Band Photography
Band photography can be a fun and lucrative way to make money with your camera. At some point every band will be in the market for band photography. Live performances, album covers, and publicity photos are a few of the reason a band will be in the market for a good band photographer. Band photography has its own set of unique challenges which we will go over in detail.
Your first challenge will be to find bands to photograph. Most bands hire people they know or through word of mouth, you are not going to hire someone from a newspaper advertisement. You are going to have to spend some time where bands hang out. Go to clubs meet local bands. Get on their mailing list. Get to know everyone who works in the clubs, doormen; bartenders; club owners. Make it a point to find out who promotes local music in your area. Volunteer your services, most bands will be happy to take some free band photography. Club owners are always looking for someone to photograph and help promote their venues. Starting a blog about the shows and bands you have photographed is a great way to promote yourself.
Band photography will take many forms and call you to know every discipline in the art of photography. When you first start you will be taking a lot of pictures of bands performing live. Live band photography is one of the most difficult assignments you will ever have. You will be in a dark environment; often you will find that flash photography will not be permitted. You will be taking photos at your widest aperture with a very slow setting. This would be fine if you were in a studio or could use a tripod; however you are going to find yourself in a hot sweaty club being jostled from all directions. The band will also be moving very quickly. This means be prepared to take a lot of pictures. Learn how to incorporate motion blur into your photos. There are a few products that you may find helpful such as unipods and various types of small tripods. Your lens will fog up constantly when working in clubs so make sure to bring something to clean your lens.
Band photography will also take the form of portrait photography both in studio and at various locations. Bands will often have a very specific image in mind. Brush up on your set dressing and compositional skills you will need them photographing bands. Also be prepared to use every trick in the book, bands often want techniques such as fisheye lens, motion blur, out of focus, and blownout colors. You will us all these techniques when photographing bands.
To sum up band photography is a fun and challenging way to make money and promote yourself. Just Remember that it will take a lot of work to find bands to photograph. Remember that you will often be working in less than ideal conditions. Also remember to not be afraid to use every photo trick in the book.
