YOUR STORY | Best of 2024
- SHOWGRAPHERS
- Jan 30
- 8 min read
Welcome to "Your Story", an exciting series where the spotlight is on you, our vibrant community! In this series, we invite you to share your unique experiences, heartfelt anecdotes, and personal reflections on a variety of compelling topics. This months topic was "Show us your favorite photo from 2024" and here are they!
One of my favorite privileges of concert photography is capturing the close-up details of the artist that fans at the show might not be able to see. The styling components—makeup, costume, accessories, hair—completes the world and aesthetic the artist hopes to cultivate with their music. My favorite photo I took in 2024 is this image of Conan Gray at Found Heaven On Tour because it captures so many intricate and intentional details in his look. The feelings of movement and glistening colors remind me of a painting, and I am so proud of the final result.
I had really heartwarming reactions to my photography last year. And I'm thankful for all of it. But I'm always so grateful when my photos get recognition from the artist himself/herself. That's why I chose a photo of Emily Roberts from The Last Dinner Party. The Last Dinner Party is one of my recent favorite bands and Emily appreciated my photos and shared them on her profile. Their concert back in November in Prague was definitely breathtaking and I'm so grateful that I had a chance to capture it.
My name is Fenna and I would like to tell a story about my favorite concert photo of 2024.
I took this photo of the band STONE at a small Dutch festival last Summer. I had just started with concert photography. I got a photo pass for this festival because I was taking photos of friends of mine who were also playing in a band at this festival. I had seen that STONE was playing too at this festival and really wanted to take photos of them.
So I took photos of my friend's band and went to the main stage to see if I could go backstage with my photo pass, aaaand... It worked! I got to photograph the whole performance of STONE and it was the best!
I looked at my photos and saw this photo of the singer Finn and absolutely loved it. I love the blue and yellow colour, the facial expression of Finn and the composition. It still is one of my favorite photos I ever took.
Since this small festival I found my passion for music, photography and art and still love doing it as much as possible.
While photographing Wallows during their UK leg of the 'Model' tour, lead singer Dylan Minette knelt down on stage, and I happened to be perfectly positioned to snap the shot!
This is one of my favourite photos of 2024, because something about it conveys a sense of euphoria. The vivid colours in the shot seem to pulse with the energy of the moment, syncing seamlessly with the upbeat vibe of "Got Me Started." - a song I play quite frequently! It holds even more meaning for me because it was taken during a time when I was feeling uncertain about my skills as a photographer. It’s one of my most successful photos of the year, and every time I look at it, it reminds me to keep pushing forward, even when things feel tough.
Last year I was on vacation in Japan. As a fan of Japanese music, I was looking for concerts that will take place during my stay in Japan. There was a music festival in Tokyo, and the band Akaikurage performed in one of the clubs. The day before I wrote them a message on Instagram that I would like to take photos of them. They were very happy and allowed me to take photos, even though there was a total ban on taking photos during the festival. The show was crazy. During the concert I took turns taking pictures of the band on stage and jumping with the audience to the songs coming from stage. This is one of the best memories from 2024 and my favorite photo.
Photo is of Cults at Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas, TX.
Here’s my favourite photo from 2024. The amazing Fever Ray were performing at Albert Hall in Manchester. I found out on the day that I’m shooting the show. I started expecting more with the close ups last year. Trying to make it look like it’s a portrait without posing. I love using colours in my work ( especially any pink shades). I was so happy with the outcome.
I believe we all have that one artist who first inspired us to pick up a camera, and for me, that artist is James Blake.
It all started in 2022 when I saw him live in Berlin and snapped a few photos on my old iPhone—long before I got serious about photography. Fast forward to the Reeperbahn Festival in 2023, where my photography journey truly began. The day after the festival, I managed to capture some great point-and-shoot pictures of James Blake from the barricade at his show in Berlin. Back then, I didn’t have a real camera, nor did I know how to get a photo pass.
A year later, everything came full circle. At Melt Festival 2024, I had the chance to properly photograph his set, and that’s when I took the picture above. I’d always wanted to experiment with reflections and effect lenses, as they felt like the perfect way to visually represent both him and his music. This time, I challenged myself to go beyond the classic James Blake piano shot and create something unique that reflected my style and his sound.
It’s one of my favorite memories and a true full-circle moment of 2024.
