Photographer Andreas Terlaak shoots musical performances like a cheetah hunts its prey. Electric, divine, and sexy, his images are an energetic and death-defying moment in time and space. Born in Holland and also raised in Indonesia and West Africa, Andreas carries an unconscious sense of beauty and human interaction that comes from his early travels. A true lover of music and visual composition, Andreas has an intuitive finger on the pulse of something fleeting and vibrant.
Photograph of U2 by Andreas Terlaak
What is your background as a photographer? How did you first get started, and did you study photography in school?
When I started my studies in Audio Visual Productions, of which photography was a part, I didn’t quite have in mind to become a photographer. As an apprentice I worked for a local TV station for one year as a reporter. I believe I was good at it, I made my news items, but didn’t get any joy or satisfaction out of it. Halfway through my studies I realized that photography suited me so much more than video camera work, editing, interviewing, producing and scriptwriting. I loved creating my own images, my own compositions. Nobody telling me what to do and not being dependent on anyone else. Playing with light, reflections, lines, sharpness and depth. Just me, my eyes and my camera. And I enjoyed the hours and hours in my mobile darkroom that I set up in the bathroom! Fascinating how an image slowly appeared on the paper in the trays with fluids. It surprised me that I was the only student in my year that decided to make photography my speciality.
Where did you grow up, and what were some of your early influences and memories of art or beauty as a child?
I grew up in different countries in different continents. My first 6 years I lived in a small Dutch village located between the two big cities of Rotterdam (where I was born) and The Hague, where my father worked for a multinational corporation. When I was six years old we moved to Gabon in West Africa for a few years. After that, back to Holland for a short time and then to Jakarta, Indonesia for 6 years. I spent middle and high school at the Jakarta International School. When I was 18, I moved back to Holland.
Kampong roofs in Indonesia, photograph by Andreas Terlaak
I can’t quite recall early influences and memories of art or beauty as a child. I do regret not enjoying all the sights and sounds I encountered in those years as much as I would now. My family and I travelled all over the world with Africa and Indonesia as base stations. I saw the most beautiful places and took it all for granted. I didn’t know any better. In the meantime, my friends and friends-to-be in Holland grew up in the same street they were born in. Now I realise that I had a very special youth. My international experience left me with one goal: as soon as I finished my studies, I would find a job that would get me out of Holland as soon as possible. Well, that didn’t happen.
Tell me about how you’ve come to do so much work with musical artists. Did this start with a love of music or for a particular assignment?
After graduating I had no idea what direction I wanted to go in with my photography or how to start a business. I photographed everything around me, and in the meantime I took on a job that had nothing to do with photography. One day a colleague of mine asked me if I wanted to take photographs of her son’s band that played at a local music festival. I never did this before, and it sounded exciting! So there I was, frontstage… When I took my first photo I knew that that’s where I was supposed to be. That’s what I wanted. I loved music, and I loved photography. How come I didn’t think of this combination myself?! So from then on, I only focused on music photography. I contacted a website called festivalinfo and told them I needed a way to get frontstage at festivals and that they needed photographs to liven up their site. That’s how I got my photopasses for festivals. The website didn’t pay me, but I didn’t care about that. As long as I got in.
Kaiser Chiefs at Lowlands festival, photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Arctic Monkeys photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Photograph of Tiesto by Andreas Terlaak
One day I met a press photographer who did a lot of entertainment and concert photography. I asked him if I could be his assistant. After 3 months of persistence, he took me to an Alice Cooper concert. This was new for me, because until then I only did festivals with mainly lesser known bands. He took me along for a year and I got to see and photograph huge names such as Bruce Springsteen and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This was a very relevant period for me. Everywhere he went, I went. I met a lot of people, created my own network, saw a lot of concerts and took a lot of photos. Slowly I developed my own view and style. After a year, the record labels (who give out the photopasses) told me it was time for me to get in on my own name. This meant I needed assignments — no publication means no photopass. I started to work for a website that placed concert photos, and not much later I had my first publication in Top of the Pops Magazine! So slowly it grew and it grew, and I started earning money and my hobby turned into work. This took me 6 years.
