“ART OFTEN INVOLVES
EGO AND IF YOU
LEAVE SOMEONE OUT,
YOU WILL CERTAINLY
KNOW ABOUT IT.”
PHOTO TIPS: MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHY
you end up with shots of each member. Art often in-
volves ego and if you leave someone out, you will cer-
tainly know about it, but you also won’t be telling the
whole story. Shooting solo performances is a little differ-
ent, and will give you more time to shoot intimate imag-
es. I often find I have more time to compose myself and
wait for the moment when shooting solo performances.
Other ways of looking for a different or unique shot
are to find ref lective surfaces. There may be mirrors
around the venue, there may be projections or moni-
tors feeding images. See if you can use them to create
something special, like the crowd through a ref lection.
Finally from my experience, a music performance is
often a very intimate, and challenging experience for
the performer. As photographers we need to balance
the need to get close, without intruding within the per-
former's space. Don’t go sticking your camera right up
the nose of the performer. I have been a little too close
in proximity to a performer once and it instantly made
them uncomfortable. A lesson learned for me.