Concert Photography Inspiration from RS's '07 List

Photo © Jonathan Daniel/Getty

I enjoyed this gallery quite a bit. I’ve been thinking about investing in an SLR for the site to start getting some more impressive shots, even if this little guy is still alive and kicking (and the video never turns out too bad either). The thing is, live music photography can be a bit of a pain-in-the-ass if you’re ever in the mood to just enjoy the music and not worry about asking everyone and their mother if it’s okay if you take some shots of the band. Some venues allow cameras in that don’t have lenses, a welcome step for fans that want to document the process and a very unwelcome step for bands that want to bitch to their fans that they aren’t paying attention enough.

At any rate, we’ve had a couple good experiences getting pro level photography on the site and we’ve had a couple bad ones, too. It’s all been good learning so far, and we’re going to try to parlay that knowledge into a new feature on the site (coming soonish). To the photographers in the room, how has your luck been with procuring passes and getting in to document the band and scratch each other’s respective backs? And further, have you noticed how some jamband shows have hardly any photographers while indie rock shows seem to have too many photographers in the room? At the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary shows a few weeks back, the front row was about 10 different photographers all snapping away at the band on stages way too close for such in-your-face comfort. Everyone else seemed to stand 10 feet back. At Umphrey’s McGee for NYE, I hardly saw any dudes take shots when the band started. Is it just me?