A Cold Pizza and Coffee Update - Other projects

So, I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. I have had too many conversations over the past few weeks about photographers being bored between concert shoots, and not shooting. My constant question to these photographers is WHY??? Why are you not shooting? What is holding you back from shooting between shows? And the answer is always the same…bull shit.

Seriously, if you don’t go though and keep shooting, having the camera in your hand and study other photographers, even those who are outside of your area of photography, and trying your hand at those different areas of photography. You will be able to learn a LOT about photography if you do…trust me.

For instance, a lot of the visitors to my site or knows my work know that I do a lot of music photography and documentary work. That is great. They kind of go hand in hand together, but one thing that people don’t know his that I still go though and work in a few other fields, namely still life, food, and advertisement photography.

Morning Coffee

As some of you have seen on the header image for the blog, you will see a photo of coffee beans, a spoon, and a glass cup filled with my favorite breakfast (what I consider the breakfast of champions). I did this one morning, with no shoots planned for the day, or the next, and a little on the “blah” side. I was brewing my morning cup, and it came to mind that I had not done any food photography in like five or six years…since I HAD to do a food shoot for a class in graduate school at the Savannah College of Art and Design. So what did I do? I went through and read up on techniques, looked at a few examples from some noted sources (I will get into those sources in another update) and tried my hand at a few shots, two days in a row. This is is the second day that I had been working a little on the food side. Day one was not as good, but was a work in progress, for sure.

Breakfast Bagel

But really…why not try your hand on something that you are not that experienced in? I read a quote the other day that “a true master has failed more times than a beginner has even tried”, or something like that.

So the other bits and pieces are simple. I teamed up with KC Comets Rookie Superstar and Capelli Sportswear to work on their new campaign involving him and their clothing. So, once again, I returned to trusted sources on fashion photography and saw what was going on and put my own twist on things, and we have done two successful shoots (three, but the first shoot had a SNAFU in it that was none of our faults…just yeah…) that are now being used. Here are a few sample shots from both shoots.

Christian Anderaos for Capelli Sports

Christian Anderaos for Capelli Sports

Christian Anderaos for Capelli Sports

Christian Anderaos for Capelli Sports

These images are are not normally in my wheelhouse, I will admit it, but going outside of your comfort zone and trying new things is not a bad idea (And no this is not a date lecture either). But really…there is no reason why you, as a photographer, should not know what to shoot on a day that you don’t have a sporting event, or a concert, or what have you/what ever your main focus in photography is..because there are always something out there to photograph, and a new skill or two to add to your bag of tricks as a photographer. There is no reason for you not to be able to shoot every day if you want to. It is as simple as that. Don’t be afraid to do something that is not in your normal shooting range. It will only help you improve as a photographer. I promise you that.

Forgotten Flag

Mask

A Cold Pizza and Coffee update - Other photos

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.