Today sees a rather special photo profile from the photographer behind our guide to backing up with Lightroom (read it here). I love music, I love photography, I do music photography. Easy as that! I guess bringing two obsessions together would have been a tad harder if I had been a passionate cook and astronomer. Grilling a star-shaped beef steak in a nebula of butter? Very nice, but not quite as exciting as standing in the photographer’s pit, waiting for the band to come on stage and the lights to go out.
The adrenaline rush when you know you only have 3 songs to get THE picture, while fighting for the best angle for that iconic shot you have been dreaming of. Refraining from cheering and concentrating on the job. All those things that make concert photography so exciting. But music is so much more, and I love every aspect of it. I am on the constant lookout for authentic performers, artists who play with their heart and soul.
Actually, many of those can be found strumming a guitar under a bridge or playing saxophone in the street. Real artists are not always under the spotlight, literally. They don’t necessary need a stage and a massive sound system. They can turn a tiny music bar into a magical place with the sole power of their music. And I just love capturing those moments.
I do all kinds of music photography : concerts, promo shoots, events on the business side and buskers as a personal project – street musicians, mostly in and around London. People who play out of pure passion… or because it’s the only way for them to survive. There is a lot to explore and it is a fascinating subject.
There is a gallery on my website where you can see some of them, and recently an article about my busker pictures was published in The Other Side magazine. I’d like people to see them not as tramps or hobos, but as truly talented and dedicated musicians. Stop by a minute, give them a smile and a few coins, enjoy the melodies and feel better for the day!
While I am myself a very keen musician, I also grew up with photography as my dad was (and still is) a great photographer. His thing is more nature and wildlife though, whereas I tend to like taking pictures of people in general. But it’s only when I moved to London from my native Belgium that I really picked it up, first as a hobby, back then with an old trusty Nikon D70. It quickly grew on me and became an obsession.
I read, learnt, and shot a lot, and then decided to push it forward so it becomes more than a hobby. I now shoot on a D700 with fast glass and all the bells and whistles, but I also very much like going back to the relative simplicity of b&w film and manual focussing primes. I treasure my dad’s 1978 Canon A-1 and like to use it as an everyday kind of camera.
It’s a great way to learn and find inspiration – understanding how it truly works and how people did it without all the technology we have is a very important part of the whole learning process. Just like taking some time to study classic photographers.
Arnold Newman is my favourite. He would take those striking environmental portraits of celebrities and artists with a totally different approach, showing them as a part of a whole and not the only subject of the photo.
What the future holds is a mystery, but it sure is very exciting. We are now in the middle of a fascinating transition period where technology is having a massive impact on photography, and I’m not talking about gear but rather the way we share, communicate and live.
Hopefully I’ll hop on the right train and bring my photography to the next level, both for my business and personal projects – be sure to pay another visit to my website in the course of the year.
Links :
www.frankiegoesclick.com
www.facebook.com/FrankieGoesClick
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