Concert photography, don’t forget the behind-the-scenes

Often forgotten, but often most appreciated

In the previous blog post, I already talked about the techniques, gear, and shared photos from the concert. But today I want to talk about something else. Behind-the-scenes shots.

 

Photography is storytelling

As photographers, we are, of course ,storytellers.
From the Stone Age up till now the main reason we shoot photos, paint, draw, create music, etc. is to tell stories, process our emotions etc.
Well, ok, I also don’t know where some photos fit, but overall I think it’s pretty accurate.

In essence, “we capture unique moments in time that never come back again.”

When I shoot a concert/event, I always love to shoot some extra behind-the-scenes images.
Also, during the recent concert in the Duif with Wibi Soerjadi I shot some behind-the-scenes images I wanted to share today.

Why shoot behind-the-scenes shots?

 

Of course, I still try to do my best to get interesting shots, lighting, etc.
Behind-the-scenes doesn’t mean “just spray and pray”. You can get some really nice results by just taking some extra care of lighting, angles, etc.
During the TV interview, I used the light from the camera in combination with the K&F concept black diffusion filter for a very nice soft glow in the image. Using a lower angle, I got some nice contrast in Wibi’s face, and it made the storytelling part more interesting.

But also capture that quick moment where his stylist quickly adjusts some final details.
How many of those images do you think he gets?
And how handy would it be to have an artist’s stylist as your fan for the great images you always give him/her.

Behind-the-scenes, concert photography

As photographers, we often don’t have a lot of images where you can see us at work.
So when I saw that Edwin Smulders was taking some images of Wibi for the magazines he works for, I thought it would be fun to shoot some images of Edwin at work.

Behind-the-scenes images are great for you as a record of the events.
And behind-the-scenes shots are great for the artist. It’s a registration of details they don’t always get or think about.
Don’t forget, behind-the-scenes images are also great to build networks and friends. Often, the people behind the scenes work very hard and love the images. So, they are always much more open to let you do your work. Or even get you access you would normally never get, even if your event photos are top notch.

I can’t stress enough the importance of some behind-the-scenes images.
So the next time you shoot an event, or even a family, in your studio. Think about the behind-the-scenes or fun shots.
It happened more than once that my client prefers the fun shots I took during a shoot compared to the more posed (read slightly uncomfortable) shots.