Christie Goodwin: Music Photography - It's Not About You
Christie Goodwin is a music photographer who has photographed a huge number of bands. She started photography at a young age using her father's film camera and studied photography in art school because she felt she wasn't suited for technical school.
Her first experience of music photography was shooting a friend's covers band, and when someone sent her images to the manager of Status Quo, he hired her to photograph the band.
Listen to another episode of the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast
Although she has struggled with imposter syndrome and faced challenges as a female photographer, Christie has always persevered and built her confidence and portfolio. She enjoys capturing the passion and creativity of musicians, and recommends embracing the conditions you're given rather than fighting them.
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I'd like to thank Cewe, Europe's leading photo printing company for supporting this podcast and making the SheClicks exhibitions at The Photography Show possible. Cewe has a UK production team based in Warwick and headquarters in Oldenburg, Germany. The company offers an extensive range of high-quality photo products, including Cewe photobooks, wall art, calendars, prints and a variety of photo gifts. To find out more about Cewe, and to order prints, visit cewe.co.uk or follow the link in the show notes.
Episode Transcript
Christie Goodwin
It's very important not to give up. And it's so easy to give up. And there are so many moments in whole my career actually, that I would have been justified to give up. Because the thing is all the odds were against me. But it's those times if you then don't give up, you'll get to the next stage. And it's very important to just bite through it and just, you know, weather it through, and you'll get at the next step.
Angela Nicholson
Welcome to the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast. I'm Angela Nicholson. I'm the founder of SheClicks, which is a community for female photographers. In these podcasts, I talk with women in the photographic industry to hear about their experiences, what drives them, and how they got to where they are now. This episode features Christy Goodwin, a music photographer and visual storyteller with a passion for capturing the essence of life performance. Hello, Christy, thank you so much for joining me today on this podcast. Thank you for having me. Now, quite a few female photographers that I've spoken to recently, have said that they've come to photography as a second career, but I get the impression that's not the case for you. And it was always your first choice. Is that right?
Christie Goodwin
That's right, yeah. Funny enough. There was never any other options. For me, it was always since I was very young kid, it was photography. And once I got that, that stage that I had to make a choice what to study? Nobody even questioned it. And I didn't question it. I didn't look at other options. It was always photography from the start.
Angela Nicholson
So you picked up a camera as quite an early at an early age? Well, yeah,
Christie Goodwin
my dad, my dad was a captain at sea. And I often went on trips with him. And he had a camera. It was basically a very nice analogue back in the day, a very nice analogue camera that they used if there was some incident on board. So I was always told not to touch the camera, which was very exciting, of course, because you know, as a kid, when you're told not to touch, that's first thing you want to do. Oh, yes. And when I saw, I ran off with the camera, of course. And what I really enjoyed, because my life was quite chaotic, was that I could actually condense the world into a frame, which I found very excitingly. And so I always kept running off, always been told off. And then first I just looked through the camera was just the experience to frame things into it and look to it. But then I started pressing. And what I did in that time, because I was very young didn't realise that something went on that film, and that he would later develop the film, and then discovered that I had been taking, you know, God knows what. So in the end, when I was, for my 14th birthday, he bought me my own analogue camera said, you're not touching my anymore, you get your own. And from that day on, other girls wore a handbag, and I wore my camera, and was just me my camera.
Angela Nicholson
Oh, fantastic. And I think, you know, when you start out with film photography, I mean, from what you're saying about, you know, not daring to press the shutter button, you have a reverence for it, don't you because you've got maybe 24 or 36 images, and it costs money. So, you know, you're really, really careful. And, you know, when people you soak up talk about bracketing, then it was a financial consideration where the, bracketed your images or not to get the exposure, right. Very true. But it gives you a good grounding in photography, doesn't it?
Christie Goodwin
Yeah. And if you look at my whole career, I shopped analogue longer than digital. So for some reason, I still think analogue when I'm shooting, which I think works in my advantage. While I hope while I'm telling myself it still works. But I still think very much analogue and sometimes I hear photographers next to me and it goes on. And I think like, you're filming, you're not taking pictures. I still think when I press the shutter, I still see yes, this is worth pressing the shutter, because that's how I've always stopped while in people with digital often don't think they just snap it. I still process what I when I press my finger. I don't know if it's better or worse. It's just way I work. Yeah.
