like sometimes people view having a paying client like a hardship - they're going to cramp my style, and I'll have to just do whatever they want. But you should be working WITH your client, and ending up with something you're both happy with. They're paying you for a skill and a service, but they're also paying you as an expert. We recently got hardwood floors put in our house, and the style that I originally picked was really pretty, but not practical for our situation. As the contractor explained to me, our floor is sloped, and we needed to get something with pretty narrow boards, or else they wouldn't ever lie flat. This is why I'm paying a contractor. I still get input on how the job's done, he makes sure that it's done beautifully.Q: I’ve only shot one wedding which I was extremely nervous for since they were images that these people would keep for forever, does that go away when you’ve shot more weddings?Nope. And I hear that from people in a variety of fields, I have musician friends that still get nervous before every show. You're nervous because you care. You learn to handle that better over time, but it's always there.Q: How would you describe your personal style and do you think it drastically changes from live performance to wedding/portraits?Personal style is a tricky beast. It's not a thing I consciously try to develop, I think it just comes out of doing a thing a lot, and experimenting early on. You find out things you like and things you don't. My husband says that he can pick my work out of a lineup of other people's photos, so there's some visual thread there, but I'm not sure how I'd describe it. I love black and white photos, I love quiet moments that happen when people aren't looking, I'm forever taking photos of other people taking photos, I'm not sure what that's about. I love detail. I'm into people, landscapes bore me to tears. Not looking at them, I have friends that do beautiful work in that field. But shooting them, I just don't feel anything. I like getting photos of people that give you a sense of who they are. Half of portraiture is the technical stuff, but if you're not able to work with your subject, you end up with a beautifully lit photo of nothing. It's a portrait, but there's no life to it. I think my personal style has more to do with the way I think about what I'm shooting, more so than any post-production or specific lighting techniques. So I don't think it changes much when I'm shooting different subjects. The type of photo that I'm after changes, but the things that I'm drawn to are the same.Q: What do you think are important characteristics a person entering this field has to have to succeed?People skills are important. With concerts, and with certain news coverage, I'm not really interacting with the subject, I'm just showing up and documenting a thing that's happening. But for everything else, I've gotta work with my subject. I'm directing them, I'm trying to make them feel comfortable in front of a camera (I hate being on the other side of a camera myself). And even in those instances where I'm just showing up and shooting, I'm still interacting with security, venue staff, other photographers in the pit, the crowd, I'm in contact with people to line up a pass in the first place. A lot of my job is dealing with people. You have to be persistent, nobody's going to hand you work. I cold called every paper in town to line up stringer work, I spend time meeting with couples and answering their questions, and the ratio of inquiries to bookings isn't as high as you might want it to be. I feel like for someone to succeed in any art field, you've gotta be good at business now, too. I'm responsible for my contracts, pricing, policies, managing contacts and vendors, keeping track of expenses and income for tax purposes, finding clients, keeping clients, marketing, all of it. Really, you spend more of your time on this stuff than actually taking photos. And be nice. Don't be a doormat, but be kind. I land interviews and meetings based on my portfolio, but I'm pretty convinced that I land gigs because I'm easy to work with. Once you've shown an editor that when they give you an assignment, it gets done well without hassling them, they're going to hire you again. If you make a couple feel good on their wedding day, and deliver photos that remind them of how awesome their day was, they'll recommend you to their friends. Nobody wants to deal with someone that's a pain in the ass unless they have to.Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges new graduates face when they enter your industry?The way that people used to make a living at this is not the way people are making a living at it now. Staff photographer jobs are few and far between, and people are more interested in digital files than they are in purchasing prints now. I think people are still getting the hang of that. So it can be a scary thing, but it can also be a really liberating thing. You get to explore new avenues, the barrier to entry is lower which means if you DO have the skills, there's less keeping you from making a living that way. It also means everyone's cousin has a totally awesome camera, and it's harder to convince people to invest in a professional. It's a weird landscape, and security is hard to find. But it's a broader landscape, and if you're willing to put in the effort and