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A Year in Review: Priten Vora

First off, let me just say to everyone... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Looking back: I had a really strange 2015, personally. There were some high highs and some very low lows. I’m getting close to graduating, and have been spending more and more time on schoolwork with each passing semester. I didn’t really shoot that many shows over the course of the year, and was kind of nervous about making an end-of-the-year favorites list. After talking to Mike Danenberg, a fellow photographer whose work I greatly admire and who I also respect a lot as a person, I started putting a lot of my worries at ease. Sure, I missed a ton of tours that many of my friends got to shoot and got great shots at, and no, I didn’t fulfill all the goals I had for myself. But I did make progress this year, and I do have things to be proud of. I shot Warped Tour for the first time and did interviews and portraits with bands there - something I’d been wanting to do for a long time. I had an exhibition of my concert photography held and people actually came out to see it. Friends in local bands actually came to me and asked to set up shoots. So yeah, I do have some things to be proud of, and for once, I’m going to let myself.

These are my 15 favorite photos from the year in no particular order, along with a little bit of info about each one. Hope you enjoy them, and Happy New Year!

PVRIS - The World Tour

This was the first show I shot in all of 2015, after a bit of a hiatus over winter break and the start of the spring semester. The stage was insanely high - it was at least 6 or 7 feet tall, and I luckily brought a small stepladder with me. Without that thing, I definitely would’ve missed a lot of shots that night (especially of the drummers) and this shot would’ve been from a much lower and weirder angle. It was also my first time seeing PVRIS. I was just blown away by their live sound. Lynn’s vocals are incredibly powerful, and when she knelt down right in front of me, I absolutely had to get the shot. I know the band really love a black and white style, but this just felt right in color, so I kept it. It’s a simple shot, but I really do like it a lot. Bonus - for those of you who like following concert photographers, that’s Ashley Osborn in the back!

Mallory Knox - The World Tour

The same show managed to have another first for me: Mallory Knox. I’d vaguely heard their name a few times, but really didn’t know them at all heading into this show. Boy, did they leave an impression though. They were the only one of the bands that night that were not from the U.S., and if I recall correctly it was their first time in the states. It never seemed like it though, because they were super energetic onstage. With any band that likes to put out that much energy, I always like to find some of the quieter moments as well, and this small pause that frontman Mikey Chapman took was exactly what I was looking for. I think the mood lends itself well to a black and white edit, and I’m really glad I caught this.

Tara Terra - Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Tara Terra are one of my absolute favorite local bands. They have such a unique and fun sound, and they’re lovely people as well. This show was in a university center meant to be used for shows, hence me having some decent lighting at a local show for once. Also, Tara Terra had recently picked up a new member, Rachael, who I hadn’t met at all prior to this show. I didn’t get to fully meet her and talk at all until after the show, but she was clearly having a great time onstage though, and made for a great addition to their harmonies. At one point she was dancing and I caught this, and I’m pretty happy with it. A little motion blur and the placement of the hair emphasizes the dancing, and I love getting shots where a performer is making eye contact with the camera. Normally, I wouldn’t put up a shot of someone when their eyes are half-closed, but it works really well with the mood and seems more all the more natural because she’s dancing.

Tara Terra - Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

From the same show, I adore this shot of the lead vocalist, Emily. In general, I just love catching moments like this, which is a big reason you’ll see a lot more smiling and laughing performers on the rest of this list. Emily is especially fun because she’s almost always smiling and having the time of her life onstage. She has fantastic vocal and songwriting talent, as do the rest of the band, and any time I shoot them I always try to get as many shots as I can of all of them really enjoying themselves like this. Also, since they’re a local band, I rarely get to have lighting this good when I photograph them, so I was really happy to finally get some shots of them that I’m really happy with.

Set It Off - Warped Tour

Drummers are often the most difficult people in a band to photograph, but a lot of them are also the most fun to watch, so you always want to get good shots of them but rarely can. Maxx Danziger is about as crazy and wild on a drum kit as you can get, and that makes me want even more to catch him in all his glory doing what he does best. If I’m being honest, this is still almost tame for Maxx, but it does get across the spirit of what he’s like onstage, and that’s something I love about it.

