Articles

Its not just music

The aim of this article was to discuss the different types and styles of music photography. I wanted to show people that there was a lot more than just event photography. In the article I discuss the ways music photography's audience can be broadened by leaving the gigs and taking a more documentary approach. I talk about how this makes the work less alienating and draws people in that may have never been interested before. I wanted to show people how this type of work can take you much further and that although event photography can get you a bit of money in the short run, a well thought out and in-depth series can bring you books, shows and probably much more money.

To most people music photography consists of big cinematic shots of musicians on stage and massive heaving crowds, although this is correct it can go so much further. I’m not dissing event photographers in any way, they do a very important and essential part of music photography but if you are trying to capture the spirit of a music scene you need to delve deeper. You need to get past the V.I.P sign, get backstage, take a few photos and then leave the event. Although the events are a big part of telling a scenes story they are only one member of the collective band that forms music photography.

Like any form of documentary photography the people, surroundings and circumstances are as important.

While researching for this zine I have spoken to a number of photographers and many of them have stressed the importance of looking past the music. If you can look past the music and the events you will discover what the scene is truely about and then you will be able to document it correctly.

For example in the work of Simon Wheatley (featured) you will notice there is almost no footage of events or shows, as he wasn’t interested in representing that part of the scene, it didn’t say anything about the people and the artists he was documenting. However you do see a lot of documentation of music production in DIY studios and images from pirate radio stations. Visiting these locations gives a lot more information about the lifestyle, living conditions and way of life of his subjects. He found by being on the streets and in the estates where Grime was born he could capture a true image of what the scene really was.

By taking the documentation deeper you begin to create a social commentary. The work that you are creating then evolves and captures a larger audience. For instance, if you are just documenting events there will be a very small audience for the image as the only people that will be interested will be those who attended, or people interested in that specific artist. Whereas if you document the scene as a whole, covering various artists or situations and are producing a commentary that spans further than the music. You will begin to attract a wider audience, as you are no longer just documenting music you are addressing further issues.

Once the work takes this step and moves away from just music, it begins to open up to a much wider audience. It begins to attract people that just have an interest in music that may have not paid attention, as the genre wasn’t for them. Then it almost becomes dissociated with music and becomes its own thing, it becomes a documentary or art piece. This then draws in a vast audience.

This progression it opens up a lot more opportunities, exposure wise. As the work becomes wider appreciated it will gather more interest. This in turn opens it up for magazine features, book deals, exhibitions and so on.

I’m not saying that if you just start taking a few documentary style images you will automatically get a book deal. I am just putting the point forward that music photography can go a lot deeper and in a professional sense, the more in depth and interesting the work the more likely it is to succeed.

You have to think of the scene as a subcultural group, they are a movement of people, a product of the time, place, issues and events that surround them. This is what needs to be documented the music is secondary.