Invoice 005 - Dead Engine, Brick and Mortar Music Hall Concert (December 12, 2021)
I was introduced to Dead Engine's drummer at a party through his girlfriend, a close friend of mine from work. The band had recently ditched their last photographer and were looking for someone to shoot them for an upcoming concert. I immediately leapt at the offer, not so much out of confidence but a forced habit to accept any financial opportunity. I had no experience with concert photography and given what sliver of a comfort zone I occupied, I was immediately terrified, so much so that I nearly offered to shoot the event for free. Their drummer was kind enough to refuse and I wound up actually earning more than my fees would dictate.
The second phase of the assignment was the concert, which I awaited with dread. Dead Engine would be performing at the Brick and Mortar Music Hall in San Francisco, which was roughly an hour away. I nearly abandoned the assignment out of stress when I spent over 30 minutes circling around the same four blocks trying to find safe parking after dark. Luckily, the band wasn't up first and I had more time than I realized to settle in.
Once I could relax, I surprised myself with how confidently I sprung into action. Despite my shyness, the separation of audience and performers on stage was enough to ease the pressure. At that point, I felt more aware of how I composed myself in front of the concert-goers given it was a smaller crowd.
The venue provided enough moody lighting to make the shots interesting, and their spotlights were bright enough to make exposure easy. I continued to struggle with the Sony a7iii, in this case with its automatic focus, which was not intuitive to me. I also noticed later in the editing stages that my framing was significantly off-balanced, perhaps because I wasn't properly looking into the viewfinder.
I had watched several tutorials on concert photography and the consensus was to prioritize shooting the venue as a whole as much as the artists themselves. I had to make a last minute decision against that because the crowd was very small. Since the point of wide crowd shots was to express enthusiasm and a large turnout for an event, I thought it would be insulting to Dead Engine to photograph their lack of the latter. I instead focused tightly on the band, hoping the quality of my shots and the aesthetic of the lighting would create the illusion of a grand concert.
As far as the quality of the performance, the band was very expressive and it was no strain to get dynamic poses. I nearly had to keep up with their showmanship, especially with Matt, their bassist. I was constantly regulating how many shots I was getting of each member as well as group shots. By the end, I had almost 400 photographs, which I narrowed down to around 100.
Editing was a long process as a result. I mostly increased the contrast, tightened the framing, and emphasized the colors already present on stage (green was my favorite). I was particularly happy with how the colored lights reflected off of the cymbals of the drum kit.
Dead Engine was more than happy with the results. As I said, they weren't very confrontational with criticism so whatever qualms they might have had, I'll never know, but I got the impression they loved my concert work more than the photoshoot.
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed concert photography. As a financial avenue, it isn't very high-paying or stable, but neither is most freelance photo work starting out. And I enjoyed having a commission that combined my love of music and photography. I spoke with another band after the show, and they expressed interest in hiring me for an upcoming tour. That opportunity passed without much response on their part, but it got me excited thinking about the chances to network in something I was more engaged with and invested in than food or real-estate.