A musically adjacent life

Music has been the one constant passion throughout my life. I loved it as a kid, obsessed over it as a teen, and appreciated it as an adult. I always dreamed of being a musician, but a complete lack of talent, and deep-seated knowledge that I would never come up with a band name that I actually liked, meant that I have always been ‘musically adjacent’. I’ve managed artists, done radio, made video clips, I have an Arts degree in Music Industry, and for the last few years taken photos. I think I’ve done just about everything that relates to music, but that doesn’t actually require me playing a note. Up until now, I would have traded it all for just one song in front of an adoring audience…but with my photos suddenly starting to grace album artwork, I think I’m actually finding my happy place.

The thing I love about photographing musicians is that it negates one of my main weaknesses and plays to one of my main strengths. The weakness is that I’m not great at getting people to pose. Some photographers are great at getting people to do things that feel really unnatural, but make for a great photo (‘Put your hand here, chin there, neck long, etc’)…but I always feel awkward giving these directions, which makes the person I’m taking the photo of feel that I don’t know what I’m doing, and so they lack conviction in the pose, and lo and behold, the photo doesn’t work. But put them up on stage during a performance, and they will strike poses I could never have dreamed of asking them to strike…I just need to capture them. 

The strength I have, is that being ‘musically adjacent’ for my entire life, has left me with a serviceable knowledge of a lot of bands and music styles…and if you want to get a musician comfortable with you…just name check a time you saw one of their favourite artists at a gig before they were famous, or some obscure album track that you love. I think that a lot of musicians actually prefer to talk about a band that they love, than their own music. I remember interviewing Paul Dempsey once and chatting comfortably about Belgian band dEUS for about 20 minutes, then seeing the fear in his eyes when I produced all of the Something For Kate singles I had in my collection and asking him about specific lyrics.

I also think that as I have become more comfortable thinking of myself as a ‘creative’, I have become more comfortable seeing myself as a peer, rather than an interloper. Better still, working with a band on multiple projects has let me feel like a collaborator as well. In particular, working with ZoJ has been amazing. I first saw them when I was working at an event where they were playing some songs as the evening’s entertainment. The room they were playing in looked amazing. But the floors were marble and the chairs were metal, and so any time someone moved their chair it screeched. There were also so many hard surfaces in the room that it echoed and bounced the sounds all around. And people talked through the whole performance. I could tell that they were pretty frustrated by the end of their set, and so I made sure I told them how good they sounded and that I’d send them the photos I took. They liked the photos, and so from there I took photos of them at an intimate show at the Recital Centre, for a show where they were doing a live score to an old movie (and so I took photos of them in white tops with the movie being projected onto them) and then for their album ‘Give Water to Birds’. Both Brian and Gelare are incredible artists, and so I feel incredibly lucky any time I work with them. Best of all, I’m always learning new ways to do things because they’re totally up for new ideas and approaches.

This last year I’ve been working with Melbourne Prog Rock exponents Psi Phi. I’ve been lucky enough to shoot photos and videos at their gigs, and best of all was able to document their album recording. They’re actually launching their new album in a few weeks, and if you buy the vinyl you’ll see my handiwork on the internal sleeve. If you look at the group photos and think ‘He should have used a flash for that shot’…rest assured, on a day with very tight timelines, I set up my flash, only to discover that I’d left the trigger for the flash at home. Good times…good times. 

But working with musicians is also a constant reminder of how similar creative people are. I’ve sat in a room while the band listened to the amazing track they’ve just laid down, and all each band member can hear are the imperfections in their performance…while also praising everyone else’s efforts. I’ve seen moments on stage where all of the practice and rehearsal suddenly coalesces into something transcendent in front of an audience. And of course, I’ve seen them lugging gear out into the back of a family car, that will be driving them to their day job the next day so that they can sustain their creative dreams. As Gillian Welch sings in ‘Everything is free now’ “We’re gonna do it anyway. Even if it doesn’t pay.”

So here are my top tips for being a musically adjacent photographer:

Shoot the small gigs – Granted there won’t be incredible lighting rigs, or stages, or pyrotechnics…but you will be able to move around the space and get some really varied shots, and try some creative shots while the stakes are relatively low.

Take photos of the support act– The vast, VAST majority of musicians are working their arses off to make very little money, so if you can take a shot that they can use in future promo material…take it and share it.

Push it creatively – Obviously you need a few good safety shots…but make sure you’re trying something new whenever you can. I’ve tried dragging the shutter, shooting with a beer glass over part of the lens, and using my phone under the lens as a mirror…and they’ve all worked. I’ve even tried shooting on a zoom lens and zooming in as I take the shot, and that has not worked…ever…but that doesn’t matter, because I just delete and never tell anyon…ah, crap.

Tell the musician what you liked about their show – Have you ever sent someone a photo and not heard anything back from them? It sucks. Nothing hurts quite like putting your creative self out there, and then not hearing anything back. So if you’ve been in the room with a musician putting themselves out there on stage, let them know what you liked.

When I was about 19 I went to a comedy gig at the Prince Patrick hotel where Dave Taranto had explained that inside every stand-up comedian, was a lead singer looking to get out…and then allowed a variety of comedians to sing a song with a live band (Anthony Morgan’s version of ‘Too drunk to f$%#’ by the Dead Kennedys was particularly memorable)…so I think I’ll just keep waiting for a band to say ‘OK for our next song, and for no particular reason, we’re going to get that photographer up to sing along with us’…I’ll be ready to show them EXACTLY why I chose a musically adjacent life.