CREATIVE SERVICE AND VIDEO
Photographer
JOB OVERVIEW
The photographer photographs music artists in live performance and in pre-arranged settings.
PREREQUISITES
To succeed, you should compile a portfolio with both live and studio setting photographs of artists. You should be friendly and have an outgoing personality, and contacts within the industry.
CAREER TIPS
“There are a lot of webzines—startup web magazines—that are getting access to concerts on a fairly regular basis. Find one of them that needs a staff photographer in your region, to gain experience.”
Talk with a local band or two and offer to shoot their performances for free in order to gain more experience photographing a live concert.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
“People often say, ‘Man, you have the coolest job in the world. You just lay around and watch TV all day and then go out to concerts at night.’ If it were only so,” laughs photographer Paul Natkin. “I put in ten hours a day, every day. Then I go out and shoot concerts at night. I've been up in my office since eight this morning making duplicate slides for The Judds. I just shot them over the weekend. I'm making prints for Natalie from the Dixie Chicks. Brian Wilson is working on a live album in Los Angeles and I'm in the middle of organizing for that. Between all of that, I'm making phone calls and invoicing people. Around four this afternoon I'll have to go and shoot Peter Murphy, which means I have to lug four cases of camera equipment over to the venue, shoot him, bring that gear back home, grab some dinner, and then go back tonight and shoot his show. That's a pretty normal day.”
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“Up-and-coming bands that believe all their own publicity. I find it amazing that managers don't tell bands that they should act in a more respectable manner. This is the only business I know of where you can be in it for 25 years and be treated [badly] by somebody who is not even 19 years old and has been in the business for about six months.”
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“When people are nice to me; when people have respect for me. It proves that what I've worked at all my life is actually worth something. When a band like the Dixie Chicks personally requests that I come out and photograph them, that's pretty darn cool.”
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
“It's a bit like catch-22: you can't shoot concerts unless you've already shot concerts. The first thing you're asked is, ‘Who have you shot in the past?’ If you say you're just starting out, they're going to say, ‘Go start with somebody else.’ They may ask what magazines that you've worked for. You've got to come with experience, but how do you get that experience? You've got to have someone who will vouch for you.” Approach local bands and hone your skills shooting them. When you have the beginnings of a portfolio, talk with club and theater owners to see if you can shoot a show for their use to further your experience in shooting bigger shows. Once you have a good book, then approach magazines, artist managers, and record label representatives.
PAUL NATKIN, PHOTOGRAPHER/PRESIDENT, PHOTO RESERVE, INC.
Paul Natkin decided to become a photographer in 1971 for the sole reason that it provided free admission to sporting events. He learned the basics from his father. “I was in college at the University of Illinois and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life,” recalls Natkin. “My father came home one day and said he had gotten a job photographing the Chicago Bulls. As a photographer, you get the best seat in the house, right at courtside.” When Natkin discovered in 1975 that the same held true for concerts, he combined his work with his love of music to become a music photographer. “I was coming home from photographing a tennis match and was listening to the radio. They were talking about a concert on the Northwestern campus with a woman named Bonnie Raitt. I had all my equipment with me and figured if I could [talk] my way into a sporting event, I could [talk] my way into a concert. The guy at the door saw my equipment and before I could say anything he said, ‘You can do anything you want, just don't walk onstage.’ That was my introduction to music photography. I had always been a music fan and went to concerts from the time I was 12. I basically figured out a way to get into them for free,” he laughs. Although it took some time to learn the technical aspects of photographing a live concert, he began to get photos published in local newspapers and magazines. “I learned by trial and error and spent a lot of time sitting in the darkroom watching my father.”
At a concert in Chicago, Natkin met the art director of Cream magazine and at his invitation, began calling the magazine's editor every day about selling his photos. After two weeks, the editor finally accepted his call and ended up buying a photograph. “I think he finally took my call just to get rid of me,” Natkin says, “If you're going after something, you go for it and don't give up.” The editor was soon calling Natkin every month, and eventually he shot 20 covers for the magazine. He was able to do the same thing at other magazines, including Rolling Stone and Playboy. Soon his ability to get photos published in such prestigious international magazines made him in demand with artists and publicists alike.
During a photo shoot with Keith Richards in 1988, Natkin heard the artist say he was going out on a solo tour. Natkin wrote a letter to Richards’ manager offering his services as a tour photographer, was accepted, and spent three weeks on the road with the artist. He did the same thing a few weeks later with the Rolling Stones, and ended up spending three and a half months with the band on their record-breaking Steel Wheels Tour. Since that time, he has covered all the subsequent Rolling Stones tours, as well as Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA Tour, which got his photo on the cover of Newsweek magazine, and Prince's Purple Rain Tour. During his 25 year career, Natkin has photographed more than 3,000 different bands and individual artists, spanning almost every style of music. In addition to his ongoing career photographing musical talent, Natkin signed on as tour manager of former Beach Boy Brian Wilson's comeback bid. www.natkin.net
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