Dennis DeYoung - Lou Gramm @ Veteran's Memorial Amphitheater
10.01.2011 @ Veteran's Memorial Amphitheater
Well this is the one...the first show I ever shot in my career as a concert photographer for a radio station! I was 30 years old and coming out of my 20's with spitfire determination to break into the world of live event coverage. I had started at Emmis Communications in November of 2010 and one of the classic rock stations they owned, KHITS96, put on a client sponsored classic rock mini-festival called Rock 'n' Cholesterol ever year. This concert featured artists from their station playlist, that spanned rock music from the late 1960's through the 1980's. For almost a year I bugged Mr. Todd Morgan (Blackbeat Photography, On-Air Talent 1057 The Point/KHITS96/KSHE95) to take me under his wing and let me cover some shows when he wasn't available. He was my mentor and became a hell of a friend and the first weekend of October, 2011 the very opportunity I had been waiting for came along. This show unlocked an obsession that would take up damn near the entirity of my 30's...the next 9 years of my life to be exact.
Revisiting these images 9 years later was such a humbling experience, because by examining my camera settings, it is evident I was flying blind. This was a concert that was at an outdoor venue that wasn't set up well for media coverage. It has a high stage and it is hard to not be in the view of the audience when photographing the artists set. I also entered the pit with a Nikon D3100 and a kit lens. For those of you that have been there, having a kit lens pretty much meant I didn't have the ability to set my aperture at a set f/stop. It ended up actually being a great introduction to the world of concert photography because you never have control over the light you are given to work with, and this show was exactly that! It's the beautiful challenge of the craft, you have to figure out what to do by trial and error.
This album features images of some rock 'n' rolls greats! Dennis DeYoung (Styx frontman), Lou Gramm (frontman of Foreigner), and Brewer & Shipley (of "One Toke Over Line" fame). There was a lot riding on my first gig, my images were going to be used on the radio station website and in social media posts. To be honest, my adrenaline was going so much that day the worry of having to turn in work never entered my mind. When you are in a pit you are in your own world for about 15 min, the first 3 songs to be exact.
I could go on forever about this day, it was significant for me as it set the path for what I chose to do with my time and the jobs I decided to take for almost a decade. It's surreal to re-edit these and relive some found memories. I will be posting more from the early days of my concert photography career in the weeks and months to come. Thank you for your interest and enjoy the pics!
Read MoreWell this is the one...the first show I ever shot in my career as a concert photographer for a radio station! I was 30 years old and coming out of my 20's with spitfire determination to break into the world of live event coverage. I had started at Emmis Communications in November of 2010 and one of the classic rock stations they owned, KHITS96, put on a client sponsored classic rock mini-festival called Rock 'n' Cholesterol ever year. This concert featured artists from their station playlist, that spanned rock music from the late 1960's through the 1980's. For almost a year I bugged Mr. Todd Morgan (Blackbeat Photography, On-Air Talent 1057 The Point/KHITS96/KSHE95) to take me under his wing and let me cover some shows when he wasn't available. He was my mentor and became a hell of a friend and the first weekend of October, 2011 the very opportunity I had been waiting for came along. This show unlocked an obsession that would take up damn near the entirity of my 30's...the next 9 years of my life to be exact.
Revisiting these images 9 years later was such a humbling experience, because by examining my camera settings, it is evident I was flying blind. This was a concert that was at an outdoor venue that wasn't set up well for media coverage. It has a high stage and it is hard to not be in the view of the audience when photographing the artists set. I also entered the pit with a Nikon D3100 and a kit lens. For those of you that have been there, having a kit lens pretty much meant I didn't have the ability to set my aperture at a set f/stop. It ended up actually being a great introduction to the world of concert photography because you never have control over the light you are given to work with, and this show was exactly that! It's the beautiful challenge of the craft, you have to figure out what to do by trial and error.
This album features images of some rock 'n' rolls greats! Dennis DeYoung (Styx frontman), Lou Gramm (frontman of Foreigner), and Brewer & Shipley (of "One Toke Over Line" fame). There was a lot riding on my first gig, my images were going to be used on the radio station website and in social media posts. To be honest, my adrenaline was going so much that day the worry of having to turn in work never entered my mind. When you are in a pit you are in your own world for about 15 min, the first 3 songs to be exact.
I could go on forever about this day, it was significant for me as it set the path for what I chose to do with my time and the jobs I decided to take for almost a decade. It's surreal to re-edit these and relive some found memories. I will be posting more from the early days of my concert photography career in the weeks and months to come. Thank you for your interest and enjoy the pics!
