At just 21 years old, Sarah Rodriguez has made a household name for herself and her photography. Shooting as many shows as she can while living in NYC, Sarah has perfected her craft and works tirelessly to capture the essence of live music as well as people through her photos.
We had the pleasure of sitting down with Sarah to talk about her journey in photography and the music industry so far!
What made you want to pursue concert photography?
I’ve been playing around with photography ever since I was little! I was always that kid who brought their camera everywhere with them and just wanted to capture everything, even pointless things that I would eventually delete. I borrowed my mom’s camera a lot and did photo shoots with friends whenever I could, which sparked the interest even more, and my mom was generous enough to hand down her camera to me so I could have it in college! In the beginning of 2018 I figured out that I could combine my two favorite things (music and photography) and that photographing concerts was more attainable than I thought. From then on, it’s been my favorite thing to do!
Has it been difficult balancing school and your passion of concert photography?
I’ve personally never loved school, so mainly the thing that was difficult was wishing that I could fully focus my time on photography and that part of my career. Throughout college I was often able to make my schedule so that I only had classes a couple days out of the week, which helped. I’m almost completely done though, which I’m absolutely stoked about. ☺
Best advice you’ve ever gotten regarding photography?
This advice wasn’t given to me directly, but I’m always thinking about this comment- I’m pretty sure it was Adam Elmakias who mentioned it in one of his videos. He talked about how pretty much anyone could take a decent shot of a band member playing their instrument or just standing there onstage, so you always want to be thinking about what makes a photo unique and different from the hundreds of photos you see all the time of a musician in the same position, doing the same thing. So I always have that comment in the back of my mind and I think a lot about how I can make a photo look different than what I see a lot, whether it’s through the perspective of the photo when it’s being taken or afterwards during editing. I always try to portray the raw emotion of the artist as well and try to make it feel like you’re there in the room with them when you’re looking at my photos.
What’s a picture you’ve taken that you’re most proud of and why?
The photo that came to my mind was this one of Mandy Leed from Misterwives. This one is definitely one of my favorites I’ve taken mainly because of how different the original photo looked and how I fixed the photo to look exactly how I wanted it. I’m still constantly learning a lot about color corrections and camera calibrations and everything, but I’m pretty proud of this transformation! I’m glad I took a chance on this photo and didn’t delete it before I tried to fix it!
Who are some of your favorite artists to shoot? Do you have a favorite festival or show that you’ve shot?
Some of my top favorites are SWMRS, New Politics, Coin, and Boston Manor. Everyone in that list just puts on such an entertaining show and they’re constantly jumping around and going absolutely insane which makes it a fun challenge to get some good shots. Warped Tour was also incredibly fun to shoot and I miss it! I wish I could go back and photograph a lot more bands than I did.
What do you do to put a unique spin on your photos and make them stand out as yours?
I’ve recently found my own style and started to feel confident in how I edit my photos which is a nice feeling! I’ve started playing around with the blur effects on photoshop and blending them in different layers which makes the subject of the photo look like they have sort of an outer glow. It just gives the photo a little unique spin so it stands out more and makes the photo look more exciting! But who knows, maybe I’ll have a completely different style in a few months… we’ll see!
As a freelance artist, how important is social media to you and how have platforms such as Instagram/Twitter/Facebook helped with your career?
I honestly don’t know how I would’ve even started concert photography if it wasn’t for social media. I learned so much just from talking to people on Twitter or Instagram about how to get photo passes and start out as a concert photographer and I’ve connected with so many people even just over the past year because of social media. A lot of times you can find out about potential tour opportunities, you can get to know the other photographers in your area, you can book photo shoots with people…endless possibilities! Posting your work and showing it to a bunch of people is so important and you never know what could happen as a result of that! Plus, I’ve met a lot of my closest friends through Twitter which is wild.
Do you have any advice for young woman or anyone else who wants to pursue a career in concert photography?
I would say just join a music outlet that you really like (or start your own, get crazy) and start shooting as many shows as you can! Look at the venues near you and pick out a bunch of upcoming shows that you can request to shoot, even if it might not be the kind of music you like! Shoot as often as you can, challenge yourself to things you may not be comfortable with at first, and learn as much as you can about the technical side of photography and you’re golden.
Any plans for after you graduate?
If a band wants to take me on tour that would be ~fabulous~, but until that happens, I would love to work at a record label and learn a lot about the music industry because I’m still not positive about which department I’d like to work in at a label. I’m down to try anything, I just want to be surrounded by music!
Is there anything else you’d like to add to wrap things up?
I’m honestly honored that you thought of me for this interview- the fact that anyone even acknowledges my photos means a lot to me so thank you!!
To see more of Sarah’s work, purchase prints, or hire her for all of your photography needs, you can visit her website as well as follow her on Twitter and Instagram!
Awesome work Sarah!! I really enjoy your work!!!! Great perspective. Best of luck in your most promising future!!