SonicShooter features the music/concert photography of Cary Liao, a contributing photographer for Alternative Press magazine, based in New Jersey. Cary’s other photographic work has resulted in several noteworthy clients, including National Geographic Adventure, Popular Photography, United Parcel Service (UPS), and the Maine Office of Tourism.
I’m available for event shooting, portraiture, and pretty much anything else involving a camera, Atlantic Puffins, or French toast. Contact me to set something up!
July 2010 Alternative Press (Ryan Hunter of Envy on the Coast)
February 2009 Alternative Press (Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakat of All Time Low)
October 2008 Alternative Press (Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes)
Equipment
Below is a list of my most commonly-used concert photography gear.
Hey, Love your stuff. I wanted to ask how do you manage to get all the photo passes etc.
I take loads of shots of local bands and local gigs, some which get featured in the local paper. I just wondered what you recommend I should do next? in terms of shooting more famous bands.
Thanks, Emily. Alternative Press handles most of my passes for me. Do bigger bands play in your local area? In other words, would the local paper use your footage from bigger shows? If so, you should have them secure passes for you, or ask if you can request passes (shooting for the paper).
I just wanted to thank you for posting the type of equipment you use for concert photography. It’s always nice to double check what the professional standard is. In terms of editing software, do you work just with Photoshop or do you also use Lightroom? (and if you’re bored, please check out my work and throw me a critique…I’m trying to break into the live music scene without the help of my paper)
Hey Samantha…you’re most welcome! As far as PP goes, I primarily use Lightroom, but always export it to Photoshop for final processing. Photoshop does the resizing, watermarks, sharpening (I don’t like LR’s sharpening), sRGB conversion, and any retouching that would be too complicated in Lightroom.
Your photos look really good! Which airport did you take that terminal photo at? That’s probably my favorite pic from the bunch…and not just because I love airplanes :) Your sports shots are also very nice…I’ve wanted to break into that field for the longest time.
Thanks so much for looking at my photos! I took the terminal photo at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. Gorgeous floor to ceiling windows (and I didn’t use a wide angle, those are actually how those lines curve) so naturally I had to capture it!
Do you have any recommendations on getting permission to shoot shows without working with a publication? Mine only needs so much and other publications don’t seem very interested in random freelancers haha. How did you get on with AP?