Almost everyone I know is in a band. I love doing live band photography. But guess what? Guess what kind of photos I have most disliked doing? Band promo photos. I always felt like posing dudes wearing hoodies up against brick walls was just not my “thing.” I really seemed to struggle with this as a photographer, because I didn’t think I came out with the sorts of shots the bands wanted and which I was proud of. For the most part, I stopped agreeing to band promo photos a few years back. Things have changed this past year though.
I discovered I did have it in me to take photos that bands might use for promotional purposes, if the band/musicians were open to “Amanda Style” band photos. Those are the sorts of photos you’ll find in the new gallery devoted to photos of musicians. And are the types of photos I’ve been wanting to do of Andrew Bryant and his band for quite some time now. Which leads me to the reason for this post.
Andrew was a one man show for years. Him, his guitar, and a microphone. In the past year or so, he’s enlisted the talents of our mutual friends to begin playing live shows with him. I’m pleased as punch. Not only does this mean Andrew’s records are translating to live performance better than ever, I can take a wider variety of shots during those live performances, and it also means that I’m privy to hanging out while the band practices from time to time. Such was the case last week, before the boys in the band had a gig in St. Louis.
