Phoebe Fox is a photographer and videographer who specialises in live music, documenting tours, festivals, artworks and magazine features. Her clients include Blur, Madison Beer, Fontaines DC, NME, BBC Radio 1 amongst many others.
Phoebe Fox is a photographer and videographer who specialises in live music, documenting tours, festivals, artworks and magazine features. Her clients include Blur, Madison Beer, Fontaines DC, NME, BBC Radio 1 amongst many others.
Everyone has their own eye for an image, and developing that is important. Some photographers chase after their own ‘look’ for their entire career, some crack it and make their ‘look’ their entire career; but something I believe to be equally as important if you're intending on living off of photography, and in particular music or event photography, is the art of adaptation.
It seems obvious but, each client has a different checklist of what they need from you, and what you’re shooting needs to mirror that. If you’re shooting for an artist, they might give you full access to roam the stage, floor, and pit along with the full set, but only want close-ups. If you’re shooting for a magazine, you might only have the first three songs in the pit but need to get a variation of audience, artist, and band with nothing but red light. In both scenarios, you need to be able to apply your style and eye.
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Something that often surprises people, is that when a festival hires you, they want a 70/30 atmosphere shots-to-live shots ratio. They do need photos of the artist playing the set they've spent thousands on booking, but most artist agreements don't allow the festivals to promote their artist in association with the festival a year or so after the show date. What they legally can still use, are the atmosphere shots; people laughing and screaming and having fun with their mates. So applying to shoot for a festival with a portfolio full of only live music photography, even if it’s great, might not tick the box they’re after. This is why it's important to think about what your client wants.
Even if all your clients are musicians and you’re working directly for them, what you choose to photograph, the angles you gravitate towards, and the effects you apply in post-production will most likely change depending on other aesthetic variables such as if they're a metal band or a pop artist. Scrolling through an artist's Instagram feed at other live shots and looking at their most recent press images, are great ways of figuring out how they want to be portrayed to the public. After that, it’s up to you to create a bridge between how you would shoot them with full freedom, and how they want to be perceived.
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Having equipment that keeps your options open and works for both the money and creative jobs you're doing is the best route, especially if you're having to save up for that equipment whilst working. A 24-70mm 2.8 is my all-time favourite lens because it's wide enough to get crowd shots but also zooms in enough to capture portraits without distortion on the edges, it works for live and event photography. The Profoto A10 is a versatile speedlight as it’s lightweight and sits on the hotshoe for gigs, but it can connect with more powerful Profoto lights on location and studio shoots when you need an extra kick. Investing in the right equipment makes saying yes to last-minute things far easier than if you were having to constantly rent. In theory, it's the most progressive financially and creatively. For this reason, I chose a camera that does both video and photo well rather than a camera that just does stills extremely well. It's then in post-production that I see the most difference in the style I choose to create and that helps me to think about what I'd like to control more in my photos when I have the creative freedom and funds to do so.
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One method of ensuring cohesive results come from adaptive work is by making great preset grades to apply after the import. You can see your images edited in ways you wouldn’t have automatically thought to edit them and refine the tones you do and do not like. With the reassurance that your colours will be consistent, you can think more about the other variables in the image. The more you work in these different environments, the more crossover tricks you learn that can be applied in different scenarios. It gives you the confidence to try things outside of your comfort zone, solidifies how you like to approach each type of work you're known for and shapes what you see as a good image.
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