Boudist » concert photography

Temper Trap, Tinie Tempah and getting paid

Daniel Boud — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 03:14:48 +0000

Temper Trap perform Live at the Chapel in Newtown's St Stephens Church

Here’s some pictures from Temper Trap’s Russian Standard Live at the Chapel performance last night, followed by Tinie Tempah at the Blackberry Torch launch last week.

Tinie Tempah at the Blackberry Torch launch

These were shows i shot for the sponsors and it got me thinking about shooting live music and my changed relationship with shooting shows.

A Russian Standard model serving shots at Live at the Chapel

I worked out some time ago that shooting live music photos is no way to make a living. Concert photos are a dime a dozen. Most shows have at least ten accredited photographers shooting them, not to mention the dozens of people photographing from the crowd.

Everyone is getting very similar photos. We all use pretty much the same cameras and lenses. The show we shoot tours around the country with the same staging night after night. Every week hundreds and thousands of adequately professional photos of an artists performance are produced.

There’s lots of supply but where’s the demand?

Magazines, newspapers and websites might run your photos, but don’t expect to make money from it.

You might get $20 if you’re shooting for street press. You might make a wee bit more if your shot makes it to one of the few local monthly music mags. If you’re shooting for a website you’ll likely get nothing. If you’re shooting for an agency you’ll likely make peanuts unless something out of the ordinary happens at the show. The daily papers don’t usually use a photo with their reviews and if they do it’ll be shot by a staffer or pulled from a wire service.

Tinie Tempah being snapped by a punter on their Blackberry

The fact is when i look around a photo pit these days i can tell most people aren’t getting paid for it. They’re shooting for fun. It’s a hobby they have after they knock off their day job. They get a ticket to a show, shoot quite reasonable shots on their digital SLR the day job bought, and supply the photos to a website or paper that doesn’t pay them for their work. The photographers payment is a ticket to the show and the kudos they get when publishing the shots and getting comments like “Great capture!” or “I wish i had your job!”.

And who am i to begrudge these people? That was me. That’s how i learned my craft. I used to shoot hundreds of shows for little reimbursement. But not anymore. Ego boosting web comments aren’t enough to sustain me.

Stan Walker fans get their picture snapped on a Blackberry

The pictures you see here were paid for by brands who paid to put on a music event to bring positive publicity to their brands.

Tinie Tempah at the Blackberry Torch launch

Pouring Russian Standard at Live at the Chapel

Like the artists who receive a healthy paycheck to play corporate or branded events, i’m quite willing to do the same to photograph them. Sure, I feel a little icky when making sure i frame branding into shots, when my instincts would be to crop it out. But that discomfort is short lived. The cash that pays for my rent and camera gear makes up for that.

This is not a rant to implore people not to shoot for free or lambast publications that don’t pay. That horse has well and truly bolted. But thankfully there’s still the odd job that’ll pay fairly, and if it means shooting some logos and drinks and mobile phones to go with the performance shots then i’m all for it.

Justice Crew at Blackberry Torch launch

A punter films the show on their Blackberry

Tinie Tempah

Florence and the Machine at the Enmore

Daniel Boud — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:32:39 +0000

Florence Welch seems to be riding a wave to genuine pop stardom. At Splendour she pulled the largest crowd i saw at the whole festival. More than The Pixies and more than The Strokes who followed her.

These are some photos of her performance at the Enmore Theatre last night, the first of four sold out Sydney shows.

AC/DC – The Boys are Back in Town

Daniel Boud — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:47:33 +0000

Angus Young - dead set legend

Rock’n'roll icons AC/DC returned to the city that spawned them at a bombastic concert in front of 70,000 odd fans at Sydney’s ANZ stadium last night.

I was shooting for Time Out Sydney, whose cover this month is adorned by Angus Young with a feature on the A to Z of AC/DC. Read the review.

As a photographer it was a dream come true to photograph them. They’re worldwide music legends, and to shoot them in full flight in their and my hometown was pretty special.

I had to use a faster shutter speed than usual, not because it was dark (the light was excellent), but because my hands were literally shaking with nervous excitement.

Angus Young from every angle is so iconic; the strut, the mouth open face of concentration, the cap, the shorts, the Gibson SG.

Photographers only got to see three songs, but that included Back in Black, so i was happy.

It was also a pleasant change in the way photographers were treated by the tour staff at the show. Often at gigs photographers are treated as if we’re a burden, like naughty children who need to be rudely disciplined to be kept in line. The attitude sometimes seems to be that we’re paparazzi leeching off the performers – and that we’ll break the rules at any opportunity.

But as we were being handed our accreditation, AC/DC’s American tour manager gave a little speech saying something along the lines of,

“We get to travel the world putting on these great shows and that’s in part due to the support of you guys (the media), so thanks for coming and thanks for your support.”

I felt like applauding – finally someone acknowledging the work of photographers and media is supporting the artists, not swindling them.

That attitude of mutual respect was also reflected in the fact that there was no photo contract. Happy days.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Hordern

Daniel Boud — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 09:06:23 +0000

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs last night at Hordern Pavilion. A joy to photograph.

FBi fundraiser final fling photos

Daniel Boud — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:22:39 +0000

Palace of Fire

Here’s some photos from the FBi Radio fundraiser gig last Saturday night at The Metro.

