In 2013, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music was looking for a volunteer to photograph some of their faculty members and classes. Their photo library was out-of-date and, when they needed images for articles or ads, the only available photos were quite old. When I was interviewed by Kathy Esposito, I told her that, although I normally photograph nature and landscapes, I had some experience photographing musicians in the Verona Area Concert Band for my son. He had graduated from the School of Music, has been happily employed ever since, and never had to move back home! So, I thought volunteering was a way for me to pay them back. Kathy was brave enough to let me give it a try.
I recently “retired” from that job that I enjoyed for a little over eleven years. It was really more a joy than a job so, if you don’t mind, I thought I would reminisce about it a bit. This isn’t a top ten list, it’s just a list of random memories presented in no particular order.
I was never really interested in portrait photography but I had to try to accomplish something. This was one of my early tasks and I would say my results were so-so. After a few somewhat formal attempts I switched to a more casual approach. In addition to individual faculty, I took photos of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, the Wingra Wind Quintet and the Pro Arte Quartet. Some of these I tried in both color and black and white. To provide some variety I’ll show a couple of the black and white versions.
Mouse over the small photos in galleries to see captions.
Click on any one to enlarge, then use arrows to scroll through the rest of the images.
I really enjoyed watching Scott Teeple rehearse with the Wind Ensemble, so one day I took a few photos showing a variety of his expressions. I’m not sure that he liked the result but, oh well, you never know. He’s a great conductor and recently was inducted into the American Bandmasters Association.
Although it took me a few jobs to get used to it, when I photographed rehearsals I eventually walked around wherever there was adequate space, even if it was between rows of musicians. The professors didn’t object and the students were very good at ignoring me. The opportunities for students in the School of Music amazed me. They could participate in band, wind ensemble, percussion ensemble, chamber orchestra, symphony orchestra, jazz groups large and small, choral groups and other things too many to list.
Eventually the School of Music decided they wanted to hire me to continue this photographic project, so I started doing freelance jobs for them. I photographed a wide variety of festivals, concerts, operas, symphonies, and even some unique events. I have over 100 folders of event photographs in the UW Music folder on my computer.
As my tasks moved beyond the classroom, I eventually started to come in evenings and weekends to capture some special events. For example, I photographed:
- Five Brass Fests, featuring musicians like the Stockholm Chamber Brass.
- Three “Schubertiades” led by pianists Martha Fischer and Bill Lutes in celebration of the music of Franz Schubert. For these events some of the audience sat on the stage, to represent chamber music taking place in a large room rather than a concert hall.
- Six Symphony Showcases featuring many talented soloists.
In addition to rehearsals and concerts, students often had the opportunity to participate in master classes.
Although some of my favorite photos over the years have been of individual or small groups of musicians, I would be remiss if didn’t include some images of the larger groups that fill the stage with their music. After all, most of the individuals or small groups that I photographed were part of these larger groups. So, here are the UW Concert Choir, Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Orchestra.
