I was recently reading an article on theater photography and what makes one a great theater photographer. Turns out that a lot of photographers who practice theater shooting tend to shoot dress rehearsals and pose the scene to capture it and that is how the beautiful well light shots that gloss billboards and such come to be.
And then there is me who they call a live performance shooter.
I do it the hardest way possible with everything in motion, in real time, and for me many times without knowing where anyone is going to be. I have photographed so many performances blind coming in with no idea on lighting and staging that I am shooting by talent and camera mastery mixed with a handful of luck.
I love the work of theater photographers and can not stress enough how much I wish many of my shots were theirs even though I know in those live moments it is incredible hard to do. And yet I have gotten the highest praise of my photography career from my abilities to shoot a performer in any lighting live.
I have worked with 30 year career veterans and high school kids just putting on a show. I love the challenge of shooting a live show with no idea what to expect, I love working with all ranges of talent, and I truly love that my style of shooting is atypical.