find your niche, you can really build a career on your own terms. Q: I noticed that your live performance is all shot at the same couple places, how did you get attached to a venue?There are a number of ways that I end up shooting shows. One is the way it's usually done, where I'm shooting for some publication (music blog, newspaper, magazine, etc.). They contact a band's management to line up a press pass, I show up and get photos, I send photos along to said publication. This is generally the case for larger acts, at larger venues. Some of my friends are in bands, and in that case, I'm just texting one of them, and they'll throw me on the guest list for photos. For smaller places, like house shows, there's no such thing as a photo pass. I just bring a camera along and nobody cares. I shoot a lot of smaller punk and hardcore shows, where there isn't a photo pit. You're just in the front row with everyone else, trying not to get mauled by crowd surfers while you get a shot. I'm not always successful at it (I left a Title Fight show with a black eye, but I did nail the shot). But since I've spent so much time shooting that way, when I do shoot somewhere with a proper photo pit, it feels a bit like shooting on cheat mode. So much elbow room.A big part of why my shows are shot at the same couple of places is that those are all of the places we have. I'm shooting at the same places that I'm usually watching shows. And because it's a small set of venues, and I'm shooting at the same places frequently, you start to make friends there, with the promoters and bookers and security folks. Every once in awhile, if I can't run down a band's management, I'll reach out to promoters and people that own the venues to see if they might be willing to facilitate a photo pass. Depending on the act, sometimes they can do that. The early part of getting work for me was a lot of persistently contacting a lot of people, casting a wide net on who I reached out to, hoping that something stuck. And a few did. You work with those people consistently, and now that you have a bit of an in, you meet more people in the industry. And you make friends in the industry. My friends got used to seeing me around with a camera, so when someone else would ask them about photos, they'd think of me, and recommend me. I do the same for them. I help friends promote whatever they're doing, and if someone's looking for a band to open for them when they're in town, I've got a list to give them. I buy their merch. I'm involved in that scene because I care about the people in it, and I'm sure that's not the only way to get work, but it's been the way that I get work.Q: What do you like most about your career?I love meeting people. Photography gets me into a lot of places that I otherwise wouldn't be able to access, and it puts me in contact with people I may have never met under other circumstances. Doing portrait and wedding work, I've met some unbelievably cool people, that are doing really amazing work. Volunteering for WMC Fest, I get to be involved with another scene that I care a lot about, and I get to see what it takes to make an event like that function. Working with bands, I just really love live music, concerts are my happy place. I sometimes get to meet musicians and artists who are creating work that I love, and that's a bonus.Seeing someone connect to something you've made is pretty amazing. I had a bride who lost her father not long after her wedding, and those were some of the last photos she had of him, so they meant a lot to her. I'll post photos from a concert, and see people share their experiences from it, and connecting with each other. You can share photos that make someone laugh, or cry, or feel something. That part of it's cool. Seeing people using my photos always feels great. I made something that means something to them.Q: What are the most frustrating parts if your work? What frustrates you the most about your career?That lack of security can be frustrating. It's not a thing you care about much in your 20s, but time creeps on, and you've gotta consider what you'll want to be doing when you're 50. Copyright infringement and people stealing photos because everything on the internet is considered to be free, that's frustrating. As far as day to day stuff, the better you are at communicating with your clients, the happier you'll be. There are still breakdowns in it – I've showed up at venues to pick up a photo pass and they have NO idea what I'm talking about, or a DJ will start the bouquet toss during the 2 minutes I took to run to the restroom (after I've told said DJ "hey, I'll be right back, please wait to do the bouquet toss). Or I'll be really clear with a couple about the timeline on when they'll receive photos/albums/etc., but they haven't passed along that information to their family, and I'm getting emails the morning after asking where they can see photos. For the most part, you do the best you can to make sure everything's in order, and then you prepare yourself for nothing going according to plan. When you're doing portraiture, you can control most of what happens. For anything on location, you've gotta be willing to roll with the punches. If you're the sort who falls apart when circumstances change, you're gonna want to stay in the studio.Have a question? 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