UNDEREXPOSED is an exhibition featuring some of the best established and emerging music photographers in Brisbane, bringing together a selection of unique images capturing the visual side of Brisbane’s aural history, be it local bands or international acts. To get views from both sides of the lens, RAVE’s JUSTIN EDWARDS spoke to Time Off photographer STEPHEN BOOTH, who is exhibiting at UnderExposed; and to Screamfeeder’s TIM STEWARD, who will be playing one of the live sessions at the gallery space during the three-week exhibition.

The old cliché is that a picture is worth a thousand words, but when it comes to music photography a thousand words could easily be a huge under-estimation; these are images that can define a musician for the ages, can add to the myth and mystique of a band, can make icons of people who have long since shuffled off this mortal coil. The story of popular music is overflowing with examples of photos of musicians which are as much a part of the story as the music itself; from Jim Marshall’s image of Johnny Cash’s middle finger message to the San Quentin Prison Governor, to Pennie Smith’s cover photo for The Clash’s London Calling album of Paul Simonon destroying his bass guitar, named the best rock and roll photograph of all time by the UK’s Q magazine, who commented that “It captures the ultimate rock’n’roll moment - total loss of control.”

The synergy of image together with music – and the influence that it has had on him – is not lost on Tim Steward. “I got the Pennie Smith book where she went with The Clash on tour and also started reading rock books where it talked about mythologizing, about how hard bands worked to present a certain sort of look,” he recalls. “ But there were bands like Husker Du who went for the whole no image thing and at that influential time in our lives we would just latch onto that”.  Similarly, Stephen Booth started becoming more aware of the impact of music photography at a time when grunge was taking over the world. “Charles Petersen was definitely an influence with the Sub Pop black and white live stuff,” relates Booth. “The interesting thing was that they promoted a lot of their bands with live photos as opposed to staged photos and I really liked that idea and I’ve always tried to sell people on the idea of doing that, although almost no one goes for it. But using the live performance photos as a means to publicise the act shows you what they’re like in flight”.

Although there is a loss of artistic control in the live environment, with the photographers documenting what is happening right in front of them, Steward isn’t put off by being confronted by a front row of photographers in front of him when he takes to the stage. “I think there’s a way greater percentage of good shots from a live photo session than there is in a studio one,” he says. “You’re doing your thing, and sure you might be pulling a stupid face in some, but there’s action, movement and focus on what you’re doing”. Neither is he bothered by having his every move recorded for Web 2.0 posterity via mobile phones being held aloft throughout the show.  “I usually see them,” he notes. “I’m seeing people with their phones, cameras and whatever, but it’s good, they’re doing me a favour, they’re publicising me, it’s brilliant. But it’s weird. I went and saw The Streets and there were all these kids videoing it and I’m jumping around and they’re like ‘Well, we’ll watch it later’ and I’m like ‘Dude, it’s right there!’”

Booth’s experience has shown him that there are two sides to how a band might react to having their photo taken. “I think some bands do find it invasive, but then some bands really play up to it. The Grates with the big stage show, the props and the lights – the whole thing is brilliant.  They’re a really visual band, whereas some aren’t. I took photos of The Kills at V Festival and the whole set they were asking for the lights to be turned downed more and more until they were in darkness by the end of it. They looked great, they had all these really beautiful old guitars, but they were wrecking it by having the lights turned down until the point when you were like ‘Where are they?’”

Although ‘first three songs, no flash’ has historically been an industry standard for large shows, there have been increasing restrictions over the last decade, with a differing set of rules depending on the act: The Killers ban all photographers from the photo pit apart from their own personal photographer, The Cure let you shoot from either side but not the middle (lest Robert Smith’s chin(s) become too obvious), Beyonce gives you 60 seconds from right back at the mixing desk.  Depressingly there are plenty of more examples. Steward’s response is straight to the point.  “It’s just silly,” he says. “It’s weird with the whole three songs thing because the band is only going to look better and better as they get more sweaty and more into it. 

“I think the internet has been a factor in that,” Booth counters, “because everyone in the crowd has got a camera and they do try and restrict it more now because once a photo is taken ‘Boom!’ it’s on someone’s Facebook or MySpace, it’s distributed before you’ve even seen it, which wouldn’t have happened before.”  However, he also considers the more serious downside that the restrictions bring and the largest irritant to any ambitious photographer who wants to get the best shots that they can. “Lots of those classic images, like The Clash cover, they weren’t shot in the first three songs. Almost all those things were shot by people who were either touring with bands or had full set access from the side of stage, just really open access, and that’s where you get these really amazing photos. Jimi [Hendrix] didn’t set fire to his guitar at the start, because then he would have been a bit stuffed!”

In addition to the restrictions on photographing live shows, the tremors being felt through the whole music industry are also affecting the business of music photography. “Years ago I would sell to a lot more magazines than I do now, [but] a lot of those magazines don’t exist anymore because print magazines are generally having a hard time,” explains Booth. “You used to know that a magazine would buy a photo and then they’d pay you for it and run it and maybe next issue they’d but another one off you. You just can’t rely on that anymore”.

But even in the current climate, he remains upbeat about the future of music photography. “One good still image is in some ways more valuable than a three minute video on YouTube, because that’s so transient, it goes by, whereas a still image can still have a lot of power to it, ‘Bang! There it is. What do you think about that? There it is in a frame, in a box’. I think that’s something still worth trying to do and it’ll stay that way for a while. People appreciate things more or less over time, that just happens, but I think it’s still a valid thing to do”. 

Steward is equally upbeat. “Having it documented well is still better than just having it documented. One good photo is worth more than a hundred mobile phone photos. And bands will always want a good photographer to take photos”.

UNDEREXPOSED runs Apr 17 to May 4 at Joshua Levi Gallery (4 Ipswich Road, Woolloongabba), open free to the public daily from 10am. UnderExposed will also be playing host to bands every Friday and Saturday during the exhibition, with Black Market Rhythm Co, Drawn From Bees, Tim Loydell & The Deckchairs, Banawurun and Mikki Ross playing Friday Apr 17; then SCREAMFEEDER, My Fiction, Grand Atlantic, The Cairos, Parlour Style, Steve Grady and Chloe Tully playing Saturday Apr 18; with The Bloodpoets, Impossible Odds Crew, Villains Of Wilhelm and heaps more playing following weekends. The exhibition will also be hosting a Music Photography Forum for veterans, enthusiasts and beginners alike, with guest speakers Australian music photography legend Tony Mott and Time Out photographer Daniel Boud on Saturday Apr 18. For a complete event schedule, check out www.underexposed.com.au. Tickets are available now at www.shop.fasterlouder.com.au and on the door. UnderExposed organisers are encouraging budding music photographers to bring along their camera, but please FIRST THREE SONGS, NO FLASH, as is the rule.

Comments (2)

2. Written by DENIS SEMCHENKO, on 18-04-2009 11:43 I was there and it rocked! Was nice to finally meet you man

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