Legendary photographer Gered Mankowitz helped to shape the very image of the Rolling Stones, shooting record covers, portraits, and intimate sessions with the band at home and on tour.
Photographer Blair Caldwell has shot the striking cover artwork for Beyoncé's new album -- in an image that intends to give new meaning to the concept of "country music."
Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Randy Johnson is a passionate and skillful photographer pursuing wildlife, music concerts, and travel photography. When Johnson retired from Major League Baseball in 2010, he returned to his photography major (photojournalism) from 1983 to 1985 at the University of Southern California.
Marilyn Manson has been sentenced in court after he pleaded no contest to spitting on and blowing his nose on a videographer during one of his concerts in New Hampshire.
Photos of the Rolling Stones taken by Jim Marshall during a hedonistic 1970s tour have gone on exhibition.
Shooting from a photo pit or area is an important part of photography niches such as concert and sports photography, but how do you get access in the first place? This is not an easy task but with a little work and dedication, you can position yourself to be allowed in this coveted area.
Live music photography (also known as concert photography) is one of the most exciting and gratifying genres of photography. Granted, it’s not for everyone and it requires a lot of work in not-so-ideal conditions. However, if you're up for a challenge, you could find it rewarding and capture some rather unique and interesting shots. But behind every shot from the pit, there are some basic standards and sometimes unwritten codes of conduct that every photographer should adhere to.
These candid photos of Depeche Mode were taken by the band themselves who sent them to a fan after he had attended one of their gigs and threw a roll of film on stage.
Photographer Steve Birnbaum has been recreating music history by photographing images of musicians and bands in the exact location where they were originally photographed. The project started in 2010, and since then, he has covered 500 to 600 locations shooting from 100 to 150 days in a year.
Julien's Auctions has announced the coming availability of the "FU Rock 'n' Roll Portraits" series by Neil Zlozower that will offer a large number of signed portraits of rock music legends flipping the bird directly into the camera.
Mick Rock, born Michael Edward Chester Smith, who is regarded as one of the most influential British music photographers and is referred to "the man who shot the 70s," has passed away. He was 72.
As a 20-year old concert photographer, one of the questions that I get the most is: “How did you manage to land a touring job so quickly and at a young age?” Here are a few tips that I used when navigating my way into the concert photography industry.
The Auckland Festival of Photography and Auckland UNESCO City of Music Aotearoa Music Photography Award (Whakaahua Puoro Toa) have announced the 2021 winners for its music-themed photography competition.
Before I picked up a camera and discovered the potential for documentation, I had (still have) a first love: being a bass player. For those not in the know, the bass is the instrument that isn’t the guitar, isn’t the drum kit, and isn’t the vocals.
Over the past several days, more than 100 women have shared stories of harassment and assault at the hands on an "unnamed photographer." As the number of allegations grew, Australian music photographer Jack Stafford eventually went online and confessed to being the unnamed "abuser," apologizing for his actions and saying that he would be "cancelling" himself.
In Summer of 2019, while working with Elbow in Manchester, concert photographer Peter Neill had an idea. He decided to try and stitch an epic panorama... with a twist. Instead of using a wide-angle, he would use an 85mm f/1.4 and capture a pano of the stage and the crowd, but with a shallow depth of field and bokeh.
The folks at Vox recently put together a fascinating photography history lesson on a subject we've honestly never seen covered: the fisheye lens, and why it's been so widely used in music photography. Specifically, why we've seen it used so often for album covers throughout the decades.
Dear Live Nation,
This is an open letter to your company regarding the increasingly poor treatment of media and credentialed photographers.
I’m an experienced concert photographer. From the largest stadiums to the smallest, dirtiest night clubs, I’ve photographed thousands of bands and seen it all. I’m damned confident in my ability to anticipate the shot and be in the right place at the right time. Or, at least I was until last Saturday night.
