From the Crowd to the Pit
A story about my journey to becoming a concert photographer
The lights go down, the crowd erupts, and for the next three songs, everything moves fast.
No second chances. No do overs. Just noise, light, movement, and a camera in my hands.
Not long ago, I was standing on the other side of the barricade. This is how I found my way from the crowd to the pit.
I’ve always loved music, and photography has been a hobby of mine for years. Most of the time, I was capturing my travels around the world, cars, airplanes, and whatever else caught my eye. But my journey into concert photography really started when I began documenting my son’s band, Eleseer, at their first couple of shows in February and April of 2025.
Something about that experience clicked for me. The energy, the lights, the challenge, the emotion of it all. I was hooked.
From there, I started digging into how concert photography worked. I researched photo passes, media outlets, band contacts, venues, and everything in between. I also knew I wanted to create something that represented more than just live music. That’s how Revasonic Media was born.
“Rev” represents the cars, engines, and aviation side of what I love. “Sonic” represents the music, sound, and energy that pulled me into this world. Together, it felt like the right name for the kind of work I wanted to create.
After months of research, outreach, and figuring things out as I went, I connected with a band called Versvtile and photographed their show at Colonial Oak Music Park in St. Augustine, Florida. That was the moment I knew this was something I wanted to pursue seriously.
From there, I kept shooting small venues, reaching out to bands, and learning how to work in difficult lighting. There were plenty of no’s, unanswered messages, and moments where it felt like nothing was going to happen. But that first yes changes everything.
What started as sporadic approvals eventually turned into real momentum. At one point, I went from wondering whether I would get another opportunity to landing five photo passes in one week.
As the opportunities grew, so did the scale of the rooms. Small clubs turned into House of Blues dates, amphitheaters, and eventually arenas. Each step brought a new challenge. Bigger productions, tighter shooting windows, more demanding lighting, and the pressure to deliver stronger work every time.
My advice to anyone wanting to pursue concert photography is simple: start small. Shoot local shows. Learn how to handle bad lighting, fast movement, and unpredictable moments. It will test your skills, but it can also be incredibly rewarding.
Reach out to bands. Look for publications. Build relationships. You will hear no a lot, but do not let that stop you. The answer is always no if you never ask.
Who would have thought that a guy who flies airplanes for a living could turn a passion into a legitimate concert coverage business in his late 40s? To borrow from my wife’s saying: “It’s never too late.”
When I first started writing this story, the idea of covering arena shows still felt like something on the horizon. Then, before I even published it, I found myself walking into my first arena show with a photo pass in hand. It was one of those moments where I had to stop and take it in for a second. The same person who used to stand in the crowd hoping to capture a moment was now there as credentialed media to document the show.
That moment felt like more than another credential. It felt like proof that the work, the outreach, the small venues, the no’s, the late nights editing, and the decision to keep asking were all starting to build into something real.
I’m still early in this journey, but I’m more excited than ever for what comes next for Revasonic Media: more shows, more stories, bigger stages, and maybe a few interviews along the way.
From the crowd to the pit, this is only the beginning.
