Attention budding music photographers!
British music photographers Andrew Kendall and James Looker have put together a very informative podcast for those aspiring music photographers out there. Their first podcast looks at a few fundamentals including how to get photo access to gigs, how to approach bands and the PR and the type of equipment to use. You can subscribe to their podcast here (requires iTunes installed). They also question whether it is necessary to go to university or a photography school to learn the techniques.
This is an interesting question since their thoughts tend to be that going to such educational institutions can be detrimental in the sense that you can spend a lot of the time studying the techniques and not actually going out there and shooting. I think there’s some validity in what they’re saying but I also think it is important to study the fundamentals of any art and visual form so that you can broaden your scope and adapt yourself to various styles. Whether that means doing a 3 year course learning from pros or taking yourself down to the local library or Borders and doing some reading, it’s up to you. But it depends on whether you want to make a living from music photography specifically or go on and shoot different forms such as fashion, interiors, products and/or advertising as well. Most music photographers I’ve spoken to suggest having another skill set or job to fall back on because there isn’t a great deal of money in music photography. But if you have the skills to shoot other styles, then there is definitely decent money to be made.
