If the environment is right I won’t even think of taking out my phone. Sometimes I get too into it. If I’m standing there awkwardly, but am enjoying the show I might take a picture or two.

Yea, absolutely! I find it best to just go with your intuition, enjoy the moment – if something great looking makes you want to snap it – do it in the blink of an eye. Dont think about it and just wait for when you have time to look back on them. Make the photography as natural as your memory. People spend too much time videotaping and snappin photos the whole time which makes for the disconnection – the point (in my opinion) is to capture it real quick to re-connect with it again, but not to loose the connection in the moment.

Yes – it can happen. One must make the picture taking part of the experience, rather than something outside of it. I dont know how best to balance it… we all have our own fulcrum. A friend of mine mainly takes abstractions of scenes when he travels: http://objcts.tumblr.com/ – I think it creates another level of experience…

I used to try to take photos/videos, but gave up on it as I felt the same disconnect. There will usually be TONS of other photos/videos to view that others shot available online anyways, and many of them will be better than what you shoot.

Other than the novelty of being able to say ‘I shot that’, the trade-off didn’t seem worth it.

Now, as far as documenting your own shows/experience – that’s different. I’ve done setups for bands with any combination of wireless or wired video or web cams being captured to a computer, using iSight cams on the computers themselves, Hero Go Pro cams (small, portable, easy to setup, good video quality, self-contained), and so on. The size of the cams allow you to attach them to drums, keyboards, mic stands, etc. to get a great looking shot and, with multi-cam setups, you can cut between footage from each cam when assembling the final video.

We have some awesome shots/video of you in Denver with Alex Grey. Love Concert footage, or any type in that matter. agreed with Neil, Take tons of natural footage without thinking too much because you’ll be able to evaluate later. Turn the camera, play with angles, those always get me inspired.

Yes… When I started my career as a fire performer, I found myself in lots of interesting places, meeting lots of interesting people, and doing some really awesome stuff. I quickly bought a video camera with the intent to catch some of it. After the first few times I brought it with me, however, I realized that it was very hard to capture what I wanted to capture, yet still participate in what I was experiencing. It was also a pretty big hassle to be toting a camera which cost me about $1,000 around to big parties… I was always paranoid that I would leave it somewhere, someone would steal it, or I would break it somehow. Eventually, I pretty much stopped taking it with me to avoid the hassle.

A couple of years ago I got a cheap Canon PowerShot… It was a simple point and shoot with decent quality stills, some video capability, and it was compact enough to easily fit in my pocket. I could take it anywhere, it was quick, and pretty cheap. I found I could pull it out of my pocket, snap a picture or record video quickly, and put it back in my pocket without removing myself from the experience and it was cheap enough that I didn’t worry so much about losing it. It was good enough to capture the moments I wanted to capture but not so good that I had to involve myself deeply in the process of capturing said moments. I felt like it was perfect for what I needed.

Last month, I upgraded to a similar but better camera (Canon S95). Its just about the same size as my old powershot but photo quality is way better, it shoots 720p HD video, and has more manual settings which helps for my slight interest in technical photography. The idea here is that it will still be portable, quick, and easy to use but up the image quality and be a bit more powerful in low-light situations. So far, I’m loving it!

So, this is what I would personally recommend – a quick no-hassle point and shoot with capabilities you desire… Canons are pretty good for this and I always recomend them.

That said, you can always hire a videographer to follow you around and document stuff for you… Next time you come to Philly, I’d be happy to document your experience for a fairly low rate :)

Also, to target more of the ‘disconnection’ issue, I’ve dealt with it in a few ways:

- In the case where I know other people are filming/photographing the same thing but probably with better equipment and a better vantage point, I simply immerse myself in the experience and say, “I’ll watch it on YouTube later”

- In a situation where I definitely want to capture something and I have the ability to interact with the subject, I do. Interacting is a great way to capture while still experiencing. Many times, you can actually CREATE or ADD to an experience by using your camera to interact.

- Times when I def want to capture but can’t interact much, I just make a decision – would I be happier capturing the experience and having the ability to share it or would I rather just experience it and keep it in memory. Most times in this situation, I go with the memories as reliving memories is often more fun than re-watching some pixel-perfect rendition of an event.

I understand where ya comin from..i too can get distracted from whats really happening just so i can get a great image..Or sometimes i get so excited about the image i am about to take that i get caught up in my emotions and by the time I grab the camera..the “kodak” moment is gone..thats why..for me is to just keep the camera in your pocket and take a snap shot and carry on with the beauty you are experiencing..folks want the perfect photo and so they stand still in a trance to capture it but their losing the essence of “now”…fuck it. take a quick pic and keep bobbin yo head. thats it.

You have to try and use the camera as if it were your eyes and eliminate the thought that you are trying to capture the perfect picture, usually the ones you don’t think about come out the best! Don’t look for the perfect moment for the perfect picture, be in the moment and the perfect picture with find you

The key is balance. Have fun… Pull your device out, snap a few pics when the colors are awesome, then put it away and continue to rock out. Rinse and repeat. That’s my strategy.

