Fast approaching the 200-galleries mark, Len Panecki is one of FasterLouder’s most experienced shooters. Tirelessly working the venues of Victoria, Len – aka Atomic – has an inexhaustible passion for live music. Here he shares some wisdom (and photos!) from his time in the pit.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
My passion for music first started when I was about eight years old and went to a local variety concert with lots of – œpleasant’ acts. Then The Saharas, a covers band, came on and the live music demon was unleashed within me. It was the first time I’d heard music played at that volume and I wanted more.

I started taking creative snaps with a Box Brownie in my early teens, upgraded to a Nikon SLR film camera, then purchased a medium format Mamiya twin lens reflex camera and did wedding photos for a while (including developing the negatives and printing photos up to poster size by running them through the three baths of chemicals). However I found this way too boring and let it slide. I then just took photos for pleasure, with a leaning towards macro photography, as you’d end up with photos of everyday things seen from a totally fresh angle.

What drew you to the world of music photography?
As I was a keen shooter, my camera pretty much travelled with me everywhere and I’d take happy snaps at shows I attended (when permitted) as well. Then on 19March 2006 I attended a Battle Of The Bands competition held on our local football oval, and listened to a succession of bands doing their best.

Then the headline band Behind Crimson Eyes came on and I had one massive religious experience. Not only was I blown away by their sound, but also by their high energy stage act, with all the jumping and guitar throw-arounds. I still get a buzz down the back of my neck even now just thinking about it. I really wanted that rush to last, and my new quest was to go on my photographic crusade to try to capture some of the magic of the live event in the form of photos.

I became a big fan of screamo music, then to various flavours of metal and then hardcore music. I’ve developed a liking of a very diverse range of music genres. I like to shoot any act where they dare to be original or where they have a passionate or interesting stage performance, and I particularly love stage camera-whores who play up to you.

At this point I’d just like to thank the editors, promoters, venues and bands for getting me access to shoot all the shows. I’d also like to say sorry to all my fave bands that weren’t included in this mini album – but with the 171,000 images I have stored of the hundreds of bands that I’ve shot over the past few years, I really struggled with which ones to include.

What is the best gig you’ve shot?
They say you always remember your first, and for me I got my biggest buzz shooting Soundwave in 2008. Not only was it my first festival shoot, but I was a little in awe at being able to get within touching distance and shoot such a huge collection of some of the world’s best punk/metal/hardcore bands.

My close second thrill was getting to shoot Def Leppard in my first stadium shoot. Most recently too, getting to shoot Alice Cooper was pretty special as well. I remember them playing the intro music, Alice comes on and starts singing, and there’s me standing like a dummy looking at him with my jaw dropped in awe at finally getting to see this huge rock legend live. After about 10 seconds, I’m woken out of my hypnotic state by the swarm of other shooters around me snapping away, and I figure I better start shooting as well.

What is the worst gig you’ve shot?
I’ve pondered this question for the past five minutes and can’t recall any really bad gigs, though whilst shooting Behind Crimson Eyes at an outdoor show in Moonee Ponds my shooting came to an abrupt halt after my forehead caught a bottle thrown from the crowd. I didn’t see it coming; just felt the thud and pain. I put my hand to where it hit, and when I looked at my hand it was covered in blood and my head was bleeding big time. When the BCE boys finished their set, they gave me a group hug as St John’s were cleaning me up in a backstage tent. I then had to go to hospital to get my gaping cut superglued together.

Tip for aspiring photographers?
If you’re really keen to shoot live shows, you need to do things in the following order:
•Learn the basics of photography e.g. composition, framing, angles, backlight, etc
•Keep reading the manual that came with your camera over and over again, till you know what every feature does, and more importantly what setting you need to change when the show photos you’re taking aren’t working.
•Take lots of free gig photos, and apart from looking at the ones that worked out well, have a look at your duds and you need to understand why these pics failed so you don’t repeat the same problem next time.
•Don’t expect to be given access to big name shows unless you’ve done your apprenticeship by building up your portfolio and consistently delivering the best possible albums on smaller shows.
•If you don’t know how to do something, ask another more experienced shooter.
•Always wear earplugs.
•Buy an external hard drive and back up all your photos on a very regular basis. Keep the hard drive separate from your computer, so in case of fire or theft you are left with a back-up.
•Though it’s nice to have the best (most expensive) gear, there are so many shooters that produce excellent results with kit lenses, in fact apart from my f2.8 Fisheye lens, I don’t own any fast lenses, and most times I still manage to get passable results (though I have to work heaps harder to get them).
•From most of the results I’ve seen, I believe it’s more to do with the skills of the shooter than with the equipment they use. Good photos come about from being in the right spot, the right camera settings, anticipation and framing.
•Every shooter has their own style and it’s not uncommon when you look at the albums of two shooters that it looks like they were at totally different shows, usually due to framing and camera settings.
•Though there are many joys in shooting live shows, be aware that there are also many things that can go wrong at the last minute and shows that you’ve been looking forward to and told you have access to can disappear in a flash.
•Can I make money out of it? Let’s just say, I don’t know of a single live show photographer that makes a full time living by just shooting live bands. We’re all driven by our addiction to live music – and any money we make along the way is a bonus.

I’ve pretty much been living the dream life the last three years and have met so many really nice fellow shooters, bands, promoters, sound and lighting techs as well as music fans. The Australian music community is a very small close knit family, so treat everyone with respect if you want to last in this business.

CHECK OUT THE FEATURE GALLERY OF LEN’S FAVOURITE SHOTS HERE.