That Time I Shot Taylor Swift

This Friday and Saturday, quite possibly the most popular female singer in the world at the moment, Taylor Swift, is going to bring her ridiculously over-the-top 1989 World Tour to the home of the San Francisco 49ers, Levi's Stadium, only a short distance away from my office.  She's probably going to pack 70,000 people into the stadium each night, some paying hundreds of dollars per ticket to see her belt out those songs you couldn't avoid on the radio and TV if you tried.  You simply can't avoid her in the media.  She's huge.

And to think, she was one of the first artists I ever shot. 

Now mind you, I didn't shoot her in a stadium with 70,000 screaming fans behind me.  Instead, I was sitting on the lawn at Yahoo HQ back in 2007 with probably no more than a couple hundred fellow employees (and more than a few of their teenage kids) around me eating their lunches.

I brought my trusty little Nikon D70S to work that day, since I had heard a little of Taylor's music and figured it'd be worth getting a few shots.  I wasn't even dreaming of doing concert photography at that point, and I was still just learning the basics of using my DSLR.  Some of my coworkers made fun of me for even going to the show - a teenage country singer?  Really?

Taylor was just a seventeen year old kid with big dreams and a debut record under her belt - a newly certified gold record, to be fair - and some pretty kickin' cowboy boots.  She was every bit the teenager you can imagine, introducing nearly every song as being about some boy who had broken her heart, even warning us that writing songs when boys do such things is how she gets revenge (little did we know what was to come in future albums!)  

I took a few photos and posted them to my Flickr page, and then moved on.  

They're not my best photos.  The poses aren't anything special, the compositions somewhat boring.  They're all taken from the same spot in the grass where I was sitting because I was too shy to get up and move around during a performance in those days.  Frankly, they're not photos I'd put in my portfolio, not even close.  They're snapshots taken with a consumer-grade SLR and lens, shot by someone who hardly knew how to properly use his camera on anything but 'Auto' mode.  It's a miracle any of the photos were in focus.

But you know what?  To this day, those photos are my most viewed photos on Flickr, by far.  Eight years later they still get views every day from people searching for "Taylor Swift".

So what's the moral of this story?  

First, bring your camera with you whenever you get a chance to shoot an artist.  You really never know who's going to be the next Taylor Swift, and there's something pretty awesome about shooting a future star when you have absolutely no restrictions. But you'll only know they're a star in retrospect, and by then it's too late.  So bring your camera, and get those pictures.

Second, the thrill of shooting those little shows on the lawn at my office were what got me into music photography.  Having access to Taylor and countless others like Collective Soul, The Band Perry, Capital Cities and Taylor Hicks is what got me interested in learning my camera and learning the art of music photography.  They formed the beginnings of a very rough portfolio, though I didn't know it at the time.  So when you've got an opportunity to practice and get better, take it.  These opportunities are stepping stones to bigger and better if you want them to be.

Who would guess that some of those stepping stones would turn out to be the biggest stars in the world one day?  


Photos: Sufjan Stevens

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting one of my all-time favorite artists, Sufjan (pronounced "Soof-yahn") Stevens.  

My appreciation for Sufjan's music goes way back to the late '90s, when I was a student at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI.  At that time, Sufjan was a student at our nearby rival, Hope College in Holland, MI.  While at Hope, Sufjan was part of a tremendous 4-piece alternative/folk band called Marzuki, which often played in the West Michigan area.  I had the opportunity to see Marzuki play at my school on a few occasions, usually in front of very small crowds, and I was always awed by the talent and musicianship they put on display.  They'd play an amazing song with guitar, bass, cello, wood flute, etc... and then swap their instruments and play another amazing song just as well as the last.  Led by guitarist and vocalist Shannon Stephens, who has since put out a number of amazing albums of her own, Sufjan took on more of a supporting role but his influence on their sound was undeniable.

Marzuki is one of those bands that I still mourn the loss of to this day - their low-fi self-titled album and their more polished EP No One Likes A Nervous Wreck remain two of the most prized albums in my collection.  There are songs on those albums that will send chills up your spine and stay in your head forever.  (I hope one day Sufjan or Shannon or somebody else will re-record and release some of those songs - "Kissing the Ceiling", "I Love You I Hate You" or "You Can't Be Happy Without Me" would be amazing and they deserve to be heard - but I'm not holding my breath.)

So all this to say, it was incredibly special for me to shoot the first of his two sold-out shows at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA on June 5th, 2015. Sufjan was touring in support of his phenomenal LP Carrie & Lowell, an intimate exploration of the grief he experienced in the wake of his estranged mother Carrie's death, and the affection felt for his step-father Lowell with whom he remains close.  The show was emotional, powerful and I believe cathartic for Sufjan.  There were a lot of tears shed in the audience as well.

At the end of the first set, a young woman made her way onto the stage, crying, to shake Sufjan's hand and thank him for his music.  In a way, it seemed not just appropriate in that moment but necessary, as if the audience collectively needed to exhale and reach out to the man and share in the grieving process.  I quickly snapped a photo of the young woman as she hurried off stage.

I shot this show as the house photographer, and was surprised to find that I had the "pit" to pretty much to myself, which I can only assume is related to Sufjan's seeming lack of interest in things like social media. (I call it a "pit", but in reality they had me shooting from behind one of the two bars that flank the orchestra level of the theater. Because the show was a seated show, there was no photo pit at the front of the stage.)  Not that I would complain about being lonely in the pit, however!  Thankfully I was prepared for being placed farther back and I brought along a monopod and a 1.7x teleconverter to pair with my 70-200mm f/2.8.  They paid off, though the angle I was shooting from was not ideal and the light was dim for those first three songs, so I ended up getting my best shots from the balcony.

It was a magical night and one I won't soon forget.  Sufjan has come a long way in the years since I first attended his shows - his audience has multiplied across the world and his songwriting and musical talent has grown exponentially, but he still comes across with a humble charm that can put you at ease before knocking you flat with the most beautiful and sorrowful sounds you've ever heard.  

I can't wait to see what he does next.

 

Photos: London Grammar and Until The Ribbon Breaks

London Grammar, a young electronic pop trio out of the UK, wrapped up their North American tour with a sold-out show at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA on Saturday, February 7th 2015. Considering the enthusiasm of the large crowd - nearly five times larger than their last Bay Area show last year - it's safe to say they've got a bright future ahead of them.

This shoot was a little more challenging than some, as we were told up front we'd only be allowed to shoot for two songs. I had hoped this meant they were going to be really long songs, but nope - just the usual length, and go figure, there was plenty of dim light to start the show. To make matters worse, my preferred camera was in the shop, so I had to make do with my backup, which struggles in dim light. Despite all the challenges, I managed to get a few keepers.

Opening the show was Until The Ribbon Breaks, a new electronic pop band also hailing from the UK who blends pop, hip-hop and rock to create a unique sound. Their music was inspired by old films which the band watches in the studio while writing music apparently, so it came as no surprise that their set featured a projection of some of this film footage while they played. They also projected a cameo by hip-hop act Run The Jewels during one of their collaborations.

For this set we were allowed to shoot the normal three songs, which was helpful.