A collection of blogs exploring some previously shot assignments, that for whatever reason, haven’t made their way into my online folio… until now.
I was a latecomer to Dolly Parton, for a long time '9 to 5' was the only song of hers I knew and it didn't move me enough to make the effort to seek out her other material.
Now in the world of Spotify, it's so easy to discover new music and at the prompting of a band mate a few years ago, I decided it was time to explore Dolly's repertoire a little further.
I started with the Jolene album and was blown away by how incredible it was, such an amazing collection of beautiful songs. Along with exploring her music, I also looked into who Dolly Parton was, what she stands for and what she believes in and ever since then I have been a huge fan.
About a decade before this discovery, back in 2011, I was shooting for a local street press in Adelaide called dB Magazine and although at that stage of my life I had no real interest in her music, I still knew enough to know that Dolly was an icon and it would likely be a spectacular show to photograph.
Unfortunately the press pass conditions limited us photographers to the sound desk. For those that don't know, usually the photographers are allowed pit access, which is right in front of the stage. We are allowed the first three songs, no flash before scurrying off into the night. Shooting from the sound desk (usually positioned about half way down the arena) limits the photographer a lot, we need to use longer lenses and have to work a lot harder to get some interesting shots. In this situation I look at crowd photos, wide venue shots and whatever images I can get with a long lens.
I'm sad to admit that I didn't hang around after taking photos. If I had the appreciation I have now I definitely would have, regardless of this I'm glad I had the opportunity to photograph this country music legend in concert and if she tours again, I'll be back as a fan ready to sing along.
Matt Carty Creative 