I’m normally too caught up in the tunes to consider taking loads of pictures- and if a moment comes when I think “what a great image that’d be”, as Tani G. said, the time’s been and gone. Either that or I end up with a blurry smudge of peoples heads & some colourful blobs on stage!
I remember seeing Etienne de Crecy performing in this very cool matrix (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G29rwyuKVQ0), and the minute he came on half the crowd raised their phones/cameras and seemed to watch the whole thing through their viewfinder. I didn’t get it: we just found our own space, took maybe 5 pics, and got down to the music :-)
JT’s spot on- a few quick snaps & then back to what’s important, the tunes.

Maybe some Orbital-style head-mounted camera? Could be a winner! :-)

The only way I’ll do it is to NOT look at the phone or camera screen while recording. That way not only can you enjoy yourself/get into it more, but especially when using a phone, you’ll get scrambled and crazy images that may well be a lot more interesting than an attempt to get a good recording of what actually happened. If you’re not using a tripod, it’s going to be shaky anyway, and if you are, not only will it be a boring one angle take on the thing (if not shaky) but you’ll have to be on stage anyway.

Stills – yes, quick shots then put it away. The point of being there is to experience it firsthand- you can always watch someone else’s footage later. Mediating through a device while you’re there is a bit pointless unless that’s what you’re there for – in which case, three angles (at least), good cameras, steadycams etc are still really, really useful !

I COMPLETELY feel this way. I wanted desperately to document LIB (who wouldn’t?), but I just couldn’t bring myself to tote my camera around and stare through its lens when there was so much to experience MYSELF. I actually was thinking about this as we traveled back – as I looked through my photos.
The only way I balance it is by sort of setting periods of time where I take my camera and go photonuts – and then very purposely put it away and do my best not to think about all the awesome shots I’m missing out on. 8)
Great set at LIB!

Stillness may be found at the core of any experience, and I believe in humanities ability to ascend to this beautiful experience. I am out playing my human life often, but just as often am wandering within to the depths of different experiences, and I am learning to proceed from peace, to surrender to dreams, when it feels more difficult to stop my progress. I dream of being a musician, a performer as well, but the acceptance of my situation is allowing detachment from the fruit f my actions while pursuing them passionately, for the joy of it. If you don’t enjoy taking photos on tour, thats ok with me, look at how many people love exactly what you do now. I love it, just the way it is, YOUR art,sound, and style. Go well into Dream ESKMO

Tommy G, I agree! I find if I hold it in hands at chest, I’m able to interact and continue eye-to-eye contact with my subject.

I’m working as a new media artist and I absolutely understand this dilemma. My wife is always saying that we should take more photos and videos of our 1 yr. old son and my struggle is much the same. I work with photo and video media as creative expression and I often find that I’m really present in the moment when I’m filming (for my work). But when I add the layer of trying to watch my son growing and experiencing I feel that I’m missing everything when viewing it through a viewfinder or LCD screen. So my new policy (and philosophy) may not leave me that many photos for the scrap book, but I’m there in that moment, present.

mmmmm… sometimes if it feels right, I take out the camera hold it in the air and film/snap a few shots without even looking at it. the question you must ask yourself at such times is, do I feel lucky? well, do ya, punk?

Late to the party, but here’s my $0.02.

I run into this problem a lot being a photographer and finding myself at a lot of festivals like burning man or other ‘happenings’ where being participatory and present is key to the situation at hand. I see a lot of people who are stuck behind their cameras the WHOLE TIME and it’s really annoying. I feel bad for them because they’re not really present.

I’ve developed a two tier solution; Tier one is behavior based and two is, amusingly enough, technology based. It’s allowed me to spend 99% of my time enjoying events while still getting some amazing photographs.

1) The behavioral piece is to simply not worry about capturing images most of the time. If you’re on a trip or at a multi-day event, PLAN to simply not take photos except for one day or one part of a day ahead of time. This relieves a lot of the tension/pressure that happens when you’re constantly thinking “ooh, I should capture this!” because you can simply put it out of your mind. This has the the added benefit of when the pre-planned time comes to capture images, you can set that ‘disconnect’ with intention knowing full well that it’s for a limited duration and is part of whatever you’re doing. This gets rid of a lot of the ‘guilt’ behind constantly being behind a camera. When thee time starts bring out your camera and roll with it, and when the time ends, put it away.

2) Part 1 doesn’t always work as sometimes you do see something you REALLY WANT to capture, this is where technology comes to the rescue. For $300 you can get an *amazing* little point and shoot camera that is TINY but takes excellent pictures quickly. Check out the Canon Digital Elph line. It’s small enough to keep in a pocket all the time, so if something pops you you want to snap, do so, but do it quickly then put the camera away. This entire process takes 10 seconds. That hardly pulls you out of whatever your doing.