Even though it's unpaid, involves 2 hours of travelling into the city at night, leaves me sleep deprived and is damaging my ears... I absolutely love what I do.
I love the sound of the crowd when the lights dim and the background music fades out. It never fails to make me smile, even if I don't like or know anything about the band. The punters know their heroes are about to stand in front of them and belt out some of their favourite songs, songs they've connected with. Find me another situation where grown adults can scream and bounce up and down in pure excitement...
I love the anticipation before an encore. When the chanting and stomping come like the waves of the ocean in a storm.
I love the mayhem and chaos in the air about halfway through. I love standing above the crowd and watching the mosh. I love that moshpits can still exist.
I love when you hear THAT song, and you feel like its being played just for you. You've memorised every chord and now they're ripping through your body as you shout the lyrics back to the band.
I stand back and absorb it all. The familiar smell of sweat and beer fills me with nostalgia every time – one of the first things I noticed at my first concert was the smell. I feel right at home. Sometimes I'll chat to another photographer or a curious punter, but the conversation is often brought to an abrupt halt as the fans explode into one giant roar, and it's time to do my job. The feeling of stepping into a photo pit is a feeling that cannot be matched by anything else I've ever experienced. Sometimes it can feel quite surreal; you're going from a hot, cramped environment where every person is battling it out for a better view, to a cooler, spacious area reserved just for you. Then you look up as real rock stars are slinging guitars over their shoulders and greeting their adoring fans before they bust into the opening song, only making the crowd more boisterous.
Even though as time goes by I'm becoming more of a professional and I'm seeing the band members as subjects, not celebrities - with some bands I've photographed I've had to force myself to step back for a few seconds. I try to pick my favourite moment but it's a toss up between my first photo pit (during Nick Cave's performance of Into My Arms, no less) - it was a strange feeling stepping past the bouncer and in front of the crowd, it was kind of like at school when you had permission to go into the Staff Room. You'd tread so lightly and nervously, waiting to get into trouble, even though you knew you were allowed to be there... And then being so close to Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse) as he spat out the lyrics to Bury Me With It that according to my friends looking on from the balcony of The Palace, I was subjected to some actual spit (I'm an insane MM fan and this does not seem in any way disgusting to me!).
Three songs, no flash - they're the rules we're given, and we abide. We are artists working frantically to paint perfect pictures in the space of just three songs. When the bouncers motion for us to get out - usually a nod or by holding up three fingers, we all walk out in a line, the now sweaty and wide-eyed fans in the front row staring at our cameras as we do so. Some photographers leave, others find a quiet spot to sort through their shots then watch the rest of the band. Sometimes I become so fixated on my little LCD screen that I forget where I am.
When the night is over I trudge out of the venue, kicking beer bottles out of my path along the way, with thousands of sweaty and satisfied punters. I take my full memory card home and then spend hours hunched over at my laptop sorting, resizing, watermarking, saving, uploading, emailing. The satisfaction I feel seeing the finished product can only be beat by positive feedback from fans of my work. I swell with pride, something I’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing before. Then the wait begins to do it all over again...


Tomorrow I will post an update, it's been all go go go lately.