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Singer Steve Lacy smashes a camera his fan throws on stage

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There are musicians who don’t like seeing cameras in the crowd at their concerts. Some of them handle the issue with special pouches which ban you from using your phone camera during the show. Others go full metal and smash the camera pointed at them. At a recent show, singer Steve Lacy chose the second approach.

While he was performing, a fan threw a camera on stage. The singer got mad, took the second camera from the fan’s hand, and fiercely smashed it against the ground. Since everyone films concerts with their phones these days, it was all caught on camera.

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Wannabe a rock star photographer? Here’s how the pros do it

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Led Zepellin, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Police… If you could choose any band or musician to photograph who would it be? The role of rock band photographer has got to be one of those coveted jobs, and for a lucky few, it’s their day-to-day life.

Chicago City Winery house photographer Phil Solomonson has shot all of those groups, and more. DIYP caught up with him (before he jets off to photograph the Police’s drummer Stewart Copeland) to find out what tips he has for anyone aspiring to be a rock concert photographer.

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The Clash of Palladium and Silver

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September 21st, 1979. Forty years ago, British rock photographer, Pennie Smith immortalized the destruction of a Fender P-Bass guitar by Paul Simonon of The Clash on the stage of The Palladium in New York City, on gorgeous B&W 35mm film.

Her soft-focus, grainy image with its blown-out highlights and development stains has been dubbed by numerous publications and music fans, “the Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Photograph of All-Time.”

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This is the story of Henry Diltz, the official Woodstock photographer

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Fifty years ago, half a million people gathered at Woodstock to celebrate peace and love. Photographer Henry Diltz was the official photographer of the historic event. He took thousands of photos at the festival, and to this day people ask him to use his images. In this marvelous short film, you can hear Diltz’s story and watch the iconic festival through his lens.

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Concert photography tips: from getting a pass to editing photos in under four minutes

If you’re an avid concert goer and a photographer, you may want to bring your two passions together. And if this is the case, Rachel and Daniel of Mango Street have a perfect video for you. In about four minutes, they give you plenty of tips to get you started with concert photography. And it’s not just about gear and shooting – but also about getting the pass and editing the photos after you bring them home.

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Shooting film vs. digital in music photography

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Film is very rarely used in music photography anymore. Primarily the reason for this is because of social media and instant news. There’s no time to go home and start pouring chemicals onto film to develop it, or wait until the morning until a lab opens to do it for you.

For festivals or stadium gigs we would bring our laptop with us and start sending out photos minutes after the artist stepped on stage. This is what people expect with modern technology.

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How I got banned from photographing the band Arch Enemy

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Back in June I covered Fortarock, a fantastic metal festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. I had the opportunity to shoot bands like Dragonforce, Watain, Týr, Alestorm and Arch Enemy, all of whom are not only really fun to photograph, but also extremely talented musicians.

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Yes, gear matters when you shoot concert photography

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Yes, you have read it right. When doing concert photography Gear matters! Compact cameras, bridge cameras, DSLR, crop cameras, full frame cameras, mirrorless cameras, zoom lens, prime lens, the list goes on and on. But I’m not going to talk about camera bodyies and lenses (surprised?). That really doesn’t matter, the best cam or lens are the ones that we have, we just have to learn how to use them and how to make the most out of them.

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This is what’s in my bag for Music Festivals and why it’s in there

Now that the music Festivals are starting, I think it’s a good time to share what’s in my bag for Music Festivals. Last year, I was the official photographer of eight Summer Festivals here in Portugal, and this was the gear that I’ve used on all. On one of them, I also took an extra monitor, but not in my bag.

As the official photographer, I have a place to safely store my extra gear. I also have a place to transform into my office for the festival days, so I don’t have to carry all the stuff with me.

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Kendrick Lamar bans pro photographers from his concerts, only fans can take photos

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More and more performers are trying to ban smartphones during their concerts and only allow professional photographers to take the shots. However, Kendrick Lamar is taking a different route. He will not ban his fans from using smartphones at his shows – but there will be no professional photographers allowed.

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