I am going to start this blog post with a warning that it might be a bit long because this was one of the greatest and most special concerts and photo pass experiences of my life.
This was not an ordinary concert for me. Night Riots is my all-time favorite band. I never used to have a favorite band, because I listened to and loved way too many to make a decision, but then Night Riots entered my life. To avoid this post becoming too long, I will summarize this by saying: I love their music more than words can describe, and more than that, they are a group of the sweetest and kindest people I have ever met in my life. The first time I ever met Travis Hawley and Nick Fotinakes was at Raw at The Rock, a pre-Fall Ball celebration back in 2016. That was also the first, and only, time in my life I have ever been starstruck. I have been a huge fan of theirs ever since I first heard "Contagious", and finally meeting them was just so randomly overwhelming to me. The fact that this was my one and only time ever being starstruck, even all these years later, just emphasizes to me how much they mean to me.
This concert was going to be my fifth time seeing them, and while I had photographed them in the past, I had never been lucky enough to photograph them from a photo pit. Years passed and I was learning more and more, and with the experience of photographing Warped Tour, I sent out an email and hoped for the best.
Two days later I saw that I had gotten an email. Was this a newsletter, or was it a reply? I opened my inbox and saw a new email from Night Riots and the preview started with the word "sure". I may or may not have screamed, then calmed down and clicked on the email. It was a casual email from Mikel letting me know I had gotten it and he'd see me at the show. This was special for a couple of reasons. First, the obvious, my favorite band had just given me a photo pass. Second, while this was going to be my third time in a photo pit, it was the first time my photo pass had been given to me by the band themselves. My first band-given photo pass being from my favorite band, was such an incredible and surreal thing to happen. I am forever thankful to Mikel for giving me that opportunity.
The concert was incredible, I swear each tour they somehow get better and better. It was great being able to photograph them with my professional camera, instead of just my small point-and-shoot or my phone. The last time I had been able to photograph their set with this camera was three years ago, not from a photo pit, and we had both grown so much since then. I took some of my favorite photos ever at this concert. Travis is always so much fun to photograph, but some other special moments happened during this concert. When Nick hovered over me playing his guitar, I could not believe my luck. Breathless, I took the two close-up photos I love below of him playing his guitar. Then near the end of the last song of their set, another unique moment happened. Mikel's bass stopped working at a crucial moment and so without hesitation, he dropped it to the side, ran behind Nick, wrapped his arms around him, and played his guitar. It was simultaneously badass and hilarious, especially Nick's reaction, and I am so glad I was able to capture the moment on camera. The photo of it below, of Nick leaning back with his hands behind his back while Mikel's arms are wrapped around him playing his guitar, is one of my all-time favorite photos. It may not be a technically perfect photo, but the story behind it is what makes it so special to me. Moments like that are the special moments I aim to capture in my concert photography. I try my best to capture the emotions and special moments of a concert for both the band and me to have as a souvenir to remember. This concert was one of the absolute best nights, and I owe it all to Mikel for giving me the opportunity to capture it all on camera.
BONUS UPDATE
March 2020
For my third tattoo, I decided to get something to symbolize my love for concert photography. I got a simple point-and-shoot camera based off of my first ever camera and my current point-and-shoot camera for when venues do not allow professional cameras. That camera is my trusty sidekick, it's there for me when my professional camera can't be. I also wanted to combine it with Night Riots because they are so special to me. As I talked about in this blog post, this photo pass was my third, but my first given to me by a band. This was my third tattoo, but my first decently sized one with shading. I thought those two things matching up (3rd one, but 1st special) was too good of a coincidence to ignore. I wanted to get a Night Riots tattoo, but I also didn't want a cliche or in-your-face band tattoo. So, I decided to reference Night Riots by adding "All For You" to my tattoo. "All For You" is my favorite song of theirs, and I still remember how happy I was when they started playing it live. I'll never forget talking to Travis after that concert about how happy I was that they played that song because they hadn't at the previous concerts I had been to. He told me that he was just as happy that they added it and that it had seemed to become a special song between them and the fans. I also wanted to add it to my tattoo because it worked so well with the concert photography part of the tattoo. I photograph concerts to try and preserve the emotions and special moments to keep those memories alive.
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