Chuck Espinoza Photography

Music and photography. Other than my family, these are the two biggest influences in my life. I walked in to the Who Shot Rock & Roll exhibit at the Annenberg today and felt the power and weight of those two influences on my life.

I’ve grown up with music and photography.  Music more than anything helps me tell time. As a kid whose father was in the Army we moved a lot. I can’t remember 8th grade without trying to figure out where I lived. When I think of where I lived I can remember the music in my life.  8th and 9th Grade was Anchorage Alaska. I was introduced to new wave and was coming off my introduction to heavy metal. I remember being introduced to The Cure, Violent Fems, INXS, REM, and The Beastie Boys. This is also the time in my life when I picked up my first camera.

The amazing thing about the exhibit was that in a lot of cases the photos weren’t made of rock gods and superstars. They were made by kids of other kids. Friends taking photos of their friends that happened to be in a band. In most of the images in the exhibit many of those friends went on to rock & roll greatness.

Don’t take my word for it. Go see it. Now. It closes in four days.

As I looked at the photos and read stories about how the photos were made I started to reflect on my music photography. Sometimes shooting music is great. It’s exciting, it’s loud, it’s fun. Other times it’s all wrong; they handcuff us together so that it makes it hard to get original and great images.

This was shot at the Bamboozle Left Festival a couple years ago. Here’s the reality of shooting most shows; you get to shoot the first three songs and then they kick you out. So basically there are a handful of us looking up the nostrils of the artist trying to get something cool and unique.

The key to so many of the great images showcased at the exhibit is access. Either being friends with the band or the band having enough faith in your work and vision that they trust you. They need to know that you aren’t going to make them look bad. In the case of this shot of Darrin Pfeiffer, the drummer from Goldfinger, I had access. I was on the stage a few feet away. Why did I have access? I know the lead singer.

Here’s another shot I love and it was made because I had access. Ever been to the Viper Room? It’s the size of a large walk-in closet.  This shot of Run Run Run was made during a private showcase the band was putting on for a record exec. That shot would have been impossible to make had their been a crowd.

So many musicians I’ve shot know a lot about marketing and they want to look a certain way in their photos. With the case of The Josephine Collective they were in town living their dream, recording an album, looking cool was the farthest thing in their head. The producer invited me to his home where they were recording. As much as a Bel Air mansion screams success it doesn’t register well with a pop-punk band from Tennessee. So while all around me is a gorgeous pool and backyard I laid down on the ground and had them huddle up. There was no request for smiles or to say cheese. They (we) were just having fun.

Most recently I was contacted by The Rossetti quartet. They are a string quartet that has played around the world. They hired me to take shots that wouldn’t look like they were a “string quartet”.  I treated them as I would any other band. I wanted them to look cohesive and cool.