How To Become A Rockstar Photographer Podcast With Matthias Hombauer

Today's guest is my friend and lighting designer Andres Atkinson. I met Andres when he was touring with Fink some years ago and since then we work together whenever he stops by in Vienna. In this episode, we can all learn from one of the best lighting designers in this industry.He was working and touring with bands such as George Michael, Rick Astley, Kasabian, Mogwai, Florence and the Machine, Gossip, Editors, Manic Street Preachers, The Pet Shop Boys, Kaiser Chiefs, Fink and many more. Andres will share his experiences about stage lighting, concert photographers and why he loves smoke machines. Let’s get straight to the interview.

Today's guest is Neal Preston, one of the greatest rock photographers of all time. Neal was the official tour photographer for Led Zeppelin, Queen, Bruce Springsteen and The Who, and has also extensively shot The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson and many more. In this interview, weíll talk about his new book Exhilarated and Exhausted, which is a complete retrospective of his more than 40-year career. This is the first time Neal has allowed unrestricted access to his legendary archive ñ considered one of the music industryís most significant and extensive photo collections. Join us on this journey through Time and listen to Neals stories about sex, drugs and rock n roll.

Today guest is my buddy Anthony D'Angio formerly known as Flex. When we met online the first time a couple of years ago Anthony was crushing it in the country music scene. He was working with the most famous artists in this genre and flew to Nashville every 2-3 months. In this interview, we’ll talk about how everything began. Anthony will share a behind the scenes look at how he built his own brand “Get-flexed” and how his path evolved to becoming a climber and landscape photographer.

Today guest is Seattle based music photographer Iron Mike Savoia. Mike is one of the official photographers for music Caribbean cruises such as Monsters of Rock, Moody Blues, Cruise to the Edge and others like Def Leppard, Celtic Thunder. In this interview, we will talk about how it feels like to photograph your favorite bands in shorts on a party ship. Mike will reveal his secret to beginner photographers when it comes down to get access to shows. This is an approach I only heard once during the previous 36 episodes, so make sure to not miss it. And we’ll dive deep into social media and how you can get best out for your own concert photography work.

Let’s be honest with you. When I got the confirmation that Scott Kelby is joining my show I couldn’t believe it. I had to read the email from his assistant twice, before I realized that this is really going to happen. When I started my journey as a beginner photographer I was overwhelmed with all the gear choices and settings. I didn’t have any clue where to start unless I found Scott Kelby's book series “The Digital Photography Book”. They are so well written and easy to follow. Not only started my photos to look way better than before, but his books started my passion for photography. Since then I am following Scott on social media, read some of his 60+ books that he published and see him as a mentor not only as a photographer, but also as an entrepreneur. Scott is exactly the type of overachiever I am looking up to, This episode is jam-packed with insider tips on photography, business and music and Scott will share some entertaining stories that are not only funny, but you can learn a lot from someone who

Today’s guest is England based music photographer Lukas Curtis. Luke is one of these guys, like myself, who likes to share his thoughts about photography and how to get started. We will talk about why you should shoot for free, especially in the beginning to build your portfolio. Luke is going to talk about how to deal with negativity. Some people might blame you for not asking for money. But, sometimes it´s better to think out of the box. And Luke will reveal his approach when it comes down to build your portfolio.

My guest today is Melbourne based music and street photographer John Raptis. John built a strong brand identity and we are going to focus on this important aspect in this epsiode. Nowadays it’s not enough to shoot only great photos, rather you have to build your own brand. Which is definitely not easy. Therefore we’ll talk about the best approach to get your first logo, the key ingredients every brand needs to have, how you can self-publish your photo books and what you need to take care of, that you’re not sued by any bands.

In this episode, I am chatting with Jack Lue who started his music photography career as the first photographer of Guns N Roses back in the 80’s. Jack will share his stories back in the days of Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll, we’ discuss how the music business changed and why he shot all 73 bands on the Vans Warped tour in one day.

Today´s guest is Igor Vidyashev, better known under his brand name RockXposure: The fine art of Rock Photography. Igor is the ideal example of someone who found his passion later in life. In his earlier years, he was building nuclear cruisers and submarines in Russia and it took almost 50 years for him to realize that photography is his real mission in life and he successfully completing a formal education in prestigious New York Institute of Photography. In this interview, Igor will talk about his magic business plan that allowed him to get in personal contact with artists such as Zakk Wylde, the crazy story on how he met one of the best music photographers around (Neil Zlozower) who became his close friend and touring on Rock cruises in the Caribbean. Igor also built his own business, where he teaches photography and sells his own merch. To get more info about Igor Rockexposure including some of his best shots, his favorite gear, and his courses go to the show notes pages: htbarp.com/igorrockexposure

In this episode, I sat down with Raul Soria Jr. to talk about the music photography scene in Hawaii. Is it really the paradise that I would have thought of? Beautiful beaches, pretty girls, and the cocktails? Raul gives us an insight into his world living on a small island and why a lot of rockstars play in small clubs whereas they normally perform on the big stages everywhere else. He’ll talk about meeting Kirk Hammett all the time and how the community of music photographers and promoters work together to keep the local music scene alive.

