Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
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.”
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.
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.
The agreement required to cover Ariana Grande’s Sweetener tour has made photographers mad. The agreement requires them to transfer their copyright of the concert images to Grande’s tour company. And if photographers wish to use their own photos, they need to ask for written permission from the performer in advance. Because of this and several other terms, The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), along with 15 other press groups, is protesting against the agreement.
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.
Copyright infringement is all too common these days. It seems especially so in the music industry. One would think that fellow creatives, like musicians, would understand copyright and know better. But it turns out that they often don’t. Typically, when the photographer contacts them about it, the ensuing conversation is quite amicable. The images are taken down, or credited, and occasionally a fee is paid.
In this instance, however, not so much. When concert photographer Adrienne Row-Smith recently discovered some of her photos were being used by the band and its record label, she reached out. And while the band were being quite pleasant about the whole situation, their record label most certainly was not. DIYP reached out to Adrienne to find out more.
Laura Marijn is a portrait photographer from Holland who also likes to create dramatic portraits and invent new exciting worlds for her clients through surreal Photoshop images.[Read More…]
Photographing huge gigs like those of acts like Bon Jovi is the dream of just about every would-be concert photographer. To go on tour with them, get exclusive behind the scenes access, and have millions of people see your work? Well, that’s just fantasy. For most of us, at least. But for photographer David Bergman, that’s been his reality for the past seven years.
This video from AdoramaTV profiles David’s journey as a concert photographer. David talks about how he started off his career, and shot for big clients including Sports Illustrated, through to finding himself touring with Bon Jovi.
At KROQ Acoustic Christmas on Saturday, a video shows Queens of the Stone Age frontman, Josh Homme, violently kick toward a female photographer’s head during his performance. Like any professional, Chelsea Lauren, a photographer for Shutterstock, composed herself and carried on to shoot the headline act that came on next. Then she spent the rest of the evening in the ER.
Gender inequality is still present in many aspects of our society. The same goes for photography industry, and this has made a renowned music photographer quit it. London-based photographer Sarah Ginn has recently announced her decision to leave music photography. The reason – misogyny and bullying she faced from her peers.
Sarah has been the resident photographer for the nightclub Fabric for ten years. However, the events from past three years forced to make the tough decision and quit music photography.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!