On March 12th 2005 i bought my first ever SLR camera, a Canon 350D, and that night photographed my first gig as an accredited photographer in the photo pit. It was in Austin, Texas and the band was Kings of Leon.
I’d been shooting live shows for over a year before that, but always from the crowd on my point-and-shoot pocket camera – such as the time i squeezed my way to the front at the Big Day Out 2004 to snap Kings of Leon.
That night in Austin I wasn’t expecting to photograph the show from the pit, i just chanced on a sympathetic tour manager who gave me a photo pass after security wouldn’t let me in the venue with my new camera.
I shot Kings of Leon again last night in Sydney and it made me reflect on how much has changed in that relatively short time.
From being a complete amateur snapper never published in print, to having my work in music press across the globe, speaking at conferences and now working as Chief Photographer for an internationally recognised magazine is pretty wild.
I don’t really know how it happened; it wasn’t a conscious goal, just a series of fortunate events.
Like a band writing songs and touring hard to new audiences i think with photography it’s about taking lots of photos, honing your craft and getting published wherever you can. For a band it might be a thrill having a song on the radio, for me it’s having a photo in a magazine.
Once that happens regularly enough you can start to make a living out of your passion, and that’s really quite satisfying.
Very nice write up there Dan (who were you shooting for last night btw?) – what a fast ride you’ve had (and an ever growing group of fans to take along for the journey :))!
i was hoping you would post your photos soon! sitting at the back in a chair is certainly not as fun as shooting it down the front. the downfall of being with an agency i spose. these look wonderful anyhow!
You sure have come a long way mate! Much deserved too! Happy New Year!
Love stories like that… and how abstract life events can seem at times.
You have a great eye though, so well deserved!
That is seriously the coolest thing I have ever heard. Well you started telling me it the other night… so I guess I would put it in the read category. Good work. Great work.
Congratulations for your Photoblog Awards 2007 nomination as winner in Best Oceanian Photoblog. Bravo !!!
great read….didn’t realise you had that much published…just spent the last hour or so reading past blogs 🙂
great to read about success that comes to those which are worthy
*cough* I am still waiting for mine to come around 😛
hey dan, we all could use some good fortune!…and a little serendipity! i hope we’ll have more of both this year.
cheers!
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Nice story Dan: I remember that night well!
Quite a ride, Mr. Boud. I had similar thoughts when my first photo appeared in Rolling Stone recently. Its amazing to think that exact KOL show was my first to shoot as well. Its all about Kings of Leon.
Serious congrats. Keep up the great work, my man.
-Mark
Its interesting to see how far the KOL have come since then also. Thanks for inspiring us lazy lot to get on with it and get out there.
Nice. What makes it even better is that you always seem (on this blog) genuine, grateful and modest and don’t have any ‘attitude’. Also, that you are willing to share ideas and encourage/promote other photographers – so rare in the art world! Don’t go changin’…
Great read Dan!
Very inspirational 🙂
Came across your photos on flickr which now brings me to here. i love your work and i feel very inspired to go buy myself a slr and get snapping!
Did you have any lessons or all self taught? Can you recommend where i could go for lessons?
Amazing story and inspirational indeed.
totally well deserved =]
My god! To think I knew you when you were shooting pics out of your teeny consumer digital camera – the kind us mere non-photographer type mortals shoot with. And yet you were still managing to take awesome pics with that.
You’ve done really well for yourself and deserve every bit of cred 🙂
You’re amazing Dan. In such a short period of time you’ve taken so many great photos. I wish I had your skill and good fortune. Good luck in the future.