Angela Nicholson
Have you shot any film recently?
Christie Goodwin
In town? No, it's just, I do have a few film cameras. And I could do but in what I do for a living, it's not possible because they want everything immediately. It has to be digital. And in my free time I just use my iPhone. Yeah.
Angela Nicholson
As we all do. So it sounds like you actually studied photography to do do it at school and then follow up at university or college?
Christie Goodwin
Yes, I did. So I, there were two because that back at that day I lived in Antwerp. And there were two choices. Either I could go to technical way, go to a technical school, or take the art way and go to an art school. I chose the art school, which my parents didn't quite like, because back in the day art was considered lazy people who never get anywhere. But I still I was, I was scared of the technical, I thought I don't have a technical brain, that's not going to work for me. I thought art is safer. It proved to be much more difficult. But so I did four years of photography there, graduated, and then basically immediately fell into a job. Because at that art school, they also have a fashion department. And one of the guys who had, I think it was two or three years before me that he graduated, they always come back and then look for people to work with. So he came back to look for somebody to work with. And he hired me on the spot. So I immediately fell into a job
Angela Nicholson
as a photographer. Fantastic. Now, it's interesting, you say that you shied away from the technical side, because a lot of people are worried about the technicalities of photography, was that ever an issue for you?
Christie Goodwin
No. And the funny thing is that, to this day, when I get interviews like this, and people start asking technical questions, I just trees, I think like, uh, uh, you know, I don't have a technical brain, I don't shoot technical, I don't think technical. What I learned in my art department basically was to fail to sense like, for instance, back in the day, people used to use light metre. And we were encouraged not to use a light metre and to actually learn to feel the light. And so when I go outside, I can tell you exactly how to set your camera because I just learned to sense that. So a lot of technicality happens inside here. I don't need the outside tools. And when I'm shooting, I never, never in second will think, Oh, I have to change my aperture after to change my speed. I don't do that. That all happens automatically. And it's because of, you know, what I've learned back in those days, not a technical way, but more with senses,
Angela Nicholson
I suppose. And it's become ingrained,
Christie Goodwin
I suppose. Yeah, I can't explain it. And sometimes people look at me like, you know, sometimes they ask, what are you shooting on? I'm like, I don't know. Let me check. Because I don't know. I will meet.
Angela Nicholson
Yeah, you're more involved in the moment than the camera settings. We'll go. And why music photography. What drew you to that?
Christie Goodwin
Nothing. It's actually by accident. Oil. I was first. So first, I did fashion. I did that for three years. And then the guy I worked with, he got a chance to work in Paris. He wanted to take me with him. But at the time, I had a boyfriend. And now I'm not going to Paris. So I stayed. And then I sort of fell into more reportage and editorial photography did that for quite some years. But did it then more as a second profession because I got married, I had children. So I had a real job. And then on the side, I did all that. And then two friends. You know, I was always with my camera. So I took some pictures of he had a cover Mount and I was take some pictures of the cover band, send it to him, which I always did. And he sent those pictures to the manager of status quo, unbeknownst to me, and then one day I get a phone call. This guy says, you know, I'm the manager of state school. I want to hire you for my Bantam like here right now put the phone down because I thought somebody was pulling a prank on me. No, it was actually manager and I gotta like go back and say I'm sorry I was a bit rude but yeah, like the job. And the first time I had no clue whatsoever I walked into the only thing I knew was my cameras. All the rest was alien to me. Right from the get go I was allowed to shoot backstage. I didn't know what that even involved. There's all these people walking around. I'm like, what? Then I had to shoot the show everything was like an explosion in front of me and like what it was, it was like really deep and from the ghetto. They liked what I did, which was like, mind blowing, because I had no clue what I had been doing. Still don't have a clue what I do. But anyway, they liked what I did get. And they kept hiring me. And then there was a second client, Joe Satriani who hired me and then I sort of fell into it. And it's been grown from, and that's what I do now. It's never been like really a choice. All I want to do music. No, it's excellent. Really excellent. So it
Angela Nicholson
was basically you know, word of mouth, people seeing your pictures, you're getting hired by someone, somebody else seeing your pictures, and it just rolled on like that.
