Having a strong on line presence is so important for bands and musicians these days. So if you are a band or musician wanting to make a living from playing or selling music, you are going to need some high quality images and video too. When it comes to band photography I have a lot of empathy for my subject. I used to play in bands, and being photographed for publicity used to fill me with horror! I always felt so awkward, and it’s probably why I feel much more comfortable on the other side of the camera.
A good location makes band photography much easier
Charlie and Jess, from Cedar & Strings, originally contacted me about making a short promo video for them. We had a meeting to refine the brief, and talked styling and location. They had a great location already organised, a very groovy old church in Yandina, Sunshine Coast. So we set a date to shoot the video.
On the day, it turned out to be a REALLY hot afternoon. As much as the old church was quaint, it was not built for staying cool in the heat! In true Queensland spirit we continued to work on capturing the video. We did decide to have more breaks though, and it was during one that I suggested taking photos too. We were in a good location, they were going to need some photos, and we had a bit of time up our sleeves. I had my main portrait camera with me, so why not?
As it turned out we didn’t have a lot of time to shoot the photos, Jess had to pick up her little girl a bit early. We literally spent about 20 minutes on them. In spite of the time constraint, we were all really happy with the results – sometimes it is truly amazing what you can achieve in a short amount of time 🙂
If you are a musician or in a band, maybe it’s time to update your website photos? You might have an album to launch? I’ve always felt comfortable in the company of musicians, so let’s have a chat 🙂