Freeze Frame: Behind the Lens of Concert Photography
Cover photo by Max Rothman, 2022
Photographs are memories, moments so special that we want more than just our mental image of it. Enter the concert photographer: the individual responsible for freezing that moment in time. The job comes with many difficulties, but at its core, the concert photographer has to give the audience a variety of photos to potentially connect to, and give the artist a collection of “usable” photographs for press, media, or marketing. The following conversations with four professional concert photographers shed light on their experiences and the various kinds of work that can come across the lens of a concert photographer.
At 7:00 AM, Mark Shur, who spent the summer of 2024 as the tour photographer and crewmember for Dipsea Flower (Berklee ‘23), is already up, making him the earliest riser of the four. The crew is small—just the three-to-four piece band plus Mark—packed in the car with the gear, driving from show to show. On tour, the band and crew try to stay with friends or family as much as possible to lower expenses. Mark spends the night on the floor, using extra couch pillows and blankets as bedding, saying, “I signed up for it, I promise.” His old Windows laptop only works when plugged in, so he has to wake up before the band to get his edits done. Note that edited photos are almost always due to the artist the day after the show, meaning Mark has to edit either the night of or the next morning if he wants to send them on time. Mark gets as much sleep as possible and uses his 7:00 AM wake-up to work on edits before the crew starts driving to the next city, leaving around 8:00 or 9:00 AM.
Will Tiong (Berklee ‘24) is also a tour photographer, but on a much larger scale. Will is the tour photographer and media director for singer-songwriter Sasha Alex Sloan, who spent the winter opening Kelsea Ballerini’s area tour. Will typically wakes up in a hotel room booked conveniently near the venue. His crew is a similar size to Mark’s but they travel in a Mercedes Sprinter van. His photos are due to the artist’s team the day after the show, even if they play multiple days in a row, so he has to pull the occasional all-nighter. Because the tour is larger, they have to make the lobby call and get in the Sprinter at a certain time to set out for the next city – time Will can use to edit on his laptop. Over the course of a tour, Will learns the rhythm of the show and his shooting plan evolves around it. For example, “It takes a song to get from the (photo) pit to the top of the arena.” [i]
The life of a concert photographer can take on one of two styles: touring and non-touring – though for most photographers, it’s a healthy mix. Shane Fruchterman and Taliyah Fox fall into the latter style; both are based in Boston and shoot a vast majority of their work there.
Taliyah is a full-time student at Northeastern University and works part-time on the content team at °1824: Universal Music Group’s (UMG) student-led internal marketing division. She receives assignments from her managers at °1824 about which UMG artists are coming to Boston on tour and if & when she will shoot them. Note that because Taliyah works for the record label, she only shoots UMG-signed artists – this is a circumstance unique to her. It also means that she can be shooting at Brighton Music Hall on one day and TD Garden on the next. Because she isn’t on tour, an early wake-up isn’t as important for Taliyah. Living in the city the show is in, she is free to wake up as early or late as she wants, usually 2:00 PM. Taliyah likes to arrive around doors, get her pass, and head to the pit to start shooting. She is almost always shooting the headlining artist, and usually has a normal photopass – meaning that she can only be in the photo pit in front of the stage for the first three songs. Afterwards, she can either leave or shoot from elsewhere in the venue. Whether or not she stays for the whole show depends on two things: how long it takes to get the shots she wants and how much she likes the artist. Once Taliyah has the shots, she is free to go home and start editing. Like her peers, Taliyah prefers to edit the night of the show, and will often stay up early into the morning to do it; the photos are inevitably due the next day. [ii]
Shane Fruchterman is a Boston-based freelance photographer who focuses on concert and sports photography. He represents a balance between the more varied lifestyle of a non-touring photographer, but unlike Taliyah, is employed by the artists or their management team, not the label. Shane’s work is a constant cycle of shooting shows that come through Boston any given week while also doing the necessary outreach to line up shoots for the next week. This means that Shane is often collaborating with artists he doesn’t know. To Shane, “Photography is a collaborative art form”, a “two-man dance” [iii] between the artist and photographer during the show. Day of show, Shane wakes up at home, sends some emails for the next or previous gig, and triple-checks that he charged his camera batteries and emptied