Back at Ground Up, This Time in the Rain
Ground Up Music Festival is one of those events I genuinely look forward to every year. It’s Snarky Puppy’s festival — their artists, their vibe, their crowd — and there’s an energy here that’s hard to find anywhere else. This year I made a deliberate choice to enjoy day one as a fan and come in fresh on Sunday with a camera. No regrets on that call. What I didn’t plan for was the rain.
Sunday brought a real downpour — the kind that soaks through everything and doesn’t apologize for it. I was wet, the cameras were wet, and at a certain point you just accept it and keep photographing. Honestly some of my favorite frames came out of that chaos. The guy in the rain poncho laughing in the crowd? That’s not a setup. That’s just what the day looked like.
The Artists
The Sunday lineup was extraordinary. Arooj Aftab opened in a white suit against a stage filled with orange haze and fog, and the combination of smoke and stage reflection on the wet floor created one of the most visually striking setups I’ve encountered at this festival. Julian Lage was extraordinary as always — quiet, precise, completely in his own world. Getting a clean shot of him through the crowd with umbrellas in the foreground was one of those unplanned moments that ends up being a favorite. Isaiah Sharkey tore it up during the daytime set — big smile, Telecaster, the whole thing. And Patrice Rushen at the keys was a moment I won’t forget. That close-up frame of her playing says everything without needing a caption.
Photographing Snarky Puppy
I’ve photographed Snarky Puppy more times than I can count at this point, and every time there’s something new to find. The band is so deep — so many musicians on that stage — that the challenge is always deciding where to point the camera. The drummer photographed through the kit, the conga player beaming through the bokeh, the keyboardist lost in the music in blue light. These are the frames I come for every year. The crowd always gives you just as much to work with as the stage does, and Sunday night was no exception.
A Note on the Gear
Wet conditions and concert photography don’t love each other. I leaned on the Nikon Z9 throughout the day — it’s weather-sealed and built for exactly this kind of situation — and the Nikkor Plena 135 1.8 was doing a lot of heavy lifting in the lower light of the evening sets. When everything around you is soaked, knowing your equipment can handle it lets you stay focused on the pictures instead of worrying about the gear.
Las Vegas Concert Photographer, Wherever the Music Takes Me
I’m based in Las Vegas but as a concert photographer I go where the music is. Ground Up is always worth the trip to Miami. If you’re an artist, festival, or music brand looking for a Las Vegas concert photographer with experience at major music events across the country, I’d love to work together. Get in touch here.
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