professional sports/live music Photographer Cedar Rapids, IA

Recently, I was interviewed by a student from the University of Iowa. One of the questions that was asked was in regards to concert photography. He was scrolling through my website, and had seen several of my concert photos. He was wondering how I got started with that. I responded by saying that I could be here a while, talking about how it all began, and then some, but didn’t want to go past the time we had for the interview. However, we did have some time to chat afterwards, so I filled him in with more details on it then.

When I was first getting serious about my photography, my wife suggested I follow the brother of a dear friend of hers, whose friendship goes all the way back to middle school. The photographer was David Bergman. 

Back in 2016, David had announced a unique photography workshop he was hosting. Being that it was the first of its kind, it was offered at a price that simply couldn’t be passed up. Besides, my wife strongly encouraged me to partake in this, so not only could I be learning from a master photographer, but have a photography workshop experience like no other.

The workshop was titled ‘Shoot From the Pit: A Live Concert Photography Workshop’. It was open to only five people, so I needed to jump on this as quickly as possible. The workshop was held on September 12, 2016 at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, CA. I packed my gear, and flew out to Cali the day before the workshop. 

I arrived a bit before others, and finally had the chance to meet David in person. Once the others arrived, it was time to start the learning experience. For this workshop, Canon was gracious enough to loan him five sets of gear for our use.

• Canon 1Dx
• Canon 5D iv
• Canon EF 100-400
• Canon EF 24-105

We learned about proper settings for concert photography, concert etiquette, types of shots to capture, and more. While we were limited to just the headliner that night (which was pop artist Andy Grammer), we had the pleasure of photographing his entire performance, rather than just the first three songs, which is generally the length of time a photographer gets in the pit. We had pit access as well as many areas from around the outdoor venue. 

That was just the springboard for many concerts I’d be photographing in the future. Not long after this workshop, David became the official tour photographer for country superstar Luke Combs. Going strong with his workshops, I participated in a few more of these, learning even more each time. Now that these workshops were more established, we had the privilege of photographing each opening act’s entire set, as well as Luke’s entire set. Participating in these enhanced my craft, being able to try a few different things and get creative. Most were at large, indoor arenas, but the last one I attended was part of Luke's stadium tour, and was held at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL this past May. At this venue, I was able to create a nice, wide shot with a bit of the Chicago skyline in the background. Shooting a show in a stadium also includes the possibility of battling weather elements, such as rain. Well, it rained for a short period of time, but I was able to capture some great images in the process.

In between the first and final workshops I had attended of David’s, I was blessed with numerous opportunities to capture images of amazing artists on stage, all the while using and applying the knowledge I had learned from David. While his workshops took place at larger venues, there are times when concert photography took me to the smallest of venues. Sometimes even a small-town local bar.

On the evening of Friday the 13th, 2020 (the last bit of live music I got to shoot before the world shut down), a local band named ‘Youth Gone Wild’, a heavy metal cover band composed of teenagers, was scheduled to perform at a local bar in town. As I wanted to practice shooting in a small space, I reached out to them on their socials, and asked if they would mind me coming and capturing some shots from their show. They were pretty excited to have someone come and shoot who does it professionally. 

Shooting in small bars like this poses its challenges, lighting being the main one, then of course, the limited space in which to shoot. One major takeaway I learned from David was, as per the exposure triangle, to “set it and forget it”. Simply put, get your head out of the camera, and focus on what’s going on around you. Keep two of the three constant, so you’ll only need to change one setting throughout the performance. Assessing the light situation, I kept my ISO at the highest usable number of 6400. (I was shooting with a Canon 1Dx at the time) That way, it didn’t result in TOO much noise, and I could tweak it in post afterwards if necessary. My aperture was kept fairly wide, around f4.5, so the only thing I needed to adjust throughout the night was my shutter speed. Now, most of these kids in the band have significantly long hair, and like any respectable metal band does, they make their hair fly! It was at those points where I needed to amp up my shutter speed. 

In 2021, live music came back in full force, so I was able to get back out there and shoot at a variety of venues, ranging in size. One was at the venue where I’m currently the team photographer for an ECHL hockey team, and their very first concert at this arena was Toby Keith. I’m honored and privileged to have been able to capture shots from this show. 

Having done a few shows at Wooly’s, a small music venue in Des Moines, IA, I gained a connection to the promotional company for them, which was First Fleet Concerts. They happened to be sponsoring a two-day country music festival in the summer of 2021, Big Country Bash, located in St. Charles, IA. This was my opportunity to photograph my first music festival! It was all outdoors, and lasted from morning to night, so of course I needed to change my settings accordingly. Restrictions were different for each artist, and there were one or two who we didn’t have permission to photograph. 

I started learning more about reaching out to promoters, and sometimes even the artist’s management team to obtain access to photograph a show. It’s not always easy, and many times you won’t get a response, but that’s how the business works. Over the last few years, I’ve photographed concerts at arenas, small venues, amphitheatres, county fairs, and several performing arts halls, capturing images of Chicago, George Ducas, Gary Allan, REO Speedwagon, Three Dog Night, Train, and many more. Several of these images are on my socials. 

Gaining access to the pit, and photographing the artists on stage isn’t always obtainable. When you do have the privilege of securing a media pass for a show, treat that situation with the utmost respect. There are always stipulations when it comes to concert photography. You may be allowed only the first three songs from the pit (possibly only two), or even shooting from FOH (Front of House) only. Both the venues and artists have their restrictions. ALWAYS respect the artists, the house, and of course, the fans (since they’re the ones who paid money to see the show). Just go with the flow, get the shots in the allotted time, and be professional at all times no matter what.