“Three shots, no flash.” That’s a common term that concert photographers hear. When major bands sell out arenas, they don’t want to deal with photographers constantly running around right in front of the stage, and they certainly don’t want flashes going off right in their faces. The key to being a good performance photographer is knowing how to use your gear wisely to get great shots without using a flash and without being an annoyance.
When we photograph a performance, we try very hard to get the best shots that show the dynamic nature of the performers, the essence of whatever it is they’re doing (whether playing a musical instrument, dancing, painting, or whatever), the colorful beauty of the stage lighting, the props… we get it all. This is a very tricky skill to master. You have to know how to find and anticipate the “sweet spots.”
You can’t just fire away at a drummer. You have to know how to get the right moment that shows their expressiveness with their drumsticks (and hopefully some flailing hair!). When you photograph a singer, you have to be able to pinpoint the perfect moment when their mouth is “just right” (when it doesn’t look strange and makes it clear that they’re singing) and that their eyes are not blinking. When you photograph a dancer, you don’t just point and click while they dance. You have to anticipate and release the shutter at the very apex of whatever move they’re performing at that moment. Anything else just looks lacking.
Capturing performances takes impeccable timing. Timing we have honed and continue to hone. Let us use those skills to get beautiful images of your performance without the extra price of having to see an obnoxious photographer out of the corner of your eye all night. Of course, we can’t do anything about the other concertgoers who’ll have their cellphones out with their flashes turned on, unfortunately, but you’ll know the photographer you hired isn’t going to be one of “those guys.”
Whether you need shots for CD liners, promotional posters, websites, venue decor, programs, or just to preserve the memory, we can make it happen.
Note that these are only partial galleries. For each of these shoots, the client received many more images than what are shown here.