This is going to be a long and arduous process…get comfortable.
That simple task alone will not be for everyone, as esoteric knowledge rarely is.
seek. .find
Let’s get a couple things straight so we’re on the same page.
I would love to be able to bring my legit camera into the concerts and festivals I attend and then share with y’all, but recently I was told Publicity Teams would never approve me to have a photo pass, so as to utilize a more proper tool with access to the photographer’s pit because they may not want my stylized brand of shooting and writing from and through the crowd
which I firmly believe to be a more honest perspective on what these artists mean to us and more accurately, how they feel to us, as opposed to steady diets and a program of close-ups of performers almost exclusively from the photographer’s pit to also include the gratuitous, yet impersonal, full crowd shot.
Absolutely no knock on traditional photographers or the closeups, I love ‘em, I truly do, but just as we are conditioned in society to see life in duality; to like an extreme and pit it against all others, I believe and see life more in polarity, as all are on a spectrum and all perspectives on an artist’s art should be taken in so as to accurately portray and feel what that artist and their art means to us and all. Reality in a more contextualized truth sense vs the reality we are directed to perceive with a single style and view…
I must say, I have no interest in being in the pit, certainly not exclusively or even most of a concert. I prefer being a few heads back, a tunnel and frame with which to capitalize on, a real perspective, that’s if I even have a opportunity to be so close, considering something of that nature usually involves VIP ticketing, which I am not likely to ever pay for, given my financial status and value system, which would seem to be more relevant to the bulk of artists’ target market.
Now I don’t mind simply shooting with strictly an iPhone, for it and I make a great team if conditions are fair as small venues play into, where larger venues and festivals are likely a wash.
Though a simple photo pass would allow me to use my legit camera with moderate zoom giving the end viewer a more accurate experience from the crowd as we see it through our eyes, which is reality and appears to be a more accurate part of life, powers-that-be tend to exclude from your daily feed.
Even whilst we know the truth, and they know we know the truth, we ignore it as their truth sounds, looks, and feels better for our ever material-consuming minds…
To add, I pay to attend live music to dance, to rock with the soundtrack of our lives, to roll with the artist amidst their art, from the crowd; a sea of like-interested souls flowing with the bounce and sway of vibrations played. This, despite my awkwardness as others might perceive, and my own paranoia in part as I feel certain judgings though I work to not give them gravity, but when the music begins to tug at my soul and a vice, as it were, influences my body, I am pulled under; bouncing, jivin, and wailin to the pinnacle and confluence of art and artist; their performance and crafting of their masterpieces.
My art, as it were, is to then capture these moments and memories, from the perspective I’ve been blessed to possess, having walked the path I’ve walked and stumbled on, placing me in this moment of here and now to share it with any and all willing to watch with eyes to see and hears to hear.
Additionally, I’m no traditional music writer or even a typical writer or photographer nor will I ever claim to be such because I aim to not concern myself with what is supposed to be.
Supposed to be ain’t what I’m interested in nor confined by, much like how I wear my clothes, my hair, paint my nails, and live life…
What I write and what I shoot will not be put in a traditional reviews sections because I don’t do traditional, typical or standard reviews.
I don’t follow protocol and I generally don’t approve of typical grammar & formatting for my writing.
I want how it looks on paper or the screen to reflect how it looks in my mind and read how the thought should be thought providing long sentences and sentence breaks, commas, and paragraph separation so as to provide tambour to the melody I offer. Same goes for my brand of photography, videos, and gifs.
They are not standard, they are not normal, they tend to not follow rules or feel like your average photo.
I capture the moment and process in such the way where my goal is for you to feel what was felt in the moment as I felt it.
Now, I do read other’s reviews and their work can be work of genius and masterpiece and sometimes just fulfilling the job asked; a review, most of the time filled with the right jargon, a firm passion and knowledge of the history of the art and artist, genre, or the entire industry, that I don’t think I will ever fully know. Perfect!
My comments here have no intention of placing what they do at odds with what I do as again, we are in a world of spectrum on polarity, not duality.
You and I do not have to not like another simply because you like the one. There is room for all of us here.
Music is like baseball and football for me, where I can tell you how to play the sport perfectly, and I know nearly every secret and crawlspace of said sports. I play them both very well and have always thought professionally could’ve been an option (with great delusions of grandeur, as I lack the discipline needed to work out, train, dedicate such investments of time to the field, etc.. (recurring theme in my life, you’ll likely pick up) Anyhow, while I can tell you everything about that sport as a sport, yet I couldn’t tell you stats current or past, and I could hardly tell you the names of most of the players of prominent positions and hell, after a season is over, I forget most of what happened including who won, other than the vibe the season left me with (like festival season).
Now that’s where I’m coming from with this different view as it were, I am you, lost and found in a crowd, there for the ebb and flow of energy that comes with said crowd and the artist we love sharing their creation with us. Like it, love it, or hate it. It makes no real difference to me, though I do hope you understand with compassion, my purpose here,
.enjoy the ride
Featured photo Thomas Rhett @ Stagecoach 2022
Born city, raised country, west coast to east coast and back again. B.A., M.B.A., then back to LA,
lending to a love of capturing moments given any lens, and the adoration of all music, especially experienced live,
where this moment-capturing poet jives and thrives.
work in progress, y’all
[a part of the Founders Yonder Collective (FYCmoments)]
