Drive By Truckers at the 40 Watt

Patterson Hood, lead singer for the Drive By Truckers, joins kids from the Camp Amped band from Nuci's Space on stage as they play the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Ga on Thurs. Jan 14, 2010. Playing with the Camp Amped band were Hunter Hulsey on keyboard, left, Nick Brown, drums, Phil Carpenter, guitar, singer Shelby Moss and Gabriella Mejias playing bass.

The Drive By Truckers recently performed 3 sold-out shows at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Ga.





The original plan was to shoot them and then put it on the front page of our paper. Naturally this didn't happen. I'm annoyed by this is because 1 - this is what i told their publicist 2 - My friend Julie and I busted our rears to get me into the show and to get it for the front and 3 - I sprained my knee during the show.



I take pride in being able to get really good concert photos and I think i did a pretty decent job. I had never heard the Truckers before but they were nice. Patterson Hood and I talked about The Afghan Whigs.



Ava Hood, daughter of Drive By Truckers front-man Patterson Hood, skates on a scooter during a sound-check on Friday, Jan. 15, 2010 at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Ga.

Basically i approach concert/performance photography with how the light is. A place like the 40 Watt, there are a lot of things to frame and compose with. There are christmas lights on the ceiling, there are mirrors on the wall and there are weird beads and balls hanging over the bar. Whether it works or not, i still try to use any of these to compose a photo with.

Beyond that I love the long shot with the crowd as I want them in the photo to add the context. Anyone can photograph a guy on stage with the guitar under stage lights. Its what you do with that light and the contextual elements that makes it a @#$% photo.