You Ain't Seen Me......... Right?
Justin Kool, bass player with the John Fairhurst band, said something interesting to me on Saturday after their show. He said "One of the best things about you taking our photographs is that I never notice you taking the pictures. I'm not aware of you being there."
I liked that comment.
One thing I'm very wary of as a music photographer is my presence at the gig when I start to 'work'. That goes for off stage as well as on stage. My natural instinct (probably due to my appreciation of the great street photographers), is to remain inconspicuous. This is despite a recent, notable event (more on this some other time).
At gigs I don't want to be spotted by the musicians. And I want to keep out of the way of the audience if I can help it. That's equally as important. I don't want to distract from the show; the focus should be on the bands not what crew and photographers are doing in the wings.
I've seen some photographers who stand directly in front of the musicians in their eye line with a lens pointing them square in the face. They get some amazing closeup shots, but that style is not really for me. Distracting for bands and audience? I'm not sure. To a large extent I like to focus on the environment as a subject as well as the musicians.
Having said all that, some musicians will certainly play up to the camera if they spot you aiming a lens at them. I noticed this the first time when I was in Anerica. I was at a blues festival in Arkansas, and there were some heavyweight artists playing on smaller stages.
At first I was very wary of standing out and drawing attention to myself, but one of them saw me pointing my camera at him. He swaggered over before giving a sly grin and then playing a mean harmonica riff right in my lens.
So, in this scenario being more conspicuous definitely was beneficial.
I think one of the key things for me is not to remain static. I keep moving around looking for angles, and try and stay out of the audiences' way as much as possible. And if one of those positions happens to be in front of the lead singer just as he/she bursts into a full expressive yell, I need to be ready to capture the moment quickly and make sure I don't overstay my welcome.
Also, I'll drop my camera to my hip and have a boogie for a bit; bands seem to appreciate that.
A Couple of Significant Moments
I stumbled on some photos while I was organising my libraries recently. They are good reminders of what's happened in the last few years in terms of my relatively short music photography career.
The first photo was taken at the Left Bank in Bristol. This turned out to be a significant moment for me. It was the first time I'd taken photographs of John Fairhurst. In fact this was the first time I'd seen him play and I was instantly hooked and became a fan of his dirty blues style right there. This shot was taken with my Leica M6 camera loaded with Kodak Tri-X film.
John and I hit up an instant rapport. He told me how he's a fan of 70s music and analogue audio, and how the old analogue photography tied in with that. I shared the same feelings and that was it.
Photographing local bands gathered pace and soon I had my first dedicated exhibition space at the Kingsdown Wine Vaults. The landlord was called Philo. I had become a friend of his and a big fan of his band, the Montgomerys, and he helped me set up the exhibition.
Then, last summer I got a great opportunity to photograph the Montgomerys at the Grillstock festival in Bristol. The band invited me on stage to take some pictures and I jumped at the chance.
Over all this time, there were two bands I was dedicating most of my time to: The Montgomerys and John Fairhurst and his band. Finally, my connection with John led to an opportunity to shoot his band at this year's Glastonbury festival. The first night of the festival included a set on Hell Stage in Shari La in front of a crowd of 2000. It was a great experience.
From starting to take music related photographs to this point hasn't taken a long time in relative terms, but it feels like it's taken a lifetime to find a place where I feel I belong. There's still a long way to go and lots of ambitions to fulfil, but the path has been chosen. Looking through the tangled undergrowth up ahead I can see other footprints in the sand, but I have bigger feet.
A Catcher of Shadows
A catcher of shadows is a soul stealer whichever way you look at it.
Native Americans viewed photography like so many of the things that came from the modern world with suspicion, concern and a threat to their way of life. They thought of photography as something of a black magic.
Although photographers such as Edward S Curtis would ultimately become trusted to an extent by the native American peoples, these pioneering scientists and ethnologists were accused of 'catching shadows in a box of tricks', and 'stealing souls'.
This knowledge influences my photography and is also the inspiration to one of my poems.
Un Flâneur
I prowl the streets,
a catcher of shadows,
in a box of tricks.
I am a stroller,
a wanderer,
a lounger.
I saunter,
then linger,
a slow swagger.
'Un voyeur', they cry,
'un flâneur', a stern reply.
Serendipity is probably my favourite word
Chambers definition: Serendipity - The faculty of making fortunate or beneficial discoveries by accident.
I love this word; It’s one of my favourites. To me it also ties in with one of my favourite poems – The Road Less Travelled, by Robert Frost.
Being serendipitous relies on having a curious mind and being prepared to venture out of one’s comfort zone, two things I'd consider I'm blessed with.
One such fortunate moment occurred at Glastonbury on Saturday. I had gone into the Croissant Neuf tent to see the end of a show by Screamin Miss Jackson and the Slap Ya Mama Big Band. Inside I was introduced to a tall thin musician called Mark Maddrell who had a very interesting look, including a short top hat and waistcoat. I was introduced as a Photographer and Mark mentioned that he was looking for an album cover for his new record. It transpired that he had just returned from Woodstock in the States where he had been recording his new album with Simone Felice.
It was a fortuitous meeting between Mark and I, as we decided there and then to take some photographs with a view to potentially using them on the album.
The Croissant Neuf tent is similar in style to a big top with thick, bold, red and white stripes, and Mark’s attire reminded me of a circus ring-leader. So, my mind slipped into gear and it wasn't that difficult to come up with a concept. But, as I got him into place we started getting heat from the security who were clearing the tent ready for the next band. It was tricky stalling them and taking the photographs, but we did it. Upon first look at the small camera screen, I was pleased with the results.
Finally we bowed to the wishes of security and headed outside where we parted ways. In all, we probably had 5 minutes together to get the work done.
Back home in Bristol last night I went through my work from the weekend, and found the pictures of Mark. I was really pleased with one or two of them. I did one of my usual black and white treatments of my favourite picture and emailed it to him. Not long afterwards I received a very excited email from Mark saying how stunned he was with the results and how it fitted perfectly with his style and taste in photographs. He went on to say how my digital black and white filmic treatment (using a Kodak Tri-X emulator), is a style that he can appreciate having fond memories as a youngster working in in his dad’s darkroom, listening to old LPs and watching the magic happen in the developing trays.
It's a feeling I can totally relate to.
The photograph is one of the preliminary shots that I took in our 5 minute session.
Separating Subjects on Stage
One of the things I appreciate in live music photographs of musicians, whether it’s a picture that I've taken or by another photographer, is separation. What I mean by that is isolating the subject from other objects or band members in the photograph. Microphone stands, speaker cabs and lighting rigs are all static on-stage objects that are easier to shoot around than other musicians. And to me separation is especially important in photographs focussing on singers faces’, when they are singing into microphones.
In this instance I like to see the singer’s mouth, and if there is space between the microphone and the mouth, even better. Some musicians have skilled microphone technique, and this can help us photographers when taking photographs of them. This is because the singer will generally follow a pattern in a song when they are close to the microphone, and when they move away from it. We can anticipate these moments and ready ourselves for when it comes around again.
It’s a difficult shot to get right because the singer is normally at their most expressive when singing at full volume into their microphone, and expression is one of the main things that I'm looking for as a music photographer.
Sometimes, if you’re patient, lucky, or both, the singer will move away from the microphone when singing. Or, in the case of Ty Taylor from Vintage Trouble in the photograph, the singer will completely back off the microphone and belt out an enormous yell at full force showing the full extent of their expression.