Music
From taking your favourite artist’s portrait to documenting underground raves, being a photographer is any music lover’s dream. But how do you turn it into a career?
This month’s Normal Not Novelty radio show goes behind the lens of the photographers documenting from the heart of the UK’s music scenes. Host Kamilla Rose sits down with two of the scene’s sharpest shooters: grime’s go-to photographer Vicky Grout, and AZ Captures, founder of the Pay Your Shooter brand-slash-community that helps freelancers get paid for their work.
Digging deep into their work and the many lofty achievements to their name, they tell all about rising up the ranks to shoot major campaigns for some of the biggest artists around.
If you’ve ever been inspired to take photos at a gig or a night out – be it on your phone, a disposable camera or something a little more high tech – you’ve shared the very same impulse that has sparked decades worth of documenting the UK’s rich music history. And while there’s no clear cut path to transforming this passion into something more full time, there’s plenty of tips to help you find your voice and begin getting work. Below, four music photographers share their best advice on where to start – from finding the right camera to building a portfolio online.
Listen to the Normal Not Novelty photography special in the player below:
Find the kind of kit that works for you – and what you want to shoot
I feel like being a people person in this industry is so important. It’s so important just to be nice and be kind.
Whether you want to start experimenting with film or invest in a digital SLR, it’s useful to think first about the environments you’d like to start shooting in.
For Melissa Gardner, her vision was locked on London nightlife, and by the age of 22 she’s already built an impressive portfolio documenting the raw, vibrant diversity of the capital’s clubs and youth cultures. She hasn’t got a “fancy camera,” she says, sticking with her trusty Nikon D 3300 along with an analogue point and shoot -- which she’d recommend to anyone looking to make the first steps into club photography. Old models from Olympus and Pentax can be sold on the cheap via sites like eBay and resale app Depop, and you often can find film on the high street as well as specialist stores online.
Molly MacIndoe’s work is also a testament to the power of film photography in the rave. Her book, Out of Order, documents the scenes and stories of the free party and teknival scenes from 1997 to 2006. All the shots featured in Out of Order were taken using analogue cameras because, says Molly, “a viewer, I believe, subconsciously trusts the image more when they can see the grain of the film.”
A Pentax MX is her camera of choice – “it’s up there with the top SLRs ever made, and will not need constant upgrading” – and for film suitable for dark light situations recommends the Delta 3200. She began using digital later down the line, but continues to approach it with an analogue frame of mind: “Quality over quantity and frugality with the trigger button.”
Georgina Cook, meanwhile, has stuck with digital ever since the mid-‘00s, when she began documenting the raw energy of the south London music scene at the emergence of grime and dubstep. She advises beginning with whatever you can afford and learning it really well, starting out on a compact camera with a zoom herself before moving on to an SLR. If you use an SLR, opt for something relatively small to make moving around easier, and have wide angle lenses to capture a whole crowd. Georgina suggests "a 50mm or 35mm lens, or something like a 24-70mm which covers the whole spectrum.”
Practise, network, and then practise some more
While Molly was in the midst of documenting the rave scene from the late ‘90s onwards, she was also studying photographic arts through school and university – just as the advent of digital photography was transforming the medium entirely. It gave her more room for experimenting with different styles and briefs, but ultimately she found more valuable learning outside of the classroom. “Honestly, my dad taught me more about using a camera and composition than any teacher. One of his wisdoms was the best way to get to grips with a camera was to practise until it’s coming naturally. Oh, and the old standard: read the manual!”
The best way to learn is just to get out and start shooting. London-based photographer and videographer Aisyah Octavia learned everything from camera work to editing software (such as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop) by practising and having fun with it.
Like Melissa and Georgina, Aisyah started out by shooting her friends’ gigs and built a network from there -- getting commissions largely through word of mouth recommendations and chatting to people at shows. Being persistent, confident and seeking out opportunities is key. “It’s just offering yourself up and messaging people all the time,” Melissa agrees.
Whether the payment that you're getting is a nice big invoice, or whether it’s being offered expenses, if that's what you're happy with, then that's your payment.
Getting paid is a different challenge. Chasing invoices, low pay or being told there’s just no budget are all too common experiences for freelance photographers working in creative industries that just don’t pay properly.
Though she says taking on low-paid jobs at the start of her career aged 19 helped her build connections, Aisyah believes that because she was young and “just starting out” people felt they could pay her less. It took a nudge from a mentor figure to start charging properly for her work. “He was like, ‘just tell them: what’s the budget? And this is my rate. If there’s money involved and they still want to hire you, they should pursue it.’ After a while I got used to saying, this is how much I charge. Now I've disregarded doing things for free unless the person’s a friend.”