I think that I have abstractly reflected a visual reflection of the band's music with this shot that emerged with the magic of the stage lights and the magic touch of double exposure at the Büyük Ev Ablukada concert that I shot in July.
In this band with two main soloists, the intensity of the colors and the intertwined silhouettes of the figures reveal my feelings while listening to the band’s songs.
I took this shot while shooting for Dear Seattle in Brisbane last month, it was in a pretty dark venue and I of course had to act quickly to capture the start of a crowd-surfer. As soon as my flash went off I realised it was my friend Louis from another band Eyesite!
It's funny how close knit the music community is in Australia, and moments like these remind me why I love being able to capture them.
One of my most unforgettable moments of 2024 was being in just the right spot to capture girl in red crowdsurf during her high energy set at Shaky Knees. I love how she's moving across the sea of hands and phones with the iconic Shaky Knees sign in the background.
I was on stage shooting for NOFX when Fletcher from Pennywise smashed Jay Bentley's bass guitar at the final NOFX show in San Pedro, California on Sunday October 6 2024.
It was the first Parkway Drive Festival "Park Waves Festival" in Dresden and it was planned that 6 bands should play.
I wallked through the city and the festival ground at noon and it was over 30 degrees hot. The festival ground is a Oper Air Cinema and the stage seemed to be there all summer.
In the the afternoon it was still hot but after the first two bands had played they had to stop everything because of a thunderstorm.
After 30 minutes of storm the backdrop was nearly gone, the stage was full of water and some equitment was wet as well. After some discussions and planning from the bands and crews they decided to cancel two bands and let the last two play earlier, because the weather report said one more storm was coming.
Because Parkway Drive dropped their own backdrop with the logo halfway through the set, there was no back cover at all.
And so the very unusual but also beautiful photo from 2024 was created. :)
While shooting british rockers The Darkness, I saw the frontman Justin Hawkins coming up to the front of the ramp, so I decided to switch my 70-200 to 15 mm fisheye. Took a few shots of him warming up the crowd, then he looked directly at me, said “give me that camera” and grabbed it. This photograph was the last I captured before he took my camera on stage with him! It seems he wanted to take a few pictures of the crowd, but managed to turn on video and film it!
GoPro was attached to the camera so I got all this captured in one of my reels. Such a wonderful moment, one I’ll remember forever.
My favorite photo of 2024 is of Adam Lazzara from Taking Back Sunday at Bonnaroo. As a longtime fan, finally getting to photograph their high-energy set was a dream, especially as the last band of the weekend. Music photography is all about trusting your gut and capturing the magic before it happens, and I was lucky to be in the perfect spot for this unforgettable shot.
The moment I took this photo I was relieved - "I got it! That's it! That's what I wanted!". But the Yungblud is a performer who gives so much on stage that photo ideas are unquestionable. The opportunity to photograph an artist like that in my home country is as rare as a golden apple. I'm happy that that happened even if it is a once in a blue moon event. It was fun, I was in awe of their sound and presence. Glad I didn't fail that hectic three songs. In the end, this photo got me first place in a music photography competition in my region. Thanks Yungblud.
This photo was taken during the concert of the Belgian singer : Shay.
I was in the crowd so the mission was tough, but I really wanted to capture A moment showing a different side of her personality. She often shows a very stern and cold attitude, that is part of her brand, to be a "jolie garce" which is basically to be a "bad bitch". So seeing her smile and being so happy to be on stage and sharing the moment with her fans make this photo even more beautiful. Also, the colors are perfect, with a kind of battle between the red and the blue.
In november I got the oppertunity to photograph one of my favourite bands of all time called Di-Rect. I am a fan of their music for years now. When I arrives at the venue the Tourmanager let me in. He was very kind and shows me the stage and venue where they would perform that evening. And I got the change to explore the venue after to find the best photograph spots. When the show started I was soo excited. To hear all their songs live. I had the best night ever. And tried out different spots to photograph. I was also akkoord to photograph on the stage what was so amazing! This was one of my most special Photography gigs for sure.
I choosed this photo because I really like the face expressionist of the singers. And because the colors really pop. I am so proud of this one!
This is a photo of Manchester band, The Slates. I pick this one in particular as I started my own music magazine in 2024 and this was the cover of the first ever print issue. It will forever hold a massive place in my heart and it was the perfect photo. This was taken in September at Castlefield Bowl in Manchester.
