Photographer Profile: Laura Jennings

Probably the best thing about live music is how it combines our love of both music and looking at stuff. But what do you do when you missed the performance or have impaired long term memory functions?! Listen to cds and, yes, check out music photography...

We continue our series on local indie music photographers with Laura Jennings, who answered a few of our questions about all the stuff mentioned above and more and yet more still again.



How did you start taking photos? And doing music photography?

I started studying photography in high school and got into this competitive program at CalArts where we did traditional black & white and color shoot processing, etc.. Then in college I took this class where you create a slide show... We were sort of lacking in modern technology ... and so I put my slide show to music and that got me into the film program, which was actually my major.

However, I think I've always been into more of the type of filmmaking that is similar to photography -- like Orson Wells or Hitchcok or Fellini where there are really long shots, very stylized & iconic. One of my favorite films is essentially a slide show called La Jete (which is actually what 12 Monkeys is based on).

I fucking heart that film.

The focus on music began because I used to go & see a lot of my friends' bands and bought this little point & shoot camera and just being my personality, I began shooting constantly, almost obsessively. Because I was shooting so much, that lead to me buying a bigger and better camera, which allowed me to have more control and creative freedom.



What do you like about it most?

I'm actually less interested in purely documenting an event and more into creating something new out of it ... which leads to a lot of weird, unusual shots but I'm still learning and don't really care about making mistakes. I'm always interested in creating something memorable -- capturing a moment which can bring to life the whole evening or what a band means to me. I think that's really important because it's one of the ways that people remember an experience.

I also like to help out other creative people. I have a lot of friends who are all struggling to make something unique as opposed to working at some mundane job... and the more I can do to help it a long, the better.

What was the best time you ever had shooting a band or show?

One of the best times recently was probably shooting Spindrift, one of my favorite local bands. At this particular space, the bands play on a skateboading half-pipe. Somehow someone helped me up to one side of the half-pipe so I was above the band and there was a raucous crowd that was pretty out of control almost taking over the band.



It was a perfect place to be because I had a great vantage point but it was a little stupid too because I had too much to drink and was leaning out a too far for any sane person... Looking back on it, it probably wasn't a good idea. But I survived and have the shots to prove it.

So, where can people find your work?

They can go right here.



Send us a message here with the name of three of the five bands shown in these shots, if you're over 21, and enter a drawing to win two tickets for the sure-to-sell-out show w/ The Airborne Toxic Event, The Deadly Syndrome, and Castledoor at Spaceland tomorrow night.