Christie Goodwin
I think it's also because music photography is a lot of with emotion, a lot of with feeling, you have to feel the music and all that. And maybe it actually really worked for the style I shoot, which I never knew or for and it's already being in it that I realised Oh, yeah. Something I can do
Angela Nicholson
need. And at that time, you were shooting film, but were you shooting colour or black and white or a mixture?
Christie Goodwin
I actually musica started the digital. Before that. The fashion, I shot black and white, because that was the requirement. Funnily enough, he'd liked it, movement in his pictures. So I was like, constantly shooting like that. Very artsy. But it was fun. And it was creative. And yeah, I did that for a while, then Reparata. It's actually in the reportage bit that at a certain point, I was still shooting film, I held on to it with my dear life. And then one of the news agencies, Reuters said, we're not accepting anything analogue anymore, you have to shoot digital. And I really didn't like it. And so I just to get the job, I borrowed somebody else's camera, digital camera, which I had to then again start from zero to learn how to use that. But that's how I had to start because the requirement was there. The news agencies didn't allow analogue anymore. It all had to be digital files. In the beginning, I still transformed my film into digital. Did that for a while, but that was too much work. So then I jumped back. But I was very late going digital, I really didn't want to
Angela Nicholson
the first status quo gig that you photograph was that on digital rather than film? Yeah.
Christie Goodwin
Again, a borrowed camera if somebody and that's another thing if I look back at that now, I used a camera had never used before. In an environment I didn't know at all, not knowing what I was doing, where it was going. What was required, there was no brief nothing. It's it's a wonder that I even survived.
Angela Nicholson
That's very brave. And switching to digital and a borrowed camera and has all those controls to learn and going from film to digital. It seemed like there were so many more controls because you previously use you know, shutter speed aperture, tungsten film, or daylight filled black and white or colour. That was pretty much it, maybe a filter on the front or something. But suddenly, with a digital camera, you've got white balance, you've got file formats, all sorts of extra settings that you never even considered in the menu. I know I know. That's That's very impressive.
Christie Goodwin
Yeah, or stupid.
Angela Nicholson
Please excuse this interruption because I'd like to thank siwi Europe's leading photo printing company for supporting this podcast and making the sheikh clicks exhibitions of the photography show possible. See, he has a UK production team based in Warwick and headquarters in Oldenburg, Germany. The company offers an extensive range of high quality AWARD WINNING PHOTO products, including Siri photobooks, wall art, calendars, prints and a variety of photo gifts. To learn more about seaweed and to order prints, visit seaweed.co.uk or follow the link in the show notes. Let's get back to the episode. And what is it that keeps you photographing music? What do you really enjoy about it?
Christie Goodwin
The What I enjoy about it is the thing is that with artists, they are very creative, they're creative beings. I am a creative being. And it's sort of it's sort of matches and I love shooting the passion that they have they they they transform once they walk on stage, I love that transformation I love the moment, the lights go on, the music starts, there is something magical about that. And then it's usually they have an instrument, it's either a guitar, it can be the microphone, be their instrument, anything. And you can feel the love that they have for what they do mostly a 99%. And it's capturing that it's getting that it's it's that passion, basically, creativity, because some artists are very creative as well, which is very exciting. So that's probably what attracts me the most.
Angela Nicholson
And when he first got started, did you have any female role models?
Christie Goodwin
Yes. Way back before I even knew that music photography could be a job. Linda McCartney, because I've, since I was young, I've always been a fan of Rolling Stone magazine. Back in the day when it was really still a proper magazine. They didn't sell them in Belgium. So I would, there was one shop, and I would wait in front of the shop when the time was to be to be delivered to get my one copy. And she was in there a lot. And I love because she did a lot of these cheeky bits behind the scenes. There's this one photo that she took that I absolutely loved. Which is artist named Mick Jagger, who just after the show, with a towel around his neck walks into an elevator, these kinds of things, I found that it was not being there and Mick Jagger, that was not it. It was just capturing that moment that you could see the elation in his face like it's over. It's done. I love what she could capture. And her whole music photography. I adored. And I really admired her
Angela Nicholson
that. Yes, me too. I think she's a what was a fantastic photographer and somewhat underrated. I think, you know, people made all sorts of assumptions about her because of who she was married to. But she was actually a great photographer.
