Time and Place: More Than Just Blank Space

A view on Taylor Swift alone amidst thousands of fans.


? Photographs of concerts this big rarely represent the photographer’s experience. This photo is no different. For each artist that night, we were allowed to photograph two songs of each act from a weird, VIP fan-filled side-stage pit at the Georgia Dome. I usually try to photograph one opener to get a sense of where I’ll be shooting from, the light, interesting groups of fans near the stage, and, most importantly, making nice with fans if you’re actually going to be bumping elbows with them once The Taylor has arrived. After the opener, we’re ushered back to the media holding pen and wait for them to finish. This is an area that is probably even sadder than you’re imagining.
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? After 40 minutes, we’re ushered back into the Dome, buzzing rapidly now, it was about to happen. Time is limited, the crowd is twenty times louder, she struts as I attempt to predict the choreography to follow along, looking for a frame that is surprising, or powerful and essential.
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? I think this photo’s scope is powerful. I am rarely interested in showing what the fans see when they’re there, or what they’d think they wish they’d seen when they aren’t, and I think this photo goes deeper by giving us an honest sense of Taylor’s experience — out there alone, spotlit and glowing amid a vast galaxy of anonymous fans.
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? View the full gallery from the show here