The clock on the gigantic stadium screen moves closer to midnight, with a countdown driving towards zero. Lesley Gore’s bellowing of her song "You Don’t Own Me" gets louder and more urgent, as does the anticipation of more than 60,000 fans. As any seasoned Swiftie knows from dutifully studying the Eras Tour from TikToks, the clock’s appearance and Gore’s song signal that Taylor Swift’s appearance on the tour stage is imminent.
If you're a concert photographer, the clock and song also signal that it's time to make sure your batteries are charged, your lens is pointed to the spot where Swift will pop out of the stage in a few moments, and your finger is prepped to go a million miles a second on the shutter-release for the next few minutes.
The countdown hits zero. The clock strikes midnight.
And suddenly, emerging from under gigantic multicolored petals, there she is. The stadium explodes.
GO.
Click. Click. Click.
I’m a creative director and photographer who has had the pleasure of photographing Taylor Swift twice before, at her 1989 and Reputation concert tours. And luckily, I had the opportunity to be just among a handful of credentialed media photographers at one of her recent shows on the Eras Tour in Santa Clara, California. And while I may be a Taylor Swift concert veteran (having also attended the Speak Now and Red tours as a fan), nothing could prepare me for the task of visually capturing the momentous Eras Tour, which will surely go down as one of the most iconic musical tours of our generation.
So how did I end up here, smashed against the stage barriers at Levi’s Stadium, a few feet from Swift with two gigantic DSLR cameras around my neck and a 600mm lens the size of my arm?
In the words of a favorite Taylor Swift song, I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this.
The thing about concert photography is that there’s no linear path or step-by-step guide to get you the gig. The journey typically starts with you investing in your equipment, attending local shows and creating a portfolio while offering pro bono photos to whichever band, venue or management team will take them. If you’re lucky, you’ll connect with a media outlet who will start sending you out to shows to cover in your city. Or, you’ll make a personal connection with an artist or manager who will then hire you to photograph their tour.
My path panned out a little differently. I started out assisting a music video director in Los Angeles over a decade ago. During my time with him, that director ended up directing two music videos for Swift, an absolute jackpot of a situation for a wide-eyed twenty-something Swift fan new to the entertainment business. Working on those sets sparked the initial idea that one day I could be a director and be a powerful voice behind the camera to create and capture imagery of artists I loved, including Swift. I spent the next few years building my career in entertainment, media and tech. This included stints on the content team at Facebook, and then as one of the earliest employees at MasterClass.com where, as producer and then creative director, I helped expand the platform from just five videos to the over 150 videos it has today.
But back to concert photography. In the middle of that career journey, I kept alive the dream born on Swift’s music video set. I built up the courage to connect with and photograph the band Cage the Elephant, whose management team I had met while on the set of a music video. Those shoots (on my own time and self-financed) built up my confidence, skillset and portfolio to eventually pitch to Swift’s team to be a media photographer for the 1989 World Tour for Entertainment Tonight. After the rush of adrenaline of photographing that spectacle, and the accompanying photos now forever in my portfolio, I was, of course, instantly hooked.
My preparation for the Eras Tour was slightly different, though, than for the other tours I have photographed. I needed to rent specialty telephotos lenses due to the size of Taylor’s unprecedented stage in a football stadium. I studied her movements across the large Eras Tour stages ahead of time on TikTok so I could be prepared when she got close or would turn her back towards me (I didn’t have this study advantage when photographing her in 2014 or 2018). And of course, I had to find unique angles and moments in the set so my photos could stand out and not be seen as the same as other photographers' shots from her previous shows. Swift is, of course, one of the most photographed women in the world.
I look back in awe at the photos I took that night, for several reasons. One, I see how lucky I am to be living in a time where the biggest concert of our generation will be that of a young woman putting her full femininity and strength unabashedly on display, and not the usual hit list of dad bands you always hear of dominating the box office for tours (I’m looking at you, U2). Second, I'm in awe that I was able to be there to witness Swift's concert in the front row, not just as a participant but as a photographer (and one of the few female and POC photographers) capturing this moment in time.
My life has taken a lot of twists and turns, and nothing has been guaranteed to me in my career, having grown up as a woman of color in a lower-income neighborhood in Canada. To include my photos of the biggest global entertainment entities of the year as part of my professional journey is a pinch-me moment, and I hope there are plenty more to come.
