On March 12th 2005 i bought my first ever SLR camera, a Canon 350D, and that night photographed my first gig as an accredited photographer in the photo pit. It was in Austin, Texas and the band was Kings of Leon.

I’d been shooting live shows for over a year before that, but always from the crowd on my point-and-shoot pocket camera – such as the time i squeezed my way to the front at the Big Day Out 2004 to snap Kings of Leon.

That night in Austin I wasn’t expecting to photograph the show from the pit, i just chanced on a sympathetic tour manager who gave me a photo pass after security wouldn’t let me in the venue with my new camera.

I shot Kings of Leon again last night in Sydney and it made me reflect on how much has changed in that relatively short time.

From being a complete amateur snapper never published in print, to having my work in music press across the globe, speaking at conferences and now working as Chief Photographer for an internationally recognised magazine is pretty wild.

I don’t really know how it happened; it wasn’t a conscious goal, just a series of fortunate events.

Like a band writing songs and touring hard to new audiences i think with photography it’s about taking lots of photos, honing your craft and getting published wherever you can. For a band it might be a thrill having a song on the radio, for me it’s having a photo in a magazine.

Once that happens regularly enough you can start to make a living out of your passion, and that’s really quite satisfying.

Related Posts

• Pearl Jam and Kings of Leon
• Kings of Leon, The Go! Team, Rollins and Blasko

Last week was a pretty big one for taking photos, as well as U2 and Kanye West i also photographed Pearl Jam and Kings of Leon for Triple J.

It was quite a thrill seeing Pearl Jam again. I saw them at the Entertainment Centre in 1998 and was a massive fan in the early nineties. It was quite strange seeing these grown up men on stage, not the daggy young guys i remember from my youth.

After three songs the photographers were escorted from the venue so i didn’t get to see as much as i would’ve liked. Being the dork i am i logged in to YouTube when i got home and watched all the old Pearl Jam videos i could find. It brought back memories of when i used to tape Rage every weekend. I’ve seen those early Pearl Jam videos so many times. They really are an awesome band.

Here’s a performance of Alive on Saturday Night Live from 1992:

And here’s a performance of Alive from this year (14 years later!), with a nice intro from Eddie Vedder explaining the song:

Pearl Jam’s support act was Kings of Leon who i’ve seen several times now. I do like them, especially their second album, even if their stage presence leaves something to be desired. I guess you can get away with a lack of crowd interaction when you’re so damn pretty.

See more photos from this show at Triple J or more Kings of Leon photos here.

Related Posts

• Coldplay at Acer Arena
• Kings of Leon and me
• Kings of Leon, The Go! Team, Rollins and Blasko
• Foos and Kaisers

More Big Day Out photos in the form of Kings of Leon, The Go! Team, Henry Rollins and Sarah Blasko.

Related Posts

• Franz Ferdinand @ The BDO
• Big Day Out Sydney 2012
• Big Day Out Sydney 2011
• Laneway Festival Sydney 2010
• Big Day Out 2010