Now that it is summer again, I am looking forward to concert season, especially festival season. I usually enjoy shooting any music related event, but there is something special about a festival. Festivals always have great new artists and many opportunities for interesting photography.
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Not all festivals are created equal. The Vans Warped Tour is my favorite as a photographer. Even in harsh mixed light, I was able to take several good crowd shots last year of Enter Shikari. In the slideshow above, my favorite part is the woman in slide 9 who is looking at the stage instead of the lead singer in the crowd. What could be so exciting on stage that she would ignore the lead singer on his back? See photos 10 and 11.
I have discussed the Vans Warped Tour, and other festivals, in the JEA national scholastic journalism publications and in JEA Digital Media site.Vans Warped is especially great for three reasons. First, the festival is well organized (really well organized). Secondly, the fans and bands are always interesting. Third, Vans Warped has several stages so beginning photographers could build a portfolio without having a press pass.
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Many publications want crowd photos or other documentation of an event. Many photographers focus on the band or the lead singer and forger the larger picture. Even a photographer without a press pass could have taken many of these photos, or at least taken many great photos. If you look closely, someone besides a press photographer usually has a small camera.