Christie Goodwin
Yeah, I think if she wouldn't have married Paul, or her career would have photography career would have been much bigger.
Angela Nicholson
Because the other methods that she's part of the Eastman dynasty, but of course, she isn't it, she just happens to have the same name. And now I know, anyway, so what would you say were the biggest challenges that you face as a music photographer?
Christie Goodwin
It's a lot. The biggest challenges, first of all, being a woman. The problem? Well, it's not a problem. It's just a fact. The dog fee, for some reason is a very, because of technicality, I think is very much assumed to be for male photographers. Like when we go to a new client who has never seen me before, and I walk in with Patrick, they always assume Patrick is the photographer. It's just built in people just think like that. Yeah. So also, in the pits, you have 99% Male photographers, they're bigger. They push you aside, you have to stand your ground, you, you know that there's always this little. And she's only a woman put her aside. So that's probably although I don't think I've ever been not gotten a job because I'm a woman. It's just getting there. The other challenge is probably that. Again, I think, credibility that I can do what a man can do. Though I don't have the same technical skill set, I can take pictures as good as the next one. That's something that I've always had to sort of prove myself.
Angela Nicholson
I think the lack of technical knowledge is a secret that is held by a lot of photographers, you know, they know their specific genre, and I think whether they're male or female, they somehow get through it and they have those sort of things. I don't ask you this. I don't have to shoot that. I don't know what this does. But it seems to worry. Female photographers more than the guys they just are used to just blasting through. Yeah,
Christie Goodwin
especially in the beginning. When I first started out in music, I have this I still have a little bit of money. impostor syndrome. But I had that very big there because I would mingle with the other photographers male. And they would say, Oh, I'm shooting on this and this and I'm shooting that. And then they would be there showing up their big lenses to each other. And I would stand there and I would feel so little, so inadequate. And I would think, like, my even doing here, I don't, I can't match with that. And then I would punish myself. And the next day, I would look, you know, because there would be shooting agencies so I could see their pictures. And I would or what their pictures and things like, oh, there's so much better than me. I can't do that, oh, why I'm doing this. And I would talk myself down constantly. And then another job would come in. And I would think like, okay, I can do this. And I'd go again. And it's, it was like this constant, like, putting myself down, up again, them up again. But now I'm up, I don't let myself be put down again. But it took a journey to get there.
Angela Nicholson
So it's just a question of just keeping going. And eventually that belief came through because people keep booking you.
Christie Goodwin
Yeah, that's one of the things I always say to young photographers is, it's very important not to give up. And it's so easy to give up. And there's so many moments in whole my career actually, that I would have been justified to give up. Because the things all the odds were against me. But it's those times if you then don't give up, you'll get to the next stage. And it's very important to just bite through it and just, you know, whether it through and you'll get that the next step.
Angela Nicholson
Yeah. Because if you stop, that's where the story ends. But if you keep going, it could go anywhere.
Christie Goodwin
Yeah, we never hear of all those people who stopped. You only know for the people who kept going.
Angela Nicholson
That's very true. How do you approach photographing different genres of photography, because it's very different. photographing someone who's sitting quietly, a piano playing a ballad, compared to say, the lead singer of a thrash metal band? Well, to be
Christie Goodwin
honest, there is no difference. The there's the same passion, it's, it's just expressed differently. For me, there is no difference. I when I do a classical shoot, or I do, like you say, a trash or punk or whatever. For me, it's all the same. It's just the artists being very creative with the passion he has. And that's what I capture, whether it's silent, or whether it's explosive, you just go into it. Same way. You just have to do you know, the guy in the piano, which might might sound very quiet and very classical. That passion is the same that the guy who's trashing his guitar, basically, same passion. It's just expressed differently. But captured the same way.
Angela Nicholson
I guess you'll get the lighting onto that. pianist. Wait, you so you get some drama created there as well? Yeah, one issue I face when I've photographed music at, say a festival, which is, you know, a big high stage. And it's usually got monitors at the front, I'm only five foot two. So if the musician is somewhere towards the back of the stage sat down, I can probably only see them from the chin up. But if they're at the front, with a guitar, standing in looking, you know, at that the mic near the front of the stage, I've got a much better chance of taking a dramatic shot, do you do have those issues as well?
