Just about every music photographer I know at some point creates the collage. The collage of coveted photo passes. Memories of great photo shoots, disastrous photo shoots, and memories of the music. And while my display shown above doesn’t come close to the concerts I’ve covered they’re what remains. In my early days, I’d peel off the backing of the sticker and wore it on my shirt, only to realize that after the concert, I really didn’t have a way to reattach the backing to save the pass for eternity, so some became lost until I started placing them in my lanyard with the clear plastic pass holder.
After I submitted my photos for publication, I always go through the batch one more time looking for that one photo I took just for myself. Sometimes it became a difficult task to settle with one photo! I enlarged the photo to an 8x10, and frame it with the photo pass included and display it in my home. After 10 years, the walls are quite full, and provide a constant history of this musical journey.
Some of these memories include, Shania Twain, my first arena venue photo shoot, with late approval for the shoot coming in 4 hours before the show. I remember I brought my camera gear to the office that day, optimistically prepared to shoot, and that was a real good habit to develop going forward, be prepared!
Three Doors Down, I brought my Nikon Fish Eye lens to capture all band members on stage. Would have worked, if I didn’t drop the lens on a concrete floor. The lens still works, on some days, kinda.
Cheap Trick/Peter Frampton, my heart was set on photographing Cheap Trick, my teenage favorite band, but at the last minute band management denied photography, but allowed us to watch their show. I was so mad, I refused to stay, but returned to the pit to shoot Frampton, and had a great shoot.
The Goo Goo Dolls, I’ve photographed them several times now, the first time was in 2011, my second photography concert, shot with a beginner’s camera, Nikon D3100 with a kit lens. I made myself a nervous wreck by shooting in manual mode for the first time. My exposures were a little off, but ended up with some great images. In 2019, I shot them with a borrowed 17-50mm 2.8 lens, and the lens has become my favorite one to use for pit shoots.
Sir Elton John, 2016, I stood in the pit not more than five feet away from this musical legend. The area was small and confined, I couldn’t move. I would twist, turn, and bend to get the shots. It became a long time running joke that sometimes I just need to turn myself into a human pretzel.
The Rides, featuring Steven Stills and Kenny Wayne Shepard, I shot from the pit, and had a minute of one on one eye contact with Steven Stills. It was fun, and a little freaky at the same time.
Earth, Wind, & Fire, I shot on a hot summer night, that was so hot the sweat was pouring into my eyes, and it felt like at times I couldn’t see through the view finder. I ended up with some great images and a few days later, an eye infection.
The Hollywood Vampires, an all star band with Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, and Johnny Depp. The second photo shoot where I actually developed ‘camera shakes’ because I am a Johnny Depp fan and couldn’t believe I was standing just a few feet away from him. With the infancy of their website, one of my photos stayed on their website for about a year, and then their website was redesigned.
Melissa Ethridge, I shot her show from the soundboard. While most artists provide photographers the first three songs to photograph, for this concert we were only allowed to shoot the first song., Fortunately, it was a long first song, and gave me such an adrenaline rush to get the images.
Joe Bonamassa I photographed in a theatre, about 10 rows back from the stage. I was shooting from the right side, but wanted to switch to the left side, which meant I had to literally run to the back of the theatre, out the door, across the lobby, and back in the door to the left side. I made it to the left side with seconds to spare to capture one of my favorite images.
I have been very fortunate to work for a great online publication where I can photograph so many concerts. And of course, the great friends I’ve made along the way. I raise my glass and toast to another 10 years of music photography!