his SD card for the night. Before he leaves for the venue, Shane does his final gearcheck. Gearcheck is Shane’s religion, his “mise en place.” To him, “It’s not about having the best gear; it’s about having control over your gear,” [iv] just as it can be for musicians. To Shane, freedom over one’s gear means freedom of expression in one’s art. Day of show, Shane likes to surround himself with the artist’s music, listening to their albums or influences’ albums, watching their interviews, and checking their social media accounts for photo references. This diligence is so important for Shane because he isn’t on tour; he only has one chance to work with the artist and make a strong first impression. At the venue, Shane likes to arrive early and spend time with the artist if he can. This pre-show time spent hanging out in the Green Room or having dinner is critical for him because it helps build the relationship that can make a shoot even more magical; and lead to those “moments.” During the show Shane shoots wherever he wants, for the whole show, with his all-access photo-pass. He likes to have all access in the venue, and is lucky enough to be in the position to ask for it after years of shooting concerts. “Concerts are uncontrolled environments; all you can control is yourself.” [v] When the show is over, Shane goes home and sits down to continue editing; he likes to start editing at the show between sets or during breaks. The deliverables (final photographs) are, of course, due the next day, and Shane prefers to edit on the night of when he’s still amped from the show. As a vinyl collector, he also tries to come home with a copy of the artist’s newest record and edit to that, continuing to steep himself and his day in the artist’s music. [vi]
In a world where everyone at a show can take photographs on their cell phone, what is the purpose for a concert photographer? Concert photography can often be seen as a purely documentarian service, that the photos only exist to prove that the show occurred and to potentially sway future ticket buyers online into coming to the next one. However, something that all four photographers shared was the belief that photography is about much more than just documentation. The mindset instead was one of creativity, the pursuit of an artistic endeavor. Shane describes concert photography as “an intersection of storytelling,” [vii] referring to the story the performance tells, meeting the story the photo tells. Mark called this intersection the process of finding “moments” [viii] during a show; and Will discussed wanting to “find my own style,” thinking of concert photography as “a stepping stone to something higher.” [ix] This pursuit of connection, collaboration, and perfection, both with the artist and the audience, marks concert photography as art, something higher than just documentary or press. What all four photographers are suggesting is that concert photography can be where these two artforms intersect, and if done well, work together to reach an even wider audience. There is, of course, an outlier: Taliyah. Unlike her peers, Taliyah works for a record label instead of being hired by the artist or their team, meaning that her goals are not at all aligned with their needs or wants. Taliyah’s photos aren’t for the artist; they’re for the label, and this is a key distinction. Taliyah’s work doesn’t involve the formation of the artist-photographer relationship that was so central to the work of her peers. She still has creative freedom, something that has been equally important to all four photographers; but the artform isn’t a two way street for her, like it has been for them.[x]
The modern concert-goer has a lot on their mind. Past just buying the ticket, they have to arrive early enough to find a spot with a good view, time their trip to the merch table so they might avoid a line without missing a second of the show, make sure not to lose their friends or family, get an appropriate beverage, make sure to take a few photos or videos to share on social media, potentially leave before the encore to beat the foot-traffic, and get home in one piece. Capturing this world of live music for others to see later on is the role of the concert photographer. Though often overlooked, one can learn from artists like Mark, Will, Shane, and Taliyah that the world of concert photography is colorful, collaborative, and artistic.
Sources:
Shur, Mark Interview By Max Rothman, February 12, 2025.
Tiong, Will Interview By Max Rothman, February 12, 2025.
Fox, Taliyah Interview By Max Rothman, February 15, 2025.
Frutcherman, Shane Interview By Max Rothman, February 11, 2025.
[i] Tiong, Will Interview By Max Rothman, February 12, 2025.
[ii] Fox, Taliyah Interview By Max Rothman, February 15, 2025.
[iii] Frutcherman, Shane Interview By Max Rothman, February 11, 2025.
[iv] “ “
[v] Frutcherman, Shane Interview By Max Rothman, February 11, 2025.
[vi] “ “
[vii] “ “
[viii] Shur, Mark Interview By Max Rothman, February 12, 2025.
[ix] Tiong, Will Interview By Max Rothman, February 12, 2025.
[x] Fox, Taliyah Interview By Max Rothman, February 15, 2025.
