Concert shots are tricky deal. It's so easy to take the cliche snapshot...and when i think about it, it's hard to do anything but. The artists are on stage, you're usually down below without a press pass. There's the de rigueur guitar strumming shot, the crazy drummer, the keyboardist looking pensive. We've seen it all so many times.

 

And, now please permit me a little aside. Not to sound like a back-in-the-day-things-were-better-person, but I have to say, back in the day, when certain things were better, only a special certain few were shooting shows. It was a bit more of a tricky activity, and once, I even got kicked out of the House of Blues for having a camera - appealing to Gwen Stefani to get the bouncer to let me go (she didn't, but let's not hold that against her)... Now, everyone and their third cousin has a digi cam or super phone at a show - and many seem to be a lot more into seeing what they shot, instead of seeing what they came to shoot.

 

BUT...I digress. This is all a precursor to my review of Owen Richards - a photographer whose concert shots are (finally) not run of the mill. There's a storm int all his shots. In a way the energy in all his pics remind me of the Van Gogh show from a few years back. There was this movement - even in his earliest paintings - that was consistent throughout his career. And that's the exact same trait I see here. Now Owen, don't let this get to your head. Just keep getting into the thick of things and do what you do... Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To view more of Owen Richards' Flickr stream, click here.