Christie Goodwin
Yeah, I call that a nostril shooting. The thing is that, first of all, when the stage is very high, I would not go up front, because that's the worst. Visual, you always have to think those people, when they're going to look at pictures of themselves, how are they going to feel? So when I shoot high stature like that, I will always shoot sideways. So you have a profile. Which then you can avoid the nostrils. The thing with the people in the back it's either you go very far away, and you have like a large shot where you have little mini figures in your frame. Or you just that that's just the nature of the beast. And next time better in you have a lower stage I always think Yeah, but you just the thing very important in music photography is not to fight the conditions and when you first start out that's first thing you do you the light goes on and there's hardly any light or there's red light and you start fighting it and the conditions are not very good and you start fighting it and you're constantly fighting. What you're getting. Somewhere. Halfway through. I had to give that up and now I don't fight it in because if you embrace what you got, like I said, the high stage the frontman is there, that's the one you can work with, then just focus on that one. Try to get him as good as possible. Do you
Angela Nicholson
ever then decide to shoot from outside of the pit? I mean, it's nice having all that clear space, where you can you know, you haven't got the crowd jostling you, I think, but do you ever go somewhere else, because you can get that longer view with a long lens, perhaps
Christie Goodwin
it depends. Because I, I don't shoot press or anything, I just shoot with clients with the artist who hires me, they often required the shots where you have entered the stage and the crowd. So you can actually get the whole sense of what was going on. So usually, what I do is I'll start in the pit, and then I'll move backwards, get the whole vibe of the venue, wherever it is. Also, of course, on stage, they love their pictures, where it's the artist with the crowd in front of them. But yeah, I combine both. It's not just about the act, it's about the whole experience, and they often want to show off the whole experience.
Angela Nicholson
Yeah, I can understand that. And when you're shooting, say, an album cover or portrait of a musician, away from the live stage, how do you create a rapport and form a connection with them? I mean, that they're used to people telling them how great they are, and they love their music, how do you form that connection to get something a bit special in the camera,
Christie Goodwin
I tend to feel, again, feeling, I tend to feel they're all different people, of course. And even though they work in the limelight, and there, they should be used to be in front of a camera, there are quite a few who don't like it to get nerves to get things. And then I always tried to find something that can take their focus away from it. Sometimes it can be just give them their guitar, and they feel their comfort, their safe again. Sometimes it can be like talking some times, they mentioned something and you can just elaborate on that and ask them to explain something or talk something that gets them out of that whole time frame, like Oh, my God, I have to now be in front of a camera. But it's it's it's different. Different, everybody's different. And you just have to sense it and feel it and not just explode on them and say like, Okay, now we're shooting and you have to do this and that. No, I tend to let it go organically, I let them be themselves and I hope that they can shed of that fear of the lens?
Angela Nicholson
Yeah, wait, particularly when you're shooting, say for an album cover, there must be quite a lot of pressure there. Because obviously it's a big money industry. How do you deal with unhelpful or negative comments? Or, you know, even when somebody is very nonspecific in their requirements, you know, this Oh, like this, but different, as you deal with that sort of situation?
Christie Goodwin
You know, of course, it's, it's my art, it's my photography, but I always think, basically, they are the one who paying the bill, they are one paying the invoice. So you know, it's a little bit like, whatever, they're the client, they're wanting this or that is what goes because they're the decision makers. Sometimes things are not feasible. And I will explain that to them. And I will say, like, you know, I've had once for a shoot like that, and they said, we were in this gritty hangar in London somewhere, and they wanted it to feel like Miami Beach and like, not possible. This is not the environment. The times you have to explain that to them, even though it looks very obvious. You know, hello, not possible. But this is we can do and I'll give them alternatives and try to warm them up to that. But when a client comes to me and they say we want this, this this this, I'll try to make it possible because they're the client, they know what they want. And a lot of these artists have a lot of creative people around them who have a vision, who often express the vision of the artist and I try to work close to them. I'll listen to them and when it's possible, it's possible when it's not possible, how will tell them
Angela Nicholson
good advice. I think remember who the client is Whew. Okay, so we've come to the section that I'm calling Six from SheClicks. And I've got 10 Questions from she clickers. And I would like you to answer six of them, please. So if you could give me a number from one to 10, I'll ask you the first question.