Muscles

Muscles still commands a dedicated youthful following

Midnight Juggernauts

bluejuice hype the crowd

After the bluejuice show: a completely spent Jake backstage

You can see more pictures in the gallery at Mess and Noise or below.

Sydney Songs closes Creative Sydney

Daniel Boud — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:53:37 +0000

The MCA in live music venue mode

The three week run of Creative Sydney came to an end on Friday night with a performance of Sydney Songs at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Many Sydney muso’s performed songs about Sydney backed by the Alan Dale Allstars, lead by Lindsay McDougal.

Peter Head performing with his daughter Loene Carmen and Grandaughter Holiday Sidewinder

Creative Sydneysiders

Spod performing his ode to Ashfield, 2131

The evening began with a panel discussion on the topic "The Future of Art and Technology" which included Nick Robertson who worked with Brian Eno on his 77 Million Paintings artwork

Dave from Dappled Cities performed an unexpectedly touching version of 'And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda'

Dave Graney closed the night

Creative Sydney was a fantastic initiative, focusing attention on the often unacknowledged or unknown creative communities in Sydney.

It was humbling for me to play some small part in it by appearing on their list of Creative Catalysts.

I look forward to seeing it happen again in 2010.

Eskimo Joe launch Inshalla

Daniel Boud — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:50:59 +0000

This time last week i was at the Royal Hall of Industries photographing Eskimo Joe perform most of their new album Inshalla to a crowd of competition winners and music industry types.

The venue is a massive hangar that had been converted into a more intimate space by sectioning off a corner.

I was shooting the event for Peer Group who did the production of the event.

The view from the back of the room

Tony Mott on the media wall

Here’s the video for Eskimo Joe’s new single Foreign Land.

UnderExposed music photography symposium

Daniel Boud — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:51:27 +0000

I’m off to Brisbane tomorrow, ready to speak at Underexposed on Saturday.

Underexposed is a series of music photography related events, a gallery show of music photography, live gigs and a forum/workshop/symposium type thing which i’m involved in.

The symposium goes for a full day this Saturday and features workshops for aspiring music photographers on everything one might need to know.

There’s also talks by people like me and my recent interview subject Tony Mott.

Tony’s is a great storyteller and legend of the music photography scene and is bound to give an entertaining and enlightening talk.

It’s $58 for the whole day which also includes entry to a gig on Saturday night with Screamfeeder, My Fiction, Grand Atlantic, The Cairos, Parlour Style, Steve Grady and Chloe Tully.

The Saturday schedule looks like this:

Time	Speaker	Topic
9:30 – 12:30	Workshop	Choose either beginner or intermediate. All the advice you need.
12:30 – 1:30	Lunch
1:30 – 2:15	Ellen Beattie, Copyright and IP expert	Your rights, knowing where you stand
2:15 – 2:45	Tess Pike, QUT Lecturer	Pushing the aesthetic: a discussion on performance photography
2:45 – 3:30	Daniel Boud	Self-taught to full time photographer and using online promotion in this journey
3:30 – 4:30	Tony Mott	Life and times of a music photographer and how to ‘stay in the game’
4:30 – 5:00		Mingle and any last Q&A

Tickets are available now from Faster Louder. There’s only 20 left.

You can find out more on the Underexposed website.

MTV Australia Awards 2009 : The Performances

Daniel Boud — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:28:03 +0000

A couple of weekends ago i was part of the crew from Blue Murder Studios photographing the Vodafone MTV Australia Awards for MTV.

It’s a good gig to get because it’s much better access than the usual red carpet and media room frenzy. I thankfully managed to avoid both those places.

It means getting to shoot the actual show, which few photographers are allowed to do.

Because it’s made for TV the production values are high, lots of light, pyrotechnics and showmanship. On the flipside, because it’s all designed for TV it’s often hard to shoot. There’s no photo pit as such, that’s filled with tracks for the video cameras. So i’m glued to one spot at an awkward angle, dodging video crews and explosions.

Kaiser Chiefs performed Never Miss a Beat amidst the pyrotechnics.

The Fray got all ballady.

Jessica Mauboy appeared to be rather Beyonce inspired for her performance.

Shooting the awards also meant i’m probably one of the few people to shoot The Killers live in recent memory. They don’t allow press photographers in to their shows and photographers are banned from shooting them at festival appearances too.

Wolfmother debuted their new single Back Round to close the show.

See more performance photos from the MTV Australia Awards.

More shots of the presenters and backstage.

Kaiser Chiefs at the Enmore

Daniel Boud — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:34:35 +0000

Last night i scored a last minute pass to snap Kaiser Chiefs at The Enmore Theatre.

They’re always a pleasure and a challenge to shoot.

A pleasure because lead singer Ricky is so animated, leaping about the stage with loads of energy. And a challenge for the same reasons, in low coloured lights all that movement is hard to freeze in a good shot.

It was a bit of a concert photographers reunion down the front. There was Lucky, Anthony, Ashley, Graham, Mark, Anna and more i’ve rudely forgotten.

And although he wasn’t there on the night, the ghost of Danny North was breathing down my neck challenging me to get something better than all his crackers. Can’t say i did.

Boudist » concert photography

Temper Trap, Tinie Tempah and getting paid

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