I am writing this concert photography guide in response to several ‘How to’ guides I have seen online that don’t quite hit the mark on how to take great live concert photographs. Most of the articles focus too much on the obvious, like concerts are dark and avoid things in your way (like mic stands and such). Personally, I think it is a bit patronizing to suggest that you are letting the photographer in on the ‘professional secrets’ if it is written by a non-professional music photographer, so this is my guide.
Film is very rarely used in music photography anymore. The reason for this is primarily 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.
What would it look like if I made a timelapse out of every single picture that I captured during a concert? I had occasionally been toying with this idea since I saw a wedding timelapse by photographer Kevin Mullins a while ago.
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.
There are a lot more music photographers than there are music photography jobs — that’s just how it is in this corner of the industry. It's a port of entry for many hobbyist photographers, and the result is saturation of the market. A lot of budding photographers are willing to work for free, making the gigs that are out there even tougher to get.
Strapping thousands of dollars of camera gear to your body and navigating large crowds of intoxicated fans can present unique risks to professional music photographers. Never is that risk greater than at music festivals.
This is not a new story: a musician shared a photographer's image without permission or credit on Instagram. But rapper Danny Brown didn't stop there. When asked politely to give credit, he responded with anger, profanity, and vitriol.
June 21, 2011. "You want to shoot Prince's European Tour? Need to know ASAP."
Music photography "rock star" Danny Clinch was recently interviewed by Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes. You can watch the 4.5-minute segment above. Clinch has created iconic images of many of the music world's biggest stars.
It’s been a big week for Nikon announcements at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, with launches of the Nikon D500, Nikon D5, and new SB-5000 Speedlight. The new D500 is a camera that many people have been waiting a long time for — a successor to the Nikon D300/D300s and a true flagship for the Nikon DX line of APS-C cameras. The D500 packs in many of the same new, next-generation features as the Nikon D5 that was also just announced, including a brilliant new autofocus system, EXPEED 5 image processing, and a whole lot more.
With the Nikon D500 now official, I am extremely excited to say I had the privilege of shooting with the D500 to create images for its launch. I’ve had to keep this project under wraps since August, but now that the camera has been announced, I can finally share my thoughts on this new DX flagship DSLR.
Guitarist Dweezil Zappa, the son of Frank Zappa, recently took to Facebook to respond to critics of his strict concert photography contact.
After my public response to Taylor Swift’s open letter to Apple, I didn’t quite expect the phenomenal reaction it received. I knew it was provocative. I knew it was going to be risky and could possibly harm my chances of getting access to other concerts in future, but it needed to be said -- out loud. When I thought hard about the possible consequences, and restrictions on my access to future work, I asked myself “What point is there in going to work if I can’t be paid for it, yet everyone else gets to benefit from my labor?”. The answer?
There was nothing left to lose. When you’re faced with a choice of working for free to save a millionaire having to pay a reasonable fee, or not working at all, what would you do?
Vintage Trouble recently played their biggest gig in front of 115,000 people as the support act of AC/DCs “Rock or Bust” Tour 2015 at the Red Bull Ring in Zeltweg, Austria.
I had the once in a lifetime opportunity to join the band and work with them directly on stage. It was life changing for me and this experience once again showed me that being a concert photographer is the best job in the world!
Choosing the right camera settings for concert photography can be a daunting task, even for experienced music photographers. Here’s a breakdown of every major camera setting that I recommend for shooting live music.
Although not a note or word of his made it onto any records, photographer Jim Cummins’ work is on more albums than any musician in the business.
Music photographers in the UK have organized a boycott of indie band The Stone Roses reunion concerts (to be held this weekend) over a contract that they say is unfairly strict with their image rights. All press and music photographers are familiar with the typical restrictions that come with photographing an event or band, but the Stone Roses have asked the photogs to "assign to the Group, with full title guarantee, all Rights in perpetuity throughout the world..." A request for which the band was going to allegedly pay only £1 according to the first draft of the contract.