PVRIS Crowd - Warped Tour

This is about as standard of a crowd shot at Warped tour as you can get, but I love it because one of my best friends is right in the front. She had been dying to see PVRIS live ever since I introduced her to them. We managed to get to Warped, she got front row for their set, and right as I was shooting this, Lynn winked at her from onstage. What you see is her JUST before the tears started flowing (she’s the one in the light blue shirt). Pure happiness. It would’ve been one of my favorites for that reason even if I hadn’t known the person, but the fact that I did guaranteed that this was a shot I’d be proud of no matter what.

Hands Like Houses - Warped Tour

Speaking of crowd shots at Warped Tour... There’s this! It’s your standard Warped Tour crowd shot, but what really makes it for me is the expressions of the three crowd members. The girl is happy and just enjoying the moment. The guy next to her isn’t really even looking at Trenton; you can tell he’s just letting the music wash over him and basking in it. That smile is one of a man who is very, very content with life in that moment. And then there’s the guy on the right. Boy oh boy do I love this dude. Whoever you are, if you see this, please just know that your enthusiasm completely makes this shot in my eyes. To me, this is the shot in which I got the closest to capturing the essence of what Warped means to me.

Sleeping With Sirens - The World Tour

A lot of the other photos on this list have personal feelings or things about them that helped their chances for inclusion on my list. This doesn’t, but rather is on here simply because I’m still astounded that it came out as well as it did. Red lighting, especially red backlighting with little to no contrasting light from the front, is normally the bane of concert photographers. Those photos are often incredibly difficult to edit to make the people in them look like they’re NOT covered in lava. The fact that this was the case here meant that I really had to step up my post-processing, and I’m happy that I managed to do that. The red isn’t changed or made to look like any other color - it’s very clearly still red. But it’s reduced enough that it doesn’t overpower everything else, and the skin is differentiated as well. This marked a pretty significant growth in my Lightroom wizardry abilities, and while it’s not exactly the greatest photo, it’s a reminder to myself to never let a bad situation get the best of me.

Pierce The Veil - Warped Tour

Remember that thing I said about really enjoying catching performers when they’re having a good time onstage? It’s a huge reason I’m so happy with this shot. I will admit that it’s a tiiiiny bit out of focus, but when Vic and Jesse (filling in for Tony at the time) have smiles like this on their faces, you know it’s just a keeper anyway. I also love color, and the deep reds, the subtle greens, and the range of blues in this really appeal to me. I enjoy getting photos of multiple band members interacting with each other onstage, so when Vic wandered over to Jesse, I immediately positioned myself to get a shot of the two of them. Little did I know I’d get a moment this good though!

Against The Current - Gravity World Tour

Yep. What else can I say? I love catching smiles. This was a really fun show for me. Against The Current had brought out my good buddy Joe Brady with them as their tour photographer. He’s from the UK and he’s amazing, so you guys should look him up and check out his stuff for sure. I don’t get to see him much though, so I was excited that he was coming on the tour along with Roo Buxton (a merch guy who often does merch for We Are The In Crowd) and Cameron Hurley from WATIC. So aside from a great night seeing friends, I managed to catch this beautiful smile from Chrissy, and it just absolutely completed the night for me. Chrissy is incredibly dynamic onstage, zipping around all over the place, locking hands with crowd members, headbanging and whipping her hair around - everything. She clearly has an amazing time playing music for people, and this shot shows it. It’s everything I want out of a shot.

Tara Terra - Mike N Molly’s (Pre-Show)

Aside from happiness and energy, something else I love getting shots of at shows is behind-the-scenes stuff. They make for much more unique photos and tend to show more of the personality of the subjects. Colin is an electrical engineering student who also does production work (he did producing on a lot of Tara Terra’s songs), and he’s one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met. Sitting down before people have filtered into the venue, fine-tuning things, getting work done, and making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible come showtime is just typical of him. This is the kind of shot you don’t get unless you’re there long before the show starts and the band trusts you to the point where they don’t mind you photographing them even during setup. Tara Terra have always put their complete trust in me, and I can’t being to express how grateful I am for that.

