UTTERMEDIA

After two extremely successful and ‘text book’ shoots this month, I wanted to write a light-hearted little piece on my photo shoot experience since starting out as a freelance photographer in 2004. It might not be the same for every music photographer, but after working with dozens of bands big and small I’ve built-up the ideal routine for a guaranteed excellent wrap.

Preparation

• Choose a location which is both easy to get to and viable to use as a backdrop. Scout it out beforehand to avoid disappointment.
• If you’re using a studio, then you have nothing to worry about apart from a bit of hoovering.
• Agree a price and don’t rip anyone off. Bands have dosh. New bands are often flush. Bands that are touring with a well established fan-base often have a smaller budget. If you’re shooting a band through a label however, the label will take care of you.
• Prepare your kit. This really goes without saying. Charge batteries, clean lenses, format storage. Ensure you’ve had a good breakfast and a big poo.
• Listen to their goddamn music! I can’t stress this enough. You’d look a right prat if you turned up and didn’t even know what they sounded like. Chances are you’re a music photographer because you dig music as much as photography. Check out their work, get into their minds, harvest ideas!

Meeting

• Make sure the band know that your time is precious. Agree a time and place to meet. If you charge per hour, make sure they know this beforehand, as they’ll be less likely to stall.
• Introduce yourself! Don’t be a c*nt! Play nice and layout an action plan for the shoot. Make sure you catch everyone’s names. It will come in handy later.

Setup

• It may benefit you to arrive a little earlier than the band if you have lighting to set up. Take a few test shots. I use myself as a prop or even an assistant as a subject.
• Run through a few test shots with the band. Let them get used to the camera and the lighting (if you’re using any). This will give them a chance to relax in front of the camera.

Shooting

• Bands are boisterous and hyperactive at the best of times. Make sure they listen to what you say, make sure they take your direction on board. Use their names to direct them individually.
• Don’t over-shoot. You don’t want 1000 photos to sift through. Take your time in composing the shot and then shoot 3 or 4 frames to be safe.
• Have a laugh! Joke about, use strange analogies and avoid silence. This should relax even the stiffest of bassoon players.
• Shuffle band members about. If you only have one location then it is a great idea to move band members about into different positions.
• If you’re shooting multiple locations don’t just let the background dictate the difference between the locations. Vary your shooting style between the two. The more variety the better. An outfit change would be ideal!
• Be critical… if someone looks awkward through the viewfinder, they’ll look awkward in the final photo. You don’t want this. Ideally you want them to look at you as if they are looking in the mirror. They know their ‘bad side’ and from what angle that they’ll look thin/fat/short/tall.

Payment

• Depending on how you plan a shoot, you may have already taken care of this. Some of the bands I’ve worked with have accounts and paperwork. Be ready to give a receipt if they need one.
• Cash or PayPal, make sure you’re thankful for the payment! No one is a superstar yet so you’re taking their hard-earned cashmonies for your hard work.
• Assure them. You’re a mysterious freelancer, remember. Make sure you have a point of contact in the band to send the photo package to. Make sure they’ve kept your details.
• Network! Take the names and contact info of everyone in the band. Building up a rapport and healthy contact list is really important for future shoots and business.

Post-Processing

• First things first, upload and back-up! Your data is precious and you don’t want to explain to the band that you lost everything through stupidity.
• Kill the bad shots. Using Lightroom or Aperture, peruse the entire shoot and bin any shots that don’t meet the standard. I aim for a 20% target. If I’ve taken 200 photos I want to choose 40 final shots. From that 40 I’ll whittle it down to about 12 ‘best of the best’.
• Save your photos hi-res, medium and small. A 5MB file is great for the band, the label, the press and yourself to have. Rule of thumb. However it’s a pain in the arse to email back-and-forth even by today’s standards.
• Small photos are ideal for Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc.
• DON’T put a logo on the corner! It looks sh*t and most photographers logos are ugly. It doesn’t need to be there - the band should be kind enough to credit you where necessary. There are other more effective ways to market yourself. Don’t make the band do it - they didn’t stick their logo on your camera.
• Brightness/Contrast. Don’t even go there. We’ve all done it… tried to make a photo more ‘PUNCHY’ by upping the contrast. I did it on my first shoot ever and in hindsight it looked so poor. Contrast is for conceptual and stylised design, not a regular photo. You can’t desguise bad photography with sixth-form editing.

Release

• Don’t rush to get the photos back to the band, but don’t take a week. You might be busy, but they’ve paid you and the sooner you finish the better it is for everyone.
• Package the photos neatly. Create directories for different parts of the shoot, different types of shots etc. Package 3 sizes of each photo and compress it in one tidy Zip file.
• Host it securely on your site. That way, the band can access it and you don’t have to worry about email attachments. Plus, it drives them straight to your website, never a bad thing.
• Portfolio! Add the shots to your website or portfolio! Be proud of them, share them around and let your visitors, followers, clients and friends see them!
• Some bands like to keep photos under wraps. This is fair enough. But they’re your photos. The band can keep them under wraps on their own ground. The chances of their audience and your audience intermingling aren’t that high just yet.

Advice: Longevity

• In the excitement of the moment, a few bands have gone right ahead and chucked all the photos that I’ve sent them straight onto their band MySpace. It’s touching, but it’s very clumsy, very X-Factor, and unprofessional.
• Advise the band with a little photo “after care”. If you took different sets of photos with them it would be great for the band to release just one set of photos after the shoot. They can then hold back the other set until a release, a tour, an announcement etc. It engages the audience and gives the band more media to work with. Some bands use an entirely different set of photos for press than they do for social networking and online presence.
• Check back in with the band after a few weeks; check if they need any adjustments to the photos, any logotypes, any help with hosting, posters, collateral etc. I’ve shot a few bands and then sometime later designed their album artwork. It’s always worth keeping in touch - it’s good for business and it’s good for them to know that you’re their “media guy”.