Concert Photography: Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow

[groovehouse]

This would probably fall under documentary photography, no? I'm sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong forum.


Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow are currently on tour together, each supporting their latest releases. The two have recorded and performed together in the past so they aren't strangers and while it seems like an odd mix, there was no complaining from the fans.

For this show, we (concert photographers) were asked to shoot from the right side of the stage, in the pit. This is good and bad for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it's good to be shooting in the pit because we are close to our subjects and this is a far better place to shoot from than the soundboard which leaves you with virtually no close shots. The other thing is that we were cordoned off to one side of this stage. This severely limits the angles you can shoot at. All your shots are from one side. You only get lucky if the artist comes to your side of the stage. For Sheryl Crow, she stayed in the middle of stage, Kid Rock on the other hand was more mobile and was able to make his way to our side of the stage at least once. Normally as a concert photographer, we have free range of the pit, which is the area directly in between the fans behind the barricade and the stage.

For those unaware, as a concert photographer, we are usually limited to the first three songs and no flash is allowed, sometimes it's two songs, sometimes it's even less. It all depends on how fickle the band's management is. When we are done shooting, we are escorted out of the pit area and back to our staging area which is usually in the bowels of the arena or near an administrative/media area.

Here are some photos from the Sheryl Crow & Kid Rock show in The Woodlands, TX at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

More photos on Soundspike.com (KR, SC) and on my flickr photostream.

Equipment used:
Canon 5D
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L

Sheryl Crow:

1.

Sheryl Crow - 09.03.11 - 5DII_7679b by groovehouse, on Flickr

2.

Sheryl Crow - 09.03.11 - 5DII_7729b by groovehouse, on Flickr

Kid Rock

3.

Kid Rock - 09.03.11 - 5DII_7767b by groovehouse, on Flickr

4.

Kid Rock - 09.03.11 - 5D_3186b by groovehouse, on Flickr

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More concert photos coming soon. Be sure to check out my blog for photos of other shows.

[markgozz]

First of all what a great job you have , secondly thanks for the explanation on how they were shot your limited angle really shows in the Sheryl Crow shots she looks very static .
The Kid Rock ones are great a real nice job thank for sharing .

Mark

[MattUK]

Fantastic shots! And I second the thanks for your explanation. It was interesting reading

[thefonz78]

So who are you there for? Magazine the record label? How do you get in the gigs to shoot?

[groovehouse]

Originally Posted by thefonz78

So who are you there for? Magazine the record label? How do you get in the gigs to shoot?

For this show, I was shooting for SoundSpike.com. I also shoot for my local Village Voice Media outlet, The Houston Press.

I am usually assigned gigs to shoot. I can request shows but if they are not being covered or reviewed, I don't necessarily get to shoot them. Depending on the job, sometimes I set up my own credentials, other times, a music or photo editor will set up my credentials.

MattUK and markgozz thanks for your comments and checking out my work.

[OldBoy]

Four cracking shots and well take. Shame on the restrictions as it limits what you can do.