Stories Behind The Lens: FLUME
Music photography is a newer passion of mine. I’ve been doing it for only a few short years, as oppose to the photographers I look up to who have been doing it for ages. This newfound hobby of mine however, came to me as a happy accident. So, let’s back it up to Fall of 2015.
Justin Bieber.
Sometime in November of 2015, Justin released his fourth studio album entitled “Purpose,” and as a grown woman (with no shame) who has Bieber Fever, you can bet that I was extremely excited when I was given the chance to cover his album release show at the Staples Center. At the time, I was a Promotions Assistant for 97.1 AMP Radio in Los Angeles. In the midst of passing out stickers and giving away free AMP merchandise at a Chevron, or AT&T, I helped out the digital department whenever I could.
The social media manager at the time had another event to be at, which left me with this: a Canon T3i DSLR camera, an all-access pass, and the rush of a media pit. I didn’t know much about live photography, and the best photos I took were actually from my iPhone 4, but that was the start wanting to hone the craft of music photography.During the summer of 2016, AMP Radio’s Topless Summer Pool Parties were in full swing. The photographer who normally helped capture moments from our 3-part summer series couldn’t come to the event, and instead, the promotions coordinator asked me -- me.
So here we are.
Flume is an amazing producer and DJ, so getting the opportunity to photograph him, was an insane blessing. My “PLUR-vibes, electronic babygirl” alter ego that only emerged during raves had its heart pumping the day of the Flume pool party. The stage was pretty tall and high up, so I had to stand on the tips of my toes to get decent photos. At 5’0”, my short stature can sometimes be an obstacle, but nothing I can’t get over. I was able to walk away with a few decent photos for the AMP website and social platforms.
At this time, I didn’t know about shooting in RAW. I shot in JPEG and used Photoshop to edit my photos, as oppose to Lightroom — nothing wrong with Photoshop of course, I just wished I knew Lightroom at the time because of the amount of photos I needed to edit. After shooting Flume, I again felt a rush of excitement; a rush of need… a need to learn more. After shooting Flume, I also felt pride. I was so incredibly proud of myself. The photos weren’t the greatest and the editing could’ve gone much better, but DAMN, was I proud of what I had done.
Growing up in a traditional Filipino home had both its pros and cons. And one of those cons, is not always getting the support when choosing a certain career path. A career in entertainment; a career in being creative initiated so many arguments within the household I grew up in. Endless arguments with my parents made me feel so defeated — it felt like I couldn’t win.
But I had to, and I did.
One foot after the other; day by day; one battle at a time. I won by going to college and majoring in something I chose, not what my parents wanted. I won by getting a gig at the radio station as my first job after graduating university. It was part time, minimum wage, and I got sh*t for it by my parents, but I still had won. And with Flume — I won then too.
This isn’t my best photography, and it certainly isn’t the most compelling piece of work, but it’s still something I can look at be f*cking proud of; something I can think about and say: “I did that.”