Dear beloved readers -
It has come to my attention that some people that some people feel that only photographing the band is the only and best way to tell the story of a concert, still.
I want to stress that this is only half of the show. Seriously. Yes, the band is why you are there to photograph in the first place, but really, without the audience, why is the band there?
Let’s think of it this way…if the band is there, playing a gig…chances are that there is some kind of crowd there. Even if it is the bands first gig, playing at an open mic night at your local dive bar, there are people there listening to them.
It is important to include these people in your story telling of that night. Their reaction to the band helps tell that story. For the band, that is why they are there, to play their music for the audience. If it wasn’t for them, there would be no reason to play live!
The band feeds off of that energy that the crowd is giving. If the crowd is silent, not responsive to the band, the people on stage will feel that energy, and thus their set going forward will most likely reflect that. Likewise, if the crowd is into their set, then the band’s energy will also reflect that.
The issue here is, that you normally only have the first three songs of any band during any concert to photograph, at least from the pit. So what do you do? From the pit is the best way to photograph the audience. This is how you can get close and personal and get those hard core fans who either paid good money to get those front row seats to see their favorite acts or waited in line for hours, sometimes in horrible weather conditions, to get that front row standing room. They do deserve to get photographed as much as the band does.
So to do this, my rule of thumb, is when the band is still playing, but not on the front of the stage, quickly turn your back to them/turn around, face the crowd, and snap a few images. You SHOULD know ahead of time who will give you the most emotions during the set if you just pay attention before the show starts. These are the people with that anxious look in their eye, the longing for the band to come on. Sometimes they will talk to you before hand and tell you stories about how much they love the band and/or how long they have waited to see them, sometimes they will keep quiet and not say anything to you. Most people, I have found, when they see you in the photo pit before the concert starts or before the band that they came to see sets foot on stage, they will talk to you, if you engage them one way or the other. Most of the time, I am just scanning over the crowd to see if I can find that look in people’s eyes, or if they are showing that balled up energy already, and kind of hang around their area. Most often, they will ask who you are shooting for (I think that they really want you, the photographer, to be with the band and not a local publication so they might have a chance to meet the band after IF they butter you up enough), and a conversation can/might carry on for a bit after you make that brief introduction. Sometimes it doesn’t. But those are the people that I normally will find that will give you the best energy for crowd shots during the performance.
Sometimes you don’t have that chance to photograph the crowd during the band’s performance, and I understand that (I don’t agree as you, the photographer will always have a chance to snap off a few rounds of photos during the band’s first three songs) or that you have to shoot from the Soundboard and you don’t have that pit access. So what do you do? Again, before the band comes on, look around…see if there is a good crowd shot that you can get from your vantage point. Be a quick study of what the lights are doing during the first three songs. If you notice that during the second song, the lights are constantly lighting up the crowd, then take advantage of that and try and guess when the lights will be back on the crowd and shoot as wide as possible for the ultimate crowd shot.
There are always shots of the crowd to get. Yes if you shoot from the back, you will not be able to photograph the emotion that someone has on their face as they belt out the lyrics to their favorite song, but you will be able to photograph the entire crowds’ reaction to the bands energy, which tells just as much of a story as a person in the front row screaming their heads off.
So the moral of the story is, photograph the crowd, no matter what. That energy is so important to the band and to the story that you are trying to tell, no matter if it is a small jazz club that hold 100 people or a sold out stadium of 75,000 people. The crowd is just as important as the band in 99.9% of the cases.