Stage and Live Performance Music Photography

Name: Enid Farber
Title of Learning: Stage and Live Performance Music Photography
Credits Requested: 10

How and What I Learned

I am requesting 10 advanced level credits in “Stage and Live Performance Music Photography”. Since 1979 I have mastered the specific art of capturing musical moments onstage in very challenging conditions that was learned mostly through trial and error. The mastery of the magical, musical moment in low light conditions involves a great deal of discipline, patience and sensitivity and good manners. It required me to learn the limits of film and processing with both black and white and color negative film and slides. As part of my documentation I am submitting prints, tear sheets and written testimony from other industry professionals who are very familiar with my work.
My history in the music industry began while I was living in Sarasota, Florida in 1979. A friend who worked as a jazz disc jockey took me to a concert in Tampa, Florida. I had just been gifted with my first professional level camera and I was intent on learning how to use it without any formal training. My love of music and photography propelled me to be a quick study. The concert featured a legendary jazz saxophonist, Phil Woods and my first live performance photos were shot with a Nikon FM camera, 50mm 1.4 lens and Kodak Tri-X film. I was not familiar with the possibility of “pushing” the film to optimize my cameras capabilities in the low light until later on. I also did not have the accurate lens for capturing close images of the musicians onstage and quickly realized that was a necessity. Sooner than later I acquired a 180mm 2.8 fixed lens one of the essential tools in a performance photographer’s arsenal.
In addition to the right lens, appropriate film and suitable ISO (film speed), I quickly learned one of the most important protocols of documenting in these settings–that being the required and good etiquette needed to be respectful of both musicians and audience. For instance, on many occasions, I have shot alongside other photographers, some amateur fans, others general press and the rest music photojournalists, whose normal domains are not the stage, and who would use motor drives and shoot incessantly without pause, hesitation or consideration of those around them. This method is appropriate and warranted for sports photography or in large arenas where the music is loud and raucous but not for most jazz clubs or smaller venues. The first thing that a student of music photography should do is turn off or take off their motor drive, a rule that I established early on.
Although the “decisive moment” can be as fleeting as any in sports, I quickly realized that there would be many more of those during an average 45 minute set and shooting as fast and furiously as I could, without being a distraction, earned me good will in the long run. A good example is my 1991 photograph of Mario Bauza surrounded by dancers during a concert celebrating his 80th birthday, entitled, “Mario Bauza Birthday Bash”. That precise moment will never be repeated yet I did not have to keep shooting in hyper speed in order to nail the shot, I just had to have the right instincts to fire the camera in an instant. Another such example is my 1993 photo of Tito Puente entitled, “Heavenly Tito”, which I only discovered on a contact sheet buried in my files, after he died.
The key to capturing an amazing expression and gesture, like in my photo of Jaki Byard at The Visions Festival in 1998, is to be acutely alert and attuned to the music without losing concentration. The ability to constantly scan the scene directly and peripherally is a gift and a skill. My forte has been the ability to do that as well as compose discriminately, react passionately, and remain respectful to the artists and the fans, all at once; lessons best learned in the field.
In my 30 years of performance photography, I have learned how to navigate and negotiate tight spaces and find angles that captured the best side of the artist onstage. Dramatizing the scene and finding the exquisite strands of light on a musician and/or instrument is aptly represented in my 1981 photo of Peter Tosh at the Agora Ballroom in Atlanta, Georgia. This approach was imperative to my success at capturing images that were technically proficient as well as full of character and emotion.
Simultaneously respecting the artist and the audience and the rules of the venue has allowed me to continue my lifelong documentation of performers. Dressing appropriately according to where I was shooting has been a key component which is another facet of the decorum of music photography. But more importantly has been the understanding of when it is appropriate to use a flash and realizing that in most circumstances it is not only taboo but unnecessary for executing a much more aesthetically pleasing photograph. I was privileged to photograph presidential candidate Bill Clinton in his first campaign in 1991 on the trail and during a fundraiser at Club Tatou in Manhattan where he played the saxophone. Most of the press photographers used a flash when the stage lighting was excellent and abundant. My experience as a music photographer yielded a much more natural looking image as evidenced in “Timing is Everything”, Bill Clinton, 1991.
Staying until the very end and never placing the camera far from the eye have been important self imposed rules. Some of the greatest shots that capture history are caught after the musicians have silenced their instruments and then proceed to the edge of the stage to take their bows. This photo op is exemplified by two iconic images, my 1983 photograph of Ray Charles, entitled “Jumpin’ for Jazz”, the blind musician standing up without assistance and virtually leaping, and my 1989 photograph of Cecil Taylor and Max Roach entitled, “Ten Year Reunion”, an image similar to the Marsalis “Brotherly Love” photo mentioned below, that portrays the very diverse personalities of the artists in an instant. Both photos were shot at the end of the concerts when other photographers had scurried off long before the “fat lady sang”.
The quiet contemplative moments between notes, such as my 1983 photograph of brothers Wynton and Branford Marsalis entitled, “Brotherly Love” and my 1993 sound check photograph of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts entitled “From One Charlie”, have produced some of the most effective images and iconic portrait studies. An agile and swift trigger finger on the shutter of my camera, my instrument, has enabled me to create those striking photographs.
These methods that I have outlined are some of the lingering lessons that I have learned from the special conditions where I have created my lifelong body of work. Had I chosen to devote my time and energy to the wilderness, capturing images of the abundant creatures of nature, I would have an entirely different vocabulary. The value in being self-taught and learning on the job, is that I can impart my direct wisdom to others who might follow in my footsteps. Much of the techniques can be taught in a classroom but only to a certain degree. Nothing replaces the actual implementation of these techniques especially when you cannot replicate the conditions anywhere but in the field. I am proud of the fact that my classroom was in and out of a bag and that I learned by performing these exercises instead of just imagining. Those who have the opportunity to be taught by great mentors and artists and then learn the rest by doing are very fortunate. I did not have that opportunity and so I did the best with what I had and am happy to share those results in my quest for credits by evaluation.

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