Learn To Listen

When I first got into photography, I was mainly shooting sports. In sports, normally your basic main focuses are to follow the ball/play, take a photo as quickly as possible of the action, and pray you don't get hit in the process. With concert photography, it's a bit different.

Something I had to learn over the years, and started really noticing other concert photographers missing the mark on as well, is listening. Sometimes we try so hard to get the "cool photo" that we miss the entire point of why we are there.

For concert photographers, we must first ask what is even the point of concerts? There's so many possible answers, but some basic ones are to live out a dream, the music speaks to us, connect with others, healing, etc. So no matter what your answer may be, its foundation is emotionally driven. As concert photographers, we must be there to capture those emotions and energy. So, how do we even do that?

First, we must connect to the emotions, energy, and atmosphere around us. Secondly, listen to the music. It sounds so easy, right? Sadly, it takes lots of practice. So many times I have seen others, and have been personally guilty of, focusing more on the lighting, camera settings, getting too much in their heads, egos becoming involved, and people just going from one band member to the next because "aw man, I haven't took a photo of this guy yet." Because of this, we often don't get the shots we want or could possibly capture. That's why listening, truly listening to the music is so important.

You have to train yourself to become engulfed by the music, follow the direction/flow of it, figure out where it is taking you and what it is saying. Is the low-end making you feel like you can feel the beat in your chest? Is the guitar singing to you? Is the singer and lyrics manipulating your emotions and making you feel things? These are just some of the things you need to start really noticing and connecting with so you can be able to truly capture what the band and music are trying to convey. That's where the true magic and soul of all of it is. Once you allow yourself to become a music condiment/vessel, you will finally be able to tap into that energy to capture the raw emotions and be able to take your concert photos to another level.

The next time you get ready to take concert photos, start asking yourself, "What is the music trying to say to me?"