My Photography In Publications

A question that I am often asked is, “What do you do with your concert photography?” That is what prompted me to write this blog post, to answer that question, and show examples of where my photography has been used.

Over the last few years I have been fortunate to have my photography used in numerous publications. From cover photographs, to promotional posters, and full page news events in local magazines. It is always a thrill, and satisfying as an artist to see my work used in a variety of ways.

This trend began in early 2021, during the pandemic, when the Harris Center for the Arts, in Folsom, California, made the decision to have a concert in the parking lot of the theater, which had been closed for almost a year because of COVID. I asked to be allowed to photograph the event and was granted permission to do so, having had some prior experience photographing concerts at The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento. Playing that day, February 13, 2021, on an outdoor stage in the parking lot of the Harris Center was Tom Rigney and Flambeau, to a sold out crowd, seated inside their automobiles, in assigned parking spots.

Ever since that day, I have continued to photograph various performing arts events, and I can say without a doubt, it is the most challenging genre for me, and also the most satisfying! Challenging because it is so different to what I have done previously, which was mostly landscape photography in many National Parks, and other locations in North America, and Canada. I also had experienced photography in Iceland, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Argentina, and Chile. Satisfying because on a handful of occasions I have managed to capture the magic of a live performance, moments that are memorable, and extremely satisfying personally!

I enjoy concert photography because it allows me to combine two passions of mine, music and photography. The greatest difference between the two genres is landscape is done with a camera on a tripod, predictable, with lots of time to compose, expose correctly, and get the best shot possible. Photographing concerts on the other hand is shooting handheld, unpredictable, composing on the fly, dealing with mostly challenging, low light conditions, and looking to capture those special gestures of a performing artist on stage at their best, most expressive, and passionate self.

This image of Tom Rigney, captured towards the end of his great performance in the parking lot concert, was the beginning of my images being used in publications. Ironically, to this day, it is still my favorite concert shot, and it is also Tom’s favorite photograph of him performing, that he continues to use in social media sites to promote his many performances!

This successful and memorable concert at the Harris Center parking lot was written about in the local, “Style Magazine”, https://www.stylemg.com/ a full page article from their April 2021 publication. They used several images of mine shot at the concert, shown below:

In the Spring of 2020, in the middle of the worldwide COVID lockdown, I enrolled in some online adult education classes, through The Renaissance Society, that were conducted via Zoom. It was a safe, and very convenient way to spend time during this lockdown period, enrolling in classes that interested me, with attendance being in the convenience of my home. Here’s a brief description of this wonderful site, which I encourage you to visit:

Who is the Renaissance Society?

The Renaissance Society of Sacramento provides opportunities for participatory lifelong learning and community engagement for older adults. Our learning opportunities include seminars and other programs on widely varied subjects proposed and presented by our members. We also are involved with Sac State in many helping ways to provide more learning opportunities, such as providing scholarships or volunteering for many Sac State departments.

https://www.csus.edu/college/social-sciences-interdisciplinary-studies/renaissance-society/

I was recognized for my landscape photography in one of the classes I attended, and was encouraged to submit photographs that could be used in their upcoming semester’s, 2021 Fall Catalog. I worked with two people with a keen eye for good photography, Cindy and Allan, who had responsibility for the design of the catalog. The theme for this Fall 2021 Catalog was, “Patterns in Life and Nature,” and they chose an image for the cover that was an excellent fit, shown below.

This was a photograph that I made in Yosemite in early February, 2013, a frozen and frigid morning, when these three leaves caught my eye, highlighted and backlit with soft, early morning sunrise light. Never gave much credit for this capture, until it was used on the front cover of this publication!

My relationship with The Renaissance Society continued as a student, as well as my contributions of my photography to their new semester’s catalogs, which list in detail all of their educational offering per semester. This is the publication that all students used to read through, and choose which classes they would like to enrol in for that particular semester.

The theme for the following semester’s 2022 Spring Catalog was “Celebration”, and the photograph of Tom Rigney discussed above was chosen for the front cover. This image was used with the express permission of Tom Rigney. During a brief conversation with him at that time, he told me “I’ve literally had thousands of photographs taken of me playing music, and this is the first one that I’ve really liked”. High praise indeed!

The theme for the next semester’s 2022 Fall Catalog was “The Joy of Learning Together,” which was probably the most difficult to encapsulate in one image, but we jointly came up with the image below. I shot this in August 2013, with fireworks exploding against the iconic Sacramento Tower Bridge. These fireworks are a tradition, and are set off at the end of a home game for the The Sacramento River Cats, a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League, and the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants..

This black and white version of the same image was also used for a separate document for the same semester, as shown below.

The majority of my concert photography has been done at the Harris Center for the Arts, Folsom, California. I began my association with this theater as a Volunteer, at their first soft opening event on March 11, 2011. I have been a Volunteer ever since, as well as a Donor Member sometimes. Donor Members are a vital monetary support for the successful functioning of the theater, and every season there is a concerted drive for new, and the resigning of existing members.

The 2022-2023 season Membership Drive poster and banner utilized several images I had shot at the theater, and a designer came up with the following creations.

First, the poster design below:

And the banner design:

Earlier this year, in April 2023, I was commissioned to photograph the Folsom Lake Symphony. I photographed the full orchestra on stage at the Harris Center for the Arts, and their esteemed Music Director and Conductor, Peter Jaffee. Those images were used in their 2023-2024 marketing poster and upcoming events brochure, seen below.

First the poster design:

And the event brochure design:

And finally, at this time of writing June 7, 2023, my concert photography was used for the upcoming theater new season’s 2023-2024 Membership Drive at the Harris Center for the Arts.

The following is the poster design:

And the new season’s banner design:

Last but not least, there are many people who have made it possible, and paved the way for me to pursue my art. These people obtained the permissions necessary for me to photograph the various performing arts events, from which I have been able to create the many images used in the publications shown above. Thank you to Kathleen, Marc & Ila, Amber, and Luis, without your help none of the above would have been possible!