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Hangout Festival: The Photographers Perspective

We started the morning ready to give you a traditional review of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Trey Anastasio and Stevie Wonder, but the course of the days events made that impossible. Instead of giving you half baked coverage, I thought we’d take a different approach instead, giving you a day in the life of a concert photographer. I pull double time as reviewer and photojournalist so sometimes getting the photos detracts from my ability to give you the quality review you deserve. It’s a balancing act that we do our best with at ConcertTour, yet admittedly, at times, we drop the ball.

Now first off, I’m sure the concert photographer looks either glamorous or slightly annoying if you’ve muscled your way up to the front. Our job is to capture the magic as it evolves onstage during the first three songs then we before we are ushered out of the photo pit. Usually, we try to move around to catch the artist and various band members from alternate angles so you get the true feel of the show. Security tolerates us while recognizing we have a job to do.

Most artists are happy to play to the photographers just as they do the fans. Some will blatantly preen to the camera like they are an attention starved eight year old, while others simply don’t care for the camera’s watchful eye chronicling their every movement, wrinkle and that Big Mac they had for lunch. Normally, the artists recognize that you are there to make them look good as very few concert photographers are there to take the gotcha photos you see plastered on the tabloids. At the end of the day, we are fans of the music just like the people in the front row. We get a charge being that close to such talent, and we want to capture that greatness in an image for the world to see.

With that said, my day started in a hurried rush over to the Chevrolet stage to photograph Galactic by their 2:15 start time. They are a New Orleans jazz-funk band that play off of one another and have a lot of fun in the process. Saxophonist Ben Ellman and the trombone player probably had the best chemistry of the group, easily giving and taking of the groove. We got an unexpected treat in the form of Living Colour front man Corey Glover. Glover slid right into the groove like he was a part of the family. Of my brief interlude with Glover and the boys of Galatic, they performed a fun set with a talented group of guys.

My three songs was up, so it was time to head down to the lawn chairs for a slight rest before hitting the Hangout stage for Ellie Goulding. The British songstress is a sensation in Europe, but just beginning to make her mark in America with her first single “Lights.” I’d heard the camera loves Ellie, and man they weren’t lying. Those blonde locks and beautiful face will sucker the lens every time. She had a drum beside the microphone that she would occasionally wail on (more for effect than actual percussive might) and her hair would flail about in violent rhythm.

I have to say I’m not a huge fan of her recorded work. Its strong EDM slant and pop driven feel isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but she comes off as more genuine live. Her songs really hit at the heart of her talent, and seem to pull back the covers on who she really is as an artist. She had some of the best photos of the groups at Hangout Fest, as well as one of the most enjoyable sets musically. I’d go see Ms. Goulding again in a heartbeat. I’d also love to ask her what she sees in Skrillex. It boggles my feeble mind.

Since Ellie was rubbing me the right way, I stayed planted in the sand for most of her set before cutting out a few minutes early to make the trek back across the festival grounds for Imagine Dragons. These guys are really making a lot of hay right now with their latest single, “It’s Time.” As I made my approach, there was a huge drum that rested smack dab center-stage beside lead singer Dan Reynolds’ microphone. Once he hit the stage, he began to pound away full throttle. He was a bundle of energy waiting to explode, and explode he did onstage. Reynolds had broken his finger not long before Hangout, and he was jumping up and down off the stage like he was hopped up on speed. The band’s manic energy just oozed out over the Hangout crowd.

I caught a few songs before playing ping pong ball once again to the Hangout stage for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Karen O is a sight to behold. All I can really say about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is they are weird. Not bad mind you, but weird. I think they would take that remark as a supreme compliment. This isn’t a knock on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but they’re just not my thing. I see them as an acquired taste, and given enough exposure maybe they’d convert me into a believer, but at Hangout, I was busy eying the upcoming bands.

Here is where the day gets a little dicey. As I said, we’d originally planned to cover YYY, Trey Anastasio and Stevie Wonder. Last night at Tom Petty, they only allowed thirty photographers into the pit. We didn’t know this ahead of time so those conscientious few got to shoot from the best vantage point and the rest of us were left scrambling.

