It was one of the coolest things ever; standing in the press pit as some of the world’s biggest bands come onstage to the onslaught of 50,000 plus fans screaming and cheering, and I, being just a few meters away.
It was quite the experience. Even without the crowd and fanfare, concerts are a joy to photograph. There is so much light, crazy colors, lots of dark to play with, and an ever changing spectrum of expressions to explore. The smaller stages tended to be my favorites, darker and emotional, just me and the band in empty space. When the sun was setting every evening during the headliner, I ran to the far end of the festival to capture the crowd, seeming bigger than anything I have ever seen, roaring away like an endless tidal wave. It was totally epic, and intense too. In some regards this work is similar to what I normally do with Dharma events. There are key moments that you just can’t miss, you spend most of the time trying not to be in everyone’s way or be seen, and in the end, the photos you didn’t plan on are by far the best of the event. In the end, I absolutely loved it, shooting the world’s biggest bands (and their accompanying light show) is totally outrageously cool, and I can definitely see myself doing this a lot more often in the future.
