Just gonna say it. Most of my favorite photos concert or otherwise, are fashioned by the Knee-Hi's. 'Fashioned'? I think so. For these four, diverse fashionista-transcending muses provide a meticulous aesthetic that artfully glams up the best of make-up, safety-pin charms, custom patches, DIY typography stenciled, stitched or screen printed with an elegant hand, and a palpable passion for all things visual, making any photo of them vie at the top of every pit photographer's 'best of' list.
I think there's a little truth in that, in many photographer's work, the viewer is seeing what the photographer wants you to see, and not necessarily the people in it.
Throw that crazy talk out for the Knee-Hi's. They provide the charisma people buzz about. They provide the memory. They provide the batteries to power my sleeping legs to straighten up when crouched at a show. THEY provide my constant focus, regardless of low light, graininess, or any blur I wrestle with. I snap away, mentally crossing my fingers that I capture even just an ounce of it.
That being said, when the Knee-Hi's are in glorious, aperture friendly daylight with an iconic venue and backdrop like the Empty Bottle, I am gifted with a pre-show shoot scenario I couldn't have ever imagined possible.
All this before a single song is sung.
Time for these 'wide-eyed rats' from Chicago to shed their super heroic stage personas for a peek at their just as overpowered secret identities.