The Photographer’s Guide to the Festival

The other week, I had the opportunity to photograph Buku Music + Arts Festival 2016. It was very different from what I thought and I think I walked away with some tips that could save you a broken back, a lot of steps, and tons of stress.

So Buku is a festival that features a combination of EDM, rap, and even some alternative-pop kind of stuff. It’s interesting to say the least. I just want to deviate and clarify some things that I did not believe going into the music festival:

1.  Music festival girls are real.

Yeah, they are. I always saw pictures online and heard things about them, but never really believed it. Well, I have seen and now I believe.

2.  Drugs are a thing, but not to the extent that most people think.

I saw a few people smoke some stuff, but that was it. What they did before showing up to Buku is none of my business though, so I do not know in that regard.

(Yeah, that’s it. That is all I have to say on those matters. Now, back to the real topic.)

So, there are a lot of things that I want to cover and I believe that an appropriate title to this list would be “The Buku Photographer’s Guide to the Festival.”

Here it is: The Buku Photographer’s Guide to the Festival

1. Bring a small towel and a small microfiber cleaning cloth.

These things will save your life. There are so many people trying to get to places, it’s inevitable that you will have something cover your front element. It’s an easy and quick practice (if your towels are in an accessible place). Use the towel to soak up most of whatever is on the front of your lens then buff it nice and clean with the microfiber cloth. When I was at the A$AP Ferg stage, he took it upon himself to throw water all over the crowd, but most of it landed all over the photographers at the foot of the stage… including me. I was screwed. I was panicking. I didn’t know what to do, but one of the photographers I met earlier that day had a microfiber cloth, so I used my shirt as a towel and completed the process stated above with the borrowed microfiber cloth. It’s how I got the shot above of Ferg bowing to the crowd. So, thank you Javi. You da real MVP.

2.   Whatever memory you think is sufficient, double it.

This is not necessary and I don’t want you to go out and spend all of your money on memory cards. Let me clarify by stating an actual number of gigabytes that you should have: 128. That’s right, Only 128. I went to the festival with only 40 gigabytes thinking that it would be enough. “Just be careful with your shots,” they said. “It’ll be fun,” they said. Let me tell you the truth. You have very little time in the pit to get the shot you want. Things happen sporadically and unpredictably. You are going to just take a bunch of frames because you do not have the opportunity to just stand there and hope that the shot you have in mind just falls into place. If you’re a professional and have gone to hundreds of festivals then, by all means, stand there and get the shot you want. My thought process is to take bracket the scene, take a bunch of photos, and choose the one I like best. Henri Cartier-Bresson did it. Erik Kim does it. Don’t think that to be professional you have to do it all in one frame. Take a lot of photographs of the scene and make sure you have the memory to back it up. With my files running an average of about 35 megabytes a frame, You could easily get 3,600 frames. I was reaching my 1,100 limit even with deleting images in my spare time (and this is not fun). So for me, 128 would be enough. You may differ. Cater to your own shooting style and be happy.

3.   Backpacks. Backpacks. Backpacks. Backpacks. Backpacks. Backpacks. Backpa- you get it.

Live by them ladies and gentlemen. Sure, a shoulder back would be nimble, fast, quick and easy to get to, but after the first three hours, your back will FEEL IT (yes, I am so passionate about this, it deserved an all-caps bold styling). Besides, backpacks are more configurable and you can fit a lot more in them. I used a 5.11 backpack, but anything will do. Here’s a quick tip: if you have a camera bag with removable padding, you can put the padding in your backpack to make it a camera bag.

4.  When you want a picture, just ask. They want you to take their picture.

There is one thing that I loved about the festival: the people. There are just so many different kinds of people there! So many opportunities, you have to take them! I found that even when the moment was too short to ask, when people saw a camera, they were ready anyway. There are a couple of things you should remember though. 1. Remember to double check your exposure settings. There was times where I threw the shot because of bad exposure. Don’t let this happen to you. 2. Bracket the scene. Take more than one picture. Take it from different angles. Have them stand a certain way. Have them do other things. If you only take one, you may find that you’re not happy with it and you could’ve had  a better chance for a keeper if you just took multiple exposures.

5.  Get to the photo pit early for big performances.

The crowd is crazy. Some guy almost punched me in the face because I was trying to squeeze my way past him to get to the photo pit. Get there early, keep you face looking good, and keep the crowd from hating photographers.

Thanks for reading my opinionated (and late) article on shooting Buku, or any music festival for that matter. Here are a couple more shots from the festival. 

