Interview with Long Island Photographer Joelle Andres
I recently sent some questions over to Long Island photographer Joelle Andres.
If you know me, you know I’m obsessed with music photography. What I like about Joelle’s band portraits are that they all have a distinct intent—no two are alike. And having seen way too many “serious-tough-guy-arms-crossed” group photos, it’s nice to see images that have a quirky humor to them.
Her photographs are well-known within the ska community having shot bands such as Reel Big Fish, Big D and the Kids Table, and Catch 22 for her 2009 Ska Calendar, and having captured numerous live shots over the years as well.
1. How long have you been taking photos? How were you introduced to photography?
I’ve been taking photos ever since I was little. I was always interested in any sort of mechanics of the cameras, and broke many back in the day when I didn’t know any better (Hell, I still break some now and then when I want to try and modify them!) My dad was a big electronics guy and he was the one who taught me how everything worked, and he bought me my first camera!
Around the time High School Football Heroes formed they started to need photos, and asked me to take them. I was dating one of the members and ended up shooting 99% of their shows, and which point other bands took notice to me and started commissioning me as well. That’s pretty much how I got started shooting bands.
2. I especially like your rich, colorful band portraits. Do the bands usually come to you with a general idea of what they want or do they leave the ideas up to you?
I LOVE when bands come to me with ideas. Truthfully though, most people have no idea what they want, or they want something ridiculous, and I have to talk them out of it. I remember once someone showed me a black and white picture of the Chris from Dashboard Confessional with a staircase leading downward photoshopped through his chest. He told me he wanted me to shoot a photo of him the same way. Another time I broke my leg and a band wanted me to get on top of a car DURING A SNOW STORM and shoot them from above so they could look like The Specials on their self titled album. Needless to say, neither of these ideas ever came to fruition.
A lot of times, in fact MOST of the time, bands come to me for ideas. Sometimes they email me pictures that they like, so I can get an idea of what they’re looking for. I also keep notebooks full of ideas, drawings, and clippings from magazines that I liked, and flip through that trying to picture the band in the different scenarios. Though, despite everything you plan, a lot of times the best photos are the ones that were improvised at the shoot. You can’t plan for that!
Any advice you can give photographers when it comes to shooting band portraits?
Jeez, advice? I definitely think you need to have a better element to your photo other than “a bunch of dudes standing there”. If that IS your tactic, you better be phenomenal with lighting and make it look interesting, which isn’t easy to do. Also, I notice a lot of newer photographers just bring bands to “places”, like a field, a lake, a park… etc. That’s nice if you’re taking portraits, but pictures of bands are about the BANDS, not about the locations where you brought them. So much focus shouldn’t be on WHERE the photos are taken. Also, if you have to, touch them up. Many shots I see are dark and murky, you can fix that easily with the touch of a button and make the picture look a thousand times better. Last of all, one of my biggest pet peeves is people who email me and tell me their pictures are bad because they use an older camera. If I told you how many picture on my site are taken with the FIRST edition of the Canon Digital Rebel (6.3 megapixels), you’d be shocked. It’s got little to do with what camera you’re using. If you can’t shoot properly with your camera, what makes you think you can do better with a more expensive one?
3. What has been your favorite assignment?
Probably the Ska Calendar for 2009. I got to work with a lot of friends that I made over the years, ranging from shows to college, to put it all together. Plus setting up each scene for the shoots was so pretty fun. I drove all the way up to Boston with my friend Bridget sitting shotgun carving “Big D & the Kids Table” into pumpkins for October. The Flaming Tsunamis forgot they were doing the “July” shoot and Andy (singer) showed up in a long sleeved shirt and pants. We punished him by wearing a coat & gloves for the entire time we shot on the beach in about 80 degrees! I also had to lie to the cops that day and say I had a permit to be taking photos there! I also got to meet Kevin Gunther’s (Catch 22) mom at the December shoot. Aside from all the great memories, I was really happy with the finished product (here I will plug www.mikekrol.com for designing the calendar!)
4. What’s next for you photography-wise? Any projects in the works?
Lately I’ve been working on getting a new site up. Mine’s out dated and Jeff Rosenstock from Bomb the Music Industry is working on a new one for me that should be up in the coming months. Aside from that I’ve been actually doing a lot of wedding work lately. I was fortunate enough to be asked to shoot Pat from Catch 22’s wedding, and Shawn Flores (who works with Big D, Mighty Mighy Bosstones, & Dropkick Murphys). This past year Obi from Westbound Train got married and I was their photographer as well. I never thought wedding photography was something I’d be interested in, but the more I do it, the more I enjoy it (especially when you’re friends are the ones getting married!)
View more of Joelle’s work here!
