On music photography
There’s a lot of aspects of photojournalism that excite me. Real journalism-type stuff where one explores an issue, protests and angry people, hell, even plain street photography, illustrating daily life in the town. And then there’s music photography.
Obojeni Program, Jelen LIVE festival. Belgrade, September 2009
It might be because my daily life is never without a soundtrack, or because I have so much fun hanging out with musicians, but I never feel as excited as when I’m working with a band, either during a live show or when we’re doing promotional photos. Music photos were also my first photo “gig” ever, when a friend got me tickets to a band I liked if I would go and take photos of it instead of him. This was early in 2008, less than a year after I saved up for my first SLR, and the photos… well, they sucked. Still, I loved it and loved the photos.
I’ve been regularly taking my camera to all shows since then. The first time I was happy with the photos was at a small local festival. This amazing, gorgeous girl asked me if I’d document the thing for them and I couldn’t say no to her (and I still can’t). The venue was small and badly lit, the crowd kind of apathetic, but the whole experience was great.
Line Out, at the Intro festival. Novi Sad, May 2008
Myspace was still big in Serbia in 2008 so, after every show, I’d put up the photos on my myspace and tag the band. Seeing the bands and bandmembers use the photos for their profiles and posters was really inspiring for me and, ultimately, led to a few bands contacting me, asking if we could do some out-of-concert promotional stuff. While not really photojournalism, I mention it because it really isn’t something I would usually do - posed, planned photos don’t really do that much for me. But, add a fun-loving band into it, the creativity of listening to their music and watching them live, then figuring out something that fits and it turns into something wonderful
Fipa. Shot with a Mamiya C3, on Kodak Tmax 400. Novi Sad, sometime in 2009
The whole meandering intro was so I could talk about concert photography.
It’s an interesting beast. There are these two separate “fields”, each with their own quirks and rules. If you’re shooting the big events, you get these masses of people, a pit in front of the stage, great lighting, great stage presence from the band, but the limits make the whole thing an exercise in speed, concentration and frustration. Shooting only the first three songs and shooting only from the pit in front of the band, elbowing with all the other photographers makes taking interesting shots and having fun pretty hard.
Patti Smith, Exit fest 09. Novi Sad, July 2009
On the other hand, taking photos of smaller bands at alternative or just plain not-all-that-huge venues is a lot of fun. This allows you to establish at least some kind of communication with both the band and the audience. That kind of communication, for me, ends up meaning the difference between a mediocre photo and a great photo from the event. The relaxed atmosphere and the longer time limit allows you to stay there and wait for the band to get into their groove, hunt for interesting details and moments and even listen to the music while you wait. This is something else I’ve noticed - when I’m at a big venue, I don’t have the time to listen to the band I’m shooting. Just click away, move, click, click, click, then when I am done, it’s off to shoot the other band if it’s a festival, or back home to edit and upload the photos. This is not something that happens at smaller venues. Only rarely do I not stay until the end of a smaller show. Usually, I end up staying longer, then editing photos until the sunrise.
The Kandinsky Effect, Jazz club Wheels. Novi Sad, February 2009
I was planning on just talking about all of this kind of objectively but, in writing this, I realized I’m pretty biased. Small shows are, for me, music photography - following a bunch of local bands, getting to know the scene, meeting everyone and staying for hours after the show watching the bands just merge into the audience, as everyone continues to their favorite drinking place. I’ve had a dream/plan where I’d spend several months documenting the local hardcore scene and somehow, with spring almost here, this year seems like the time to start.
Face It, Exit fest 09. Novi Sad, July 2009