A Cool Hand - Martyrs’

Speaking of being trusted, this was a total surprise for me this year. I shot A Cool Hand way back in 2013 when I was just starting to narrow down my focus (no pun intended) on shooting music rather than general photography. Then, over two years later, I got a message from them asking me to come shoot their show in Chicago. The fact that they remembered the work I’d done before and chose to bring me out over several amazing native Chicago photographers is an honor I don’t take lightly. They put their trust in me and gave me all the access I wanted, and this show meant more to me than any number of normal photo passes from even the biggest bands ever could. I was only inches away from Charlie here, hunched behind an amp so as to not distract the crowd, and he just kept on going while I snapped away. Thank you, ACH, for trusting me. Thank you for this show.

Tara Terra - WEFT Community Radio

If it wasn’t obvious enough already, I love this band. Tara Terra was set to give an interview with a local radio station this night, and they let me tag along to get some behind-the-scenes shots. Before the interview, they were looking at the insanely large collection of records the station has on their shelves, and the DJ pulled out their own record and showed it to them. They were really happy to be included in the same catalogue as some seriously incredible musicians, and I couldn’t have been happier or prouder of my friends. It’s not a great shot, but I don’t think there was any moment in the year where I was happier to be taking a photo of anything. If you read this, guys, sorry I’m such a sap; I just love all of you a lot. I can’t wait to see how far you go in 2016.

Kaya Stewart - Warped Tour

All right, I said at the start that my list isn’t in any particular order. That is true, but I did save my two favorite shots for last. I’ve been going to Warped Tour for three years now, and this year was the first time that I was actually approved to shoot it. This meant I could do interviews and portrait shoots, and one of the ones I set up was with up-and-comer Kaya Stewart. I wanted to do a portrait series with several bands and artists on Warped where I’d photograph them in their tour buses / vans and show their touring conditions. When I walked onto Kaya’s bus, the design of it just blew me away. The lighting was beautiful and Kaya and her tour manager, Allison, were really nice as well. I love this shot because it’s a posed environmental portrait that has a touch of candidness to it as well, and with a little post-processing, I could really make the colors of the lights and windows pop. It’s got a messy elegance to it that I love. Thank you to Kaya and Allison for being so nice and easy to work with; I’ll be keeping my eye out for more of Kaya’s stuff in the future!

Pierce The Veil - The World Tour

From the moment I shot this, it was already one of my favorite shots I’d ever taken. Pierce The Veil had INCREDIBLE production on their world tour, and I loved every second of being at this show. You only get to shoot the first three songs of each band’s set from the photo pit, but I knew they’d have confetti cannons go off during the last song, so I improvised. I ran upstairs as the final song was starting, found a nice position to shoot from, and waited. The beach balls came out, the lighting started going nuts, the confetti launched, and the crowd went absolutely nuts. It was everything I’d wanted and more, and I was in the perfect place at the perfect time. It’s almost a bummer that I got this so early in the year, because I don’t think anything else I got in 2015 matched it, but what can I say? It’s just a perfect representation of everything a concert should be, at least in my eyes.

Looking forward: I don’t know how 2016 i going to pan out. It’s going to be my final full year of school, and it’s going to be a tough one. I have a few classes coming up that I know are going to take a ton of work. There’s a good chance it’ll be another year where I don’t really shoot all that much. But that’s okay; I’m excited to see where it takes me. I’m excited to graduate, to find work, to go and see more of the world, to make new friends and reconnect with old ones. I’m excited for the music that we’re going to get, as well as the movies, video games, and everything else (I am a GIGANTIC nerd in case I forgot to mention). And although I may not be able to go to many shows, I’m excited for any that I do get to see. I love music, I love RNP, and I love anyone who has ever taken the time to look at, share, or enjoy my photos. Thank you so much, and enjoy 2016!

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