On November 15th 2015 I photographed my first ever concert. A small venue downtown Orlando called The Social and a small band called Against the Current. With a $500 camera and no experience at all I stood on the front row pressed against the stage and took what I thought then were the best pictures I had ever taken in my life.
Fast forward to Summer 2016 (with a few thousand dollars of upgraded camera gear) and the small band with only two EP’s out that I had grown to love had their first full length album out (“In Our Bones”) and was playing Warped Tour! I had come prepared with a handwritten “priority list” of bands I wanted to shoot that day with Against the Current being at the top. I had a bit of downtime between sets that just so happened to be at the same time as Against the Current’s meet and greet. To my amazement, singer Chrissy Costanza instantly recognized me from the previous November (despite the fact that my hair was a bright turquoise last fall and is now back to my natural black). I got the band to sign my “priority list” and definitely redeemed myself with the quality of the photos I took at warped versus the ones from last November.
Okay on to my main point, I promise there’s a reason behind all of this rambling about tales of concerts past. One year and eleven days after photographing my first ever concert, I got to photograph the same small band called Against the Current in the same small venue The Social in Downtown Orlando. It’s absolutely crazy how much an artist can improve their performance in a single year and I feel like I have grown with this small band from New York. The three piece has upped its game since last year by performing songs with more intensity, an incredible light show, and increased crowd interaction. Chrissy took time in between songs to talk to the crowd throughout the show and even called out people in the crowd by name that she had recognized from previous shows. As for the incredible lights? Well, take a look for yourself down below! I can’t wait to see what is in the future for these guys!
