Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Brock.
Hi Jim, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We had a darkroom when I was I kid, and my father’s eclectic eye showed me how to see differently. Now, when asked by younger photographers for advice starting out, I encourage them to walk around without a camera for a few weeks. Observe and look. To find angles and moments and light in the everyday that are less obvious. Only then, look through the camera. Not the other way around. That has shaped my whole approach and extends well beyond the lens.
I started chasing sounds before I ever picked up a camera. Dylan, The Beatles, Zeppelin, Cream and Hendrix hit my ears before I was 10. Jazz and blues came into the picture not long thereafter, and the Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East double album cracked my head open some 50 years ago. I craved the live music experience and still do. It was inevitable that photography and music would intersect. It just took some time, but when it did, there was no turning back. I started in clubs and camera-friendly festivals, picked up smaller sources to back my credentials, got to know club owners, publicists and, most importantly, the musicians themselves. A deep connection forged with New Orleans was also a turning point some 20 years ago.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I was a late creative bloomer professionally and took more of a middle-age turn having pursued a dedicated left-brain path for many prime years. Jumping in later cut both ways. I played catch up, cultivating relationships with artists, management and publicists. The wear and tear of multi-day festivals, and other high-impact assignments, hits harder than ever. And, unless directly hired as a tour, event or venue photographer, photo restrictions are just confounding and incredibly limiting. Sure, 20 photographers in the pit can get the same shot in the 10 minutes they have to shoot. But I search for something deeper. Moments that emerge unscripted and unanticipated long after the pit is cleared. Which draws me back to jazz and blues in smaller and more personal spaces. Delivering real-time content of depth and quality in a TikTok world where short-form videos rule and stills are clip art is also a constant challenge. These are not struggles by any stretch but are obstacles to be navigated along the way. And the emotional freedom of a later life pivot is pretty liberating.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I create visual soundtracks with my live music work, shooting with the infused musicality of a lifetime spent just about anywhere music happens. To visually capture what I hear and what I feel involves taking the journey with the musicians. A hair behind the beat or past that note, there is no shot. It is as a fluid as the music itself and involves a lifetime of anticipation and intuition. The moments I build on don’t happen in rehearsal and they’re not posed, but at the same time, I may choose to bring a studio-like feel to that live moment in post that isolates a certain mood or emotion. My work finds its way into magazines, newspapers, books, films, album art, online and on walls. But there is nothing more meaningful to me than when an artist personally reaches out for an image because I brought something home that struck them.
I am especially proud of my jazz and blues work, which contributes to a historical record that only grows more important over time, work that is really an extension of my profound love for that music. I have been especially honored to document one of the most unique musical series I’ve encountered, the Just Jazz concert series at Musichead Gallery, that has been so groundbreaking to the jazz scene here in Los Angeles since 2018.
Beginning in 2008, I was jury selected to shoot for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive, one of the richest collections of its kind in the country, and have contributed to the Archive almost every year since. I’ve shared the pit at the legendary Newport Folk Festival with Henry Diltz, Jay Blakesberg and Danny Clinch, guys who’ve made some of our most iconic musical images of our time and who have my complete admiration. And I have captured moments, my way, of so many legacy artists, musicians that are gone and those still on the road well into their 80s.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
My bread and butter is music, but I’ve been around this planet a bit and am passionate about travel photography, local culture and experimenting with more abstract light plays.
I have mad respect for musicians that commit themselves to pushing creative boundaries and still somehow make rent, pay their insurance, and get their kids to school. Despite this huge touring year, the industry took a major hit during the pandemic, Many venues closed. Staff were laid off. So, please support live music. See your neighborhood band. Tip your bartender. Listen to something a little outside your comfort zone.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eyeonthemusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimbrockphoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Brock-Photography/100063293643797/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/EyeOnTheMusic
Image Credits
©Jim Brock Photography