Getting Ready for BUKU!

BUKU is right around the corner and by that I mean that it is only a few hours away! This will be the first time that I will get special privileges when it comes to photographing something and I am so excited! I have thought a lot about how I am going to photograph this event and I just want to share with you my BUKU kit and why I chose what I chose.

I am Now a Photographer for The Odyssey, an Online Editorial

So, I am proud to announce that I am now a photographer for The Odyssey. It is an online editorial that is written by millennials. On their website, The Odyssey states that they “[were] founded at Indiana University by two students, Evan Burns and Adrian France, who felt that news and content were either too generic or highly politicized.” This drove them to create a platform that could possibly flip the world of publication to involve more of today’s generation, the millennials.

I hope that this will allow me to explore different kinds of photography and to give me more perspectives to see the world through. I’m excited for the possibilities and to share those experiences with you.

Stay tuned and sign up for my email list to get updates on posts, projects, and more!

Meet Dylan Achor

Dylan is a 14 year old 8th grader.

Dylan’s family is german and he doesn’t mind one bit.

When he grows up, he wants to be an archaeologist and will be “digging up T-Rexes” in no time. When I asked why he wanted to be an archaeologist, he told me that he played the game Fossil Fighters (all three of them) and found it so fun, he wanted to do it in real life.

In his school, Dylan is part of the Robotics team and is a recipient of the Principal’s Award.

Aside from being a student and doing extracurricular activities, Dylan is involved with the Boy Scouts. He has 23 badges and his least favorite to acquire was his environmental sciences badge. “We were in the woods in Mississippi alone writing down things about nature in notebooks everyday for like 5 days striaght,” Dylan said. This was only a year ago. He is excited to eventually work for his Eagle Requirement badges.

When asked what he cares about the most he said, “My friends. Especially the ones I hang out with.” He mentioned that he talks his friend, William, everyday and invited me to meet him.

I met Dylan at Ruppel Academy for Advanced Studies.

A Photograph That Made Me Realize What an Amazing Thing Photography Is

Photography is really an amazing thing. It’s a life style more than anything and the camera is the tool used to live out that life style.

Photography is a beautiful thing. It makes precious moments last forever and freezes this moment in time that cant possibly be measured.

Photography is a privilege. It is a privilege that I am able to photograph people, but it is also my responsibility to tell their story and learn from them opening themselves up to me by letting me take their photograph.

Photography is a social thing. It allows me to connect with people I wouldn’t have otherwise and make a real human connection with them.

Don’t Get Discouraged

I am a college student. I go to the University of New Orleans and am completing my pre-requisites to apply to LSUHSC School of Nursing. So, when trying to do a lot of things at once (writing posts for The Ether Place, working on photo projects, trying to maintain my grades), it gets hard to put in the time that I want to work on my photo projects.

Meet Blaze Lassiegne

The first thing you may notice about Blaze is his first name. It’s not a nickname (I asked). He got his name by his mother and father combining the two names they wanted. His mother wanted Blake while his father wanted Zach, so they put both of them together to make Blaze.

If you couldn’t tell by his last name, Blaze is french.

Blaze is currently an undergrad student studying kinesiology to become a physical trainer. He is enrolled in online courses.

Blaze decided that he wanted to become a physical trainer after having one himself. He fell in love with it then, so decided to pursue that as a career.

I met Blaze at Young Life College in New Orleans.

A Few Project Ideas in My Head

Photo projects are a great thing to pursue. They give you direction, goals, and gives you an opportunity to develop your eye and find your style. Most projects are made to be long-term, but it can be on whatever you want and be however long you want. Here area few projects that I’ve been thinking about. I know you probably don’t care as this post is mainly for me to remember some ideas.

My Kit

Every photographer has their kit, their bag, their system. Some may use a plethora of lenses with two or more camera bodies with a handful of flash units. Some photographers may opt for a high-end point-and-shoot with one strobe. I use one camera and one lens because it’s all I have. Remember one thing: it’s not the camera, it’s the photographer.

Documenting a Rally and How I Did It

About a week ago, I was assigned by my editors to document a protest for higher education. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I walked away a better photographer with a little bit more technical knowledge.

For those of you that do not live in Louisiana, the State is in an almost billion dollar budget deficit and the Legislation is thinking about cutting the budget for higher education to supplement some of the money they need to come up with. Prior to this rally, they already made cuts on three separate occasions within the last two semesters. The students are tired of losing the funding they thought they had and many seniors may not be able to graduate because of the cuts that have already been made.