Christie Goodwin
One.
Angela Nicholson
Christie Goodwin
Yes, of course, I've had that. How do you overcome that? Well, one thing, and I've explained that before, I work a lot of with feelings. And I have noticed that that sometimes when I don't like somebody, it shows in my pictures, well, I can see it. There's this, I don't know, there's something in it, that just didn't work. But the thing is that I always, and that's what I tried to do is, if I don't like somebody, or it's not about music, because I don't even listen to it, but it's more personal. If I don't like a person, I always think that their biggest fans want them. And I'm there as the communication tool between that artist and the fans. And that's what I need to do. And I just tried to think of those people, although I don't understand why they're screaming, they're, and they're happy to see that person. But they are. And I have to respect that. And I have to capture that for them. And that's how I tried to the thing also is that you have to take yourself out of it quite often. It's not about you. This photography, I'm just the one pushing the button, but it's not about me. But the artists and the fans, and I'm just bringing them together through pictures. That's my job.
Angela Nicholson
I think that's a great approach. That sounds like really good advice. Okay, so could I have another number please?
Christie Goodwin
Seven.
Angela Nicholson
Seven. Okay. What would you recommend for someone starting out in life music photography, and I know you said, you know, it's sort of particularly technically minded, but are there some aspects of a particular camera or type of lens that you would recommend?
Christie Goodwin
Well, these days, any camera is a good camera, there is no, there's no bad cameras anymore. So don't, if you're starting out, don't be fooled to have to buy the most expensive kit, don't do that. The most important thing is that when you buy a camera, know it inside out, it has to be my camera is like my hand, I don't even have to think about it. That's the place we are where you have to get an eye tele to everybody shoot all day to shoot 1000s and 1000s of pictures, really get to know your camera, do all sorts of shooting darkness, shooting light, shooting the bride brightest son, because that's how you make a lot of mistakes. Because that's how you learn to know your camera. Now for shooting music, I would always advise the 2470 lens, and then the 7200. Because then you have the whole range from close by too far away. Don't get fooled with all the knickknacks, like fisheye lens, and all those things. Because those are little gadgets, and it's nice to shoot with it. But in the end, that's not what brings out the quality, the quality is just taking the picture that's there. So if you have that range of lens, you're fine. You can shoot anything.
Angela Nicholson
Yeah. And of course, you don't want to spending time swapping lenses around all the time, you've got a limited amount of time to get the great shots. Okay, so that's two, Would you like another number please? Number three. Number three? Do you prefer the dynamism of constant environments for photography, or more controlled environments where you have the opportunity to maybe you're shooting an album cover or something and you've got the opportunity to control the lights, and you're in charge of everything?
Christie Goodwin
Well, in an ideal world, I would be able to control the lights at the concert. But that's not like no I prefer anything live no matter how bad it is. And sometimes can be I do not like shooting in a studio in a controlled environment. Because it just it's it's numbing it's, there's no it's very hard to be creative. When you do something like I often have to do when a band is on the road and they want some shots. It's usually in the ugliest venue in the room. OBS backstage. But it's organic, you can. It's creative, it's looking, it's trying to find little fine gems in the muscle of ugliness. But that's what I like, I like the challenge of that. When everything is so predictable, it just stipends my creativity, just like I find it boring.
Angela Nicholson
Fair enough, we each have our own thing that we shoot. Okay, so could I have another number, please? Um, nine, number nine, when you work as an official tour photographer, how much time does that take up? Are you there for the whole tour? Or do you just go for specific gigs?
Christie Goodwin
It can be either way. Sometimes I'm hired for the whole tour, as sometimes I'm hired. But like very large doors, like for instance, say Katy Perry. Then I am hired for maybe the four or five first gigs. Because then I can get enough material which they made, the tour programmes and all that with. But then like, for instance, with a shirt, I was hired for the whole tour, because he basically wants to document everything. So it really depends from client to client, and what need they have?
