Personal Best vol.1 | Flemming Bo Jensen

23.11.2018

Written by... Flemming Bo Jensen

Je vis pour la musique. Je suis également photographe professionnel de musique, mais je suis avant tout un passionné de musique, en particulier de musique électronique. Je photographie la musique avant tout parce que j'aime cet art et que je veux faire partie de ce monde magique. J'ai assisté à des spectacles musicaux pendant plus de 12 ans avant même d'apporter un appareil photo pour la première fois. Mon premier choix professionnel serait d'être l'artiste qui joue sur scène. Je ne peux pas, mais j'ai découvert que je pouvais le photographier et faire partie du monde de la musique de cette façon. Je peux documenter la musique et mettre mon amour de la musique dans les images. C'est ce que je fais depuis plus de 6 ans maintenant.

Je suis officiellement un X-Photographer FUJIFILM du Danemark et je photographie exclusivement avec les appareils et les objectifs de la série FUJIFILM X depuis 2012. Je suis également photographe officiel de Red Bull et membre de l'agence Gonzales Photo. Je suis l'auteur de l'ebook GET IN THE LOOP – How To Make Great Music Images. Parmi mes clients figurent Red Bull Music, Roskilde Festival, Above & Beyond, Strøm Festival, Kölsch, Bjørn Svin, The Minds of 99.

Pouvoir combiner musique et la photographie est un rêve devenu réalité. Montez le son jusqu'à 11. - Révez à voix haute.

This picture is one of my personal favorites, and it recently won Best Music Photo of 2018 in GAFFA Magazine’s annual Photo Awards. GAFFA is Scandinavia’s biggest music magazine and I am incredibly thrilled to win their popular photo competition and to share the story behind the picture.

The artist in the picture is the American hip-hop star Anderson .Paak. I am a big fan of his music, and had been looking forward to this concert. It was the closing concert at this year’s Roskilde Festival in Denmark, one of the largest music festivals in the world. Anderson’s performance was an explosion of funk and energy that made the 20,000 people in the crowd completely forget any idea of tiredness after a full week of music. He did not stand still for even a second and I kept shooting non-stop for the 3 songs we were allowed to be in the photographers’ pit next to the stage.

I immediately noticed this particular picture when was looking through them on my laptop back at the press center. I pumped my fist and shouted out “woohoo, I nailed this one”. There are so many things I like about this. I love how he is floating towards the crowd like a superhero, I love the light that shines under his knee, I love that the crowd is in the frame and that both the background and the stage is clean from any distractions.

I always aim for getting all the major elements in my composition when possible, the artist, the light, the stage and the crowd. I want to tell the story of the concert in one picture but to do this can be super difficult! I want to capture a great moment that the crowd reacts to, and get this in great light, and without speakers or microphone stands or someone else in the way of your picture. There are just so many elements you cannot control and it all happens in a split second.

The picture is made with the X-T2 and the stage is tall so I had to hold the X-T2 over my head and use the tilt-screen to get the crowd in my frame. I used my favorite lens, the XF16mmF1.4, which rarely leaves my camera. I absolutely love the 16mm lens and it is perfect for my style of music photography. I can get really close and still fit in the crowd. The F1.4 aperture allows me to make pictures in dark concerts and nightclubs. I was fortunate to receive a prototype of the XF16mmF1.4 for testing back in March 2015, and since then I have made more than 50% of my music pictures with it! I am still using that same prototype 16mm lens and it works perfectly.

In this picture almost everything I try to achieve with my music pictures came together for me. This is very rare, but to have it happen and have the picture win GAFFA’s Best Music Photo of the Year inspires me greatly to keep working hard and keep trying to make pictures like this.

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