One of the main questions I get about photography is how I got started in concert photography. So I decided to do a several part series on how I got started and who my favorite musicians are to photograph.

Part #2 – Natalie Grant

So really I should be inserting Crystal Lewis here, but I am having a hard time finding my old photos so I need to look some more. I first met Natalie in 2000. I met her manager at an event for Habitat for Humanity which I was shooting at. He wanted to set a meeting with me once he found out I did websites and photography. He had a new group coming out that needed a site (plus one). I went to the meeting and walked out with three clients and Natalie happened to be one.

One of the main questions I get about photography is how I got started in concert photography. So I decided to do a several part series on how I got started and who my favorite musicians are to photograph.

Part #1 – The beginning

My love for concert photography started in 1992. I was in 7th or 8th grade at the time and was deep into country music (I grew up in West Texas and country music was still somewhat good). In 1992 an artist named Ronna Reeves released her second album called “The More I Learn” and the song had me hooked. I then found out Ronna was also from West Texas and played the area often. I went to a show and met her then I ended up going to Fan Fair (yes it was still fan fair) in Nashville the summer after my 8th grade year. At fan fair I met Ronna again and she remembered me from the show in Odessa a few months earlier. I also met her parents and grandmother at fan fair. After that I went to every show in the area and I always had my camera with me. Pretty soon I was getting good shots. Ronna let me take pictures and encouraged me to get close, get on the stage, etc.

I would mail the photos to her fan club based in Midland, TX ( a few miles from my house) and her fan club manger (and godmother) would use my photos for the newsletters. It was awesome for me as a kid to have Ronna and her family to encourage me. No matter what show I went to they always made time to talk to me and have me backstage and when you are 13/14 that makes a huge difference. One time she even pulled me up on stage to sing with her and well…that did not go so well because I am horribly shy and I can’t sing!

Here are a few of my favorite albums from 2009. I thought 2009 was a bust as far as mainstream pop/rock radio, but there was loads of great music that most people never heard. Here are a few of my favorites.  Also each album is linked to amazon.com for mp3 instant download.

Please let me know if I have missed your favorite. I am always looking for new music!

Here is my list and in no certain order.

Regina Spektor – This is an amazing album! I have listened to Regina for years and by far this album blows her other work out the back door. I can not even begin to say musically and lyrically how awesome this album is. If you only buy one album from this list…this would be it!

Imogen Heap – When I first heard Frou Frou I loved the vocals and found out that it was this person named Imogen Heap so I bought her album I Megaphone and well it went from there! Speak For yourself was an amazing album that just got worn out in my playlists, I just could not get enough. Ellipse came at the perfect time to get played over and over and over and over…pure genius!

Away We Go Soundtrack – When I watched this movie a couple of months back I fell in love with the music. It is by a guy named Alexi Murdoch and somehow I had missed his music all these years. Most of the songs on this album are actually many years old, but they are just amazing. There were so many days that I put on my ear phones and listened to his music and the world seemed like a better place.