Today’s guest is Paul Miles, an Australian based music photographer. Back in the 90’s he was the first who built a webpage dedicated to his favorite band Mötley Crüe and is now known as world’s first #1 historian for the band. The band liked his page so much that they invited him to join their tours. In this episode, we’ll also talk about his two books “Sex Tips from Rock Stars” where musicians share their private stories and “Before I hit the stage”. To get more info about PaulMiles including some of his best shots, his favorite gear and the links to his books go to the show notes pages: htbarp.com/paulmiles

This time I interviewed Julian David Stone about his adventures as concert photographer starting back in the 80s’. His approach to concert photography was a different one than most of us are going for He sneaked in his camera gear taped to his legs or hidden in a specially prepared navy coat. In our interview, he shares his favorite stories such as when he was hiding his lens in a big bottle of hairspray of his female friend to get into his equipment into a Prince concert and much more.   I do not recommend to sneak your gear into concerts nowadays, cause you can get blacklisted easily and your concert photography career might be over before it even starts. However, the 80’s were a different time and it’s hilarious to hear Julian's stories. We’ll also talk about his successful kickstart campaign of his book “No cameras allowed” which includes a collection of his rare shots of bans such as The Police, Prince, Ramones to name a few.   To get more info about Julian David Stone including some of his best shots, h

I’m excited because today´s guest is the singer of Vintage Trouble Ty Taylor. I first met the band in the backstage area of the Ottawa Blues Festival back in 2014 when I was touring with Shantel. Then I was working with VT on stage in the front of 120 000 people when they were playing as support act of AC/DC in Austria and I got one of my most favorite shots from this memorable event.   I wanted to have a look behind the curtains of a raising Rockband such as Vintage Trouble. How is it to become a star overnight (cause this is what happened)? How can someone personally deal with these challenges?   In order to learn more about it, I got in contact with Ty and ask him to be a guest on my show. Fortunately, he agreed and I caught him in the backstage area of a venue in Milwaukee, minutes before they hit the stage.   In this interview, we're going to talk about how everything started for Vintage Trouble, his personal view on life, the importance of building a community and why he appreciates the work of concert

Todd Spoth is a Houston based music and entertainment photographer who is specialized covering Hip Hop music. Most of the interviews so far covered the Rock and Heavy Metal genre and therefore I thought why not interview a Hip Hop photographer. Todd client list includes brands such as Canon, Elle Magazine, Forbes, Fox Sports, NFL, Red Bull, The New York Times and he serves on the board of directors for the American Society of Media Photographers. So, this guy knows what he is talking about when it comes down to photography.

Today’s guest is music photographer Silvy Maatman, She is touring with the most famous hardcore bands such as Sick of it all and Biohazard to name a few. Silvy is giving us a behind the scenes look when touring with those bands and she is going to reveal some of her crazy Rock N Roll stories.

I had the pleasure to chat with Detroit based music photographer Mr. Scott Legato. In this episode, it´s all about shooting for an agency. And Scott is not working for any agencies but for the biggest out there: Getty Images. With more than 50 000 photos on Getty, Scott is one of the hardest working guys I know of. He will reveal his complete workflow and gives insights when working with an agency. Scott will teach how to sell your photos and his 3 rules every concert photographer should know about.

In this epsiode, my friend Nici Eberl joins my show. She is a fellow Austrian photographer who moved to London and she was one of the first followers of my project HTBARP. Nici started from scratch and told me “I kept watching the photographers in the photo pit and dreamed of being one of them, but I never felt good enough and was too shy to present my work.” After following my project for a while and completing my academy www.shootingtherockstars.com her life changed dramatically and she said “After completing Matthias' training I became the house photographer of the O2 Forum, got published in Kerrang! and had over 300 bands in front of my lens.”

My guest in this episode is Brooklyn based portrait and music photographer Ebru Yildiz. Ebru will talk about her approach when she is shooting portraits and I can guarantee you, it´s great stuff and you`ll learn a lot from her. She will give us a She will give us a behind the scenes look at her book „We´ve come so far“, a project where Ebru was working and shooting concerts for 75 days in a row! When I first heard about it, I couldn´t believe it. Imagine shooting concerts for 75 days in a row without any break. This is crazy and therefore I love this interview so much because Ebrus story shows what you can reach in life when you´re passionate about a project and you pour in the hours. We will also discuss how to self-publish a photo book (a topic that I also discussed with Alexander Hallag in Episode 6) and we will show you which strategies work best.

Today I have the pleasure to talk to Norwegian heavy metal photographer Kenneth Sporsheim. He is one of two photographers for the Nordic issue of Metal Hammer, and he is also the Nordic ambassador for brands like Pentax, Lexar and Lowepro. In this interview Kenneth reveals insights on working for one of the most prestigious Metal magazines, he shares awesome stories about taking Portraits of bands such as Turbonegro, Slayer or Anthrax and give tips on how you can become an ambassador for famous brands too.

Today´s guest is New York based wedding and music photographer Brian Friedman. I first bumped into his name a couple of years ago when I was reading his article on F Stoppers on how he went from part time to full time music photographer. Brian shared his 7 top tips including “You have to believe in yourself. When you do this dreams can and do come true”. I totally agree on this, because I had similar experiences and therefore I wanted to have Brian on the show to discuss this topic in more detail In addition Brian gives us a reality check on how the photography business really works and why we all have to hustle in order to be successful. He will share his stories when he met celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Barack Obama and he will explain why you should find your own vision.