AZ Captures set up Pay Your Shooter in response to her feeling like she was “undercutting” herself all the time – there was a gap in expectation between what she wanted from certain jobs and what she was getting. “The bottom line of the brand really is about respect," she tells Kamilla Rose in the Normal Not Novelty radio show. "Whether the payment that you're getting is a nice big invoice, or whether it’s being offered expenses, if that's what you're happy with, then that's your payment. Everyone needs to be happy in these kind of situations.”
Know your environment and subjects inside out
Armed with “like, 10 batteries and two memory cards” for every shoot so there’s “nothing that can go wrong,” Aisyah’s photographic portfolio is a vibrant mix of events, candid BTS shots from video shoots, and portraits of the likes of Wretch 32 and Kojey Radical. When shooting an artist, she’ll always make time to have a conversation first. “It’s more natural, both the photographer and artist feel more comfortable in the space.” And a little confidence goes a long way. “I always chat a lot of shit when I’m taking a photo,” she says, “and because I’m loud, they feel like they can do whatever they want in front of the camera as well.”
Vicky Grout, who started taking photos at gigs on an Olympus Mju-ii point-and-shoot in her teens and has gone on to snap portraits for the likes of Skepta, agrees. “There’s nothing worse than an awkward picture. If they are looking stiff, try and help them loosen up. Be chatty, be friendly. I feel like being a people person in this industry is so important. It’s so important just to be nice and be kind.”
It’s a different ballgame in a club or a venue, where low light and busy spaces make them tricky places to shoot in while remaining mindful of the atmosphere. Georgina uses flash sparingly: “It’s a bit different when you’re doing a rock or punk gig, but in a dark basement club I feel like it really spoils the mood.” Instead, she gets creative with the different light sources in the room, seeking out everything from lights on the DJ booth to a reflection on someone’s eyeball.
Forming a level of trust with who you photograph, and having a strong understanding of the environment you are photographing in, is crucial. Molly would show her developed film at the rave every week, which helped build her photographic confidence and strengthened relationships with those in the community. “Bringing along a Polaroid for a bit of ‘give and take’ is always a good idea if you can afford it,” she suggests. It’s all about reading the club environment, Melissa stresses, knowing who is comfortable having their photo taken and what state they’re in. “People are there to let go and be themselves and not feel like they're being judged.”
Build a digital portfolio
Social media has made showcasing your work to a wide audience theoretically easier than ever, and website hosts like Format – which Melissa recommends – have simplified the process of building a website portfolio. But both serve slightly different purposes. “I think Instagram is where people actually find you,” she says. “I have a love-hate relationship with it, but ultimately it is your business card. Some of the best work I've been able to get has been through Instagram. A website comes in handy because it tidies up your portfolio. You can see everything and compartmentalise different things you've done.”
Throughout her career, Georgina has used everything from image host Flickr to posting on forums to present her photography, and her work is now being publicly archived by YOUTH CLUB Archive for their future Museum of Youth Culture. But she’s still trying to figure out how best to build a digital portfolio. “Instagram is a great tool because it is so visual, but I feel like the main issue with all social media is that it's owned by other companies. If a company changes or disappears, then all of your work is going to go as well. Even if hardly anyone looks at your website, as long as you maintain it, it’s always going to be there in your control and your ownership.”
Keep learning, keep shooting, and do it for the love of it
Melissa puts it simply: “I probably wouldn’t have picked up a camera had it not been for the music.” Across the board, the core motivation to start shooting was finding a love for the music and a passion for the community it creates. Turning this into a career isn’t easy – but that’s no reason to give up hope, Molly emphasises. “No one believed in my dream of a rave photography book, or that I could produce or sell it. Be determined and prepared to play the long game.” There’s one nugget of advice she always returns to: “Start taking photos of what you know; this could be of real social significance one day.”
Keep up with all six photographers via their social channels.
- Vicky Grout @vickygrout
- AZ Captures @azcaptures
- Melissa Gardner @shotbymelissa_
- Aisyah Octavia @syah.o
- Molly MacIndoe @mollymacindoe
- Georgina Cook @drumzofthesouth
Molly MacIndoe's book Out Of Order is available for purchase now. Buy it
Thanks to YOUTH CLUB Archive. Find out more about their mission to open the world’s first Museum of Youth Culture here.
.png)