Angela Nicholson
Do you have a preference,
Christie Goodwin
I prefer just a few shows. So I really get to know to show and I can really tick all the boxes that I want to take. Because the first show issued, I'm usually like a headless chicken. It's like, thrown at me and like, what's happening, where, where am I going what's and then the second show, you already know, oh, I might want to get that than that. And you can build that up. And like, the fourth or fifth show, you actually know the show, and you're singing along with the songs you've known he know those Biden as well. Yeah. And then you can really begin your shots. And then I sort of have scratch my itch, you know, I got it. I got it. I'm good to go now. And then I like to go,
Angela Nicholson
do you get to know like, you know, often the artist has some sort of signature moves, or, and also the lighting, they'll do something at a particular point in a song. Do you get to know those? Yeah,
Christie Goodwin
basically, the light is a concert on its own. It has a rhythm. There is a musicality to it. And you basically, that's why I say I don't listen to the music that comes off the stage, I listen to the music of Delights. And I tried to get that sequence in my head, like, Oh, this is going to go that way. And then once you you got that registered, you can really work with it, you know exactly where to go, and what happens and where the shadow will fall and where the light will fall. And you can work with that. So yeah, that's usually what I do. The thing, sometimes very difficult is like when there's Pyros or all that like very heart light that really needs a couple of shows for me, because it's so hard. It's always I always jump, I can't help it. I know exactly when it's going to happen. And then the spiral shoot off, and I'm still going like that. But those kinds of things need a few shows to really get a ride because there's such a hard difference between the light on the artist and that very harsh. Bride light of the pirates.
Angela Nicholson
Yeah, no, interesting. Okay, so your fifth number, please? 10 number 10. Oh, what was the first image that you had published that questions from the list? Do you remember what it was?
Christie Goodwin
Well, good question, Liz. Because you caught me. I think it must have been status quo. Because the funny thing is that of that very first shoot that I no clue what I was doing. They actually use that in a DVD booklet. And if I look back at that now, I think like, what, what was I thinking? But I think it must have been status quo. Oh, wow.
Angela Nicholson
I find it really amusing that, you know, that's going against all the advice as well, you know, your first published image, used a borrowed camera. So you didn't know it inside out and back to front, but somehow you managed to persevere and got fantastic image that was used in a DVD. Okay, so, could I have your last number, please? Six. Number six? Oh, this is an interesting question. When you're shooting a live event, how much do you plan in advance? And how much is reacting to how events unfold on the day? That question is from Caroline.
Christie Goodwin
Again, a very good question. And I don't prepare at all it has sometimes worked against me. But the thing is that for some reason, I don't research the artists, the band or anything because I don't want to be you know, there's so much imagery going around. And if I will was To research the artist, you'll see the pictures and you can't help yourself, but you're going to shoot that way. And I don't want to do that I want my own voice in it, I want to receive whatever I'm getting my own way, not being, you know, sort of distracted by what I've seen. So I usually, well actually never research while I'm going to shoot. I like to go in there and be basically like a child be bewildered with what I get. And it's always a gamble, because some things can be very difficult to shoot, and I'm not aware of it. And I just have to go and just, you know, catch on to it. In the moment, I usually don't know the artist either, which has put me in uncomfortable situations that I post them in a corridor, for instance, and I don't even know it's the artist, these kinds of things. Of course, Patrick often says, you know, you should look them up, you should do and I don't, because I just don't want to know, I like to go in blind. I think I'm also a bit of a thrill seeker. So probably, that's also an aspect to it. I like the thrill of not knowing and being drawn into the deep end.
Angela Nicholson
Yeah, I can identify with that. Well, thank you so much for answering all those questions. And for joining me today. If anyone isn't following Christie on Instagram, I'd really urge you to do so because Christy's images are amazing. But also it's the stories that she posts with those images that are really, really interesting to give lots of insight into music photography. Actually, there's a bit of technicality there, and also about the experience, and just what it feels like to be a music photographer. So I will put the link in the show notes, but it's Christy Goodwin. So thank you very much, Christy.
Christie Goodwin
Well, thank you for having me. It was really fun and very good questions. Thank you to the ones who send them in.
Angela Nicholson
Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode of The SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast. I hope you enjoyed hearing from Christie as much as I did. You'll find links to her website and social media channels in the show notes. I'll be back with another episode soon. So please subscribe to the show on your favourite podcast platform and tell all your friends and followers about it. You'll also find she clicks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube if you search for she clicks net. So until next time, enjoy your photography.