Jumping through hoops for the headliners at festivals has unfortunately become the norm of late. It’s a strange phenomenon since 99 out of 100 bands that play in any other festival slot have virtually no restrictions past the standard first three songs, no flash. As soon as they bump up to headlining status though, all sorts of odd ball restrictions go into effect.

So, in speaking with the Hangout press rep, she implied not everyone would be getting in to the photo pit for Stevie Wonder and that his manager may be approving only certain outlets to shoot. With that in mind, I went across the beach to shoot Trey Anastastio on the Chevrolet stage to then make the mad dash back to the Hangout stage to queue up for Stevie.

I’d never seen Anastasio as part of Phish or his own group. His prowess on the guitar is, of course, legendary and his band Phish has morphed into the Grateful Dead of this generation. He’s almost a mythical figure within that community, and I wanted to see him in action. The stage security told us we would have fifteen minutes to photograph since his songs could string on for crazy intervals. Sure enough, his opener stretched almost the full fifteen minutes, and we were out. He was cool to photograph as he jammed out, but I couldn’t help but notice he seemed transfixed on something off on the horizon. His gaze almost never left it. Maybe it was some hot thing in a bikini. Who knows?

So I missed basically all of Trey Anastasio to get the chance to shoot Stevie Wonder. Are you beginning to see why the reviewer in me was beginning to bristle at the situation? I made it to the Chevrolet stage in record time and took my place as twelfth in line. So, for the two hours before Stevie Wonder was to hit the stage, instead of watching Trey bastardize the guitar, I was left shooting the shit with the other photographers wondering what Wonder’s management had in store for us.

As the hours past, more photographers made the pilgrimage, queuing up at the end of the line. Before it was said and done there would be around fifty photographers lined up. The Hangout press rep came over to tell us only thirty photographers would shoot. Ten had already been pre-approved (festival photographers, large local press outlets, etc) so the rest of us were set to battle over the remaining slots.

They had thirty of us sign releases for the twenty spots and said they would send them over to Stevie’s rep who would approve twenty. Our outlet was left on the cutting room floor ten minutes before Stevie Wonder was set to take the stage. After the two hour wait and missing out on the wonder that was Anastasio, it was a draining revelation.

It’s hard not to look back on the wasted potential of our day. Many festivals will let you know in the early goings what direction the headliners are taking, concerning coverage, so you can plan your schedule accordingly. We don’t place blame on the festival since they are largely just conduits for the artist’s management, but it is a common courtesy that was absent that affected a lot of individuals who were here to do a job.

Exhausted from the day, I hung out for about an hour before calling it. From the subset I heard, Stevie did his reputation right even if he leaned suspiciously heavy on covers in the early going. Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” and Bob Marley’s “Is This Love” populated three of the first five songs.

So our Sunday at Hangout Festival yielded a lot of great pictures (keep scrolling to the slideshow below), but not a lot of probing words about the headliners to complement them. My hope, in spelling out a day in the life of a concert photographer, is to show you the reality of our profession. It may look like the perfect gig, but it’s a lot of time on your feet, working in crowded spaces with artists who may or may not want you there. The job is challenging, a lot of fun, and a lot of work.

Just as a side note to the dozen or so people who always ask me to take a picture of them with their smartphone. The picture I take isn’t going to be any better than if the drunken frat boy standing next to you snapped it. Smartphones take crappy pictures, and me holding it isn’t going to fix that. Now me taking your picture with my high dollar setup, will get you what you’re looking for. Show some interest in the photographer’s publication, and most will be happy to oblige you with a great shot to remember your time at Hangout.

I hope everyone had a fantastic time at Hangout Festival 2013. We saw a ton of great bands over the weekend and loved the Gulf Shores festival setup. Check-in with us later in the week as we give you a look at Hangout Festival in pictures as well as touch on some of the bands who may have been neglected in our coverage thus far.

[slideshow gallery_id=”19″]

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