The Right Idea

Michael Weintrob says that one of the keys to his success is the ability to be in the right place at the right time. There’s a bit more to it. In ten-plus years of photographing rock and jazz musicians, he’s usually managed to arrive at that crossroads of right time and right place with exactly the right idea.

Performance photography is about overcoming obstacles.
“First there’s the tactical,” Michael says. “I walk into the room, scan where I need to be to get my shots, try to figure out the sight lines and how to avoid the speaker towers and the mic stands and the amps.” Then he tries to make himself invisible. “I never get in the way, never get in the performer’s face. The great shots are the moments when the music is happening and I’m not announcing myself.”

Then there’s the technical, and that’s basic: know your stuff; know what you want. “I’m not a machine gunner,” Michael says. “I go to full fps rapid fire only when fast action is happening. I like to set single-frame advance and pick and choose to get one or two telling shots. If I’m on tour with a band I’ll get to know their moves, their set, their peak moments; other times, it’s watch, wait and anticipate. And that’s the fun of it...the unpredictability, the need to think on my feet, really fast.”

The third part is instinctual: “Knowing when to talk to people to get access, to get a better position. Knowing the right time to take the shot, and trusting my instincts to tell me when to leave the area I’m in and go to another place for the shot that will be happening.”

And all of it’s aimed at one thing: “I want people to see the music in the image.”