Bruce Springsteen photograph by Andreas Terlaak
All those years I had a full-time job that paid for the costs. I spent all my money on prints, investing in new cameras and fuel for the car. So it was great to finally see some money in return for a photo! I think I can say that wanting to become a full-time music photographer became an obsession. I spent all my free time at festivals in the weekends and in concert venues on weeknights. I was at the office during the day, so I worked 24/7.
My girlfriend back then blamed my photography for everything. I can’t blame her for that. I was so busy with photography that my full-time job became part-time, and later on even more part-time. When I thought it was safe for me to take the leap to freelancing, I quit the office and started for myself. This was October 2007. Now I work for 6 music magazines and a newspaper. Besides that, artists and festivals use my work for publicity and artwork.
The more my dream of becoming an independent (successful) photographer became a reality, the more my dream of moving abroad vaporised. But my expat past comes in very handy. My English is good, and I don’t have to hesitate when asked to go abroad for an assignment. I love to travel and be back in the great wide world. My girlfriend is a music journalist. We travel a lot together for work. In one year we’ve been to New York, Tokyo, Paris and New Orleans for stories. We have a little girl now, so finding time to combine things and make co-productions is a bit difficult, but I’m sure we’ll be travelling more in the future.
Concert crowd photograph by Andreas Terlaak
What kind of access are you given to these artists to shoot their performances? Are you usually on stage somewhere or are you getting these shots from the audience level as well?
This depends on the assignment. For reviews in the newspaper, I am mainly frontstage in the photopit, right in the gap between the stage and the audience. But sometimes magazines want special photos for covers or reports which lead to me standing on stage with the band. Recently, I had to do the drummers of the Killers and Dave Matthews on stage. This sure gives you a very different perspective! Sometimes the artist hires me for photography. This gives me permission to access all areas. Last year, for instance, I was hired by Neil Diamond to cover the European leg of his world tour. Here I had no restrictions whatsoever. He used my work for his tour programme in the States, for tour t-shirts, his website and the new live cd/dvd artwork. That is quite rewarding!
Radiohead photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Lenny Kravitz photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Kylie Minogue photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Wynton Marsalis photograph by Andreas Terlaak
The thing that is so captivating about your photographs is that you’re not just recording a moment in time, but you’re capturing the energy of that moment. You can feel that energy just looking at your photographs. Can you tell right away that you’ve done this?
As a photographer, you don’t have much influence on what happens onstage. But there are a few things you can control: the composition and the moment you press the button. It doesn’t matter how great your composition is with diagonals and lights, etc. — there needs to be something happening in the photo. Emotion, interaction, action. But on the other hand, it might as well be an unguarded moment. So sometimes I wait, wait, wait and then… click.
Editors photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Dido photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Tony Bennett photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Stereophonics photograph by Andreas Terlaak
I always try to compose or create my image instead of just making a registration of the situation. I think and look before I pick my position. I listen to the beat and melody to know when the singer or the song will reach a climax. I do image research before a concert to rule out surprises and to know what to expect. The Coldplay jump, for instance, happened very, very fast — but I knew he was going to do that, so I was prepared for it.
Chris Martin of Coldplay, photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Do you have to like the artist to get a good photo of them? Or is it all about the visual aspect of the moment?
On the contrary! The more I like the artist, the higher the difficulty level. U2 is my favourite band. My heroes. The first time I had to photograph them, Bono was standing right in front of me on the catwalk. I could literally touch his feet if I wanted to. I was so impressed and overwhelmed that I couldn’t concentrate on my photography. Since then I make sure this doesn’t happen anymore.
I’m not a great fan of metal music. But the genre is great fun for photographers. Lots of expression and hair flying around.
U2 photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Epica photograph by Andreas Terlaak
The way you use light and the relationship of light with that performer makes the image feel almost divine. Is this intentional or does it just happen because of the way spotlights are positioned and directed?
Thank you, that’s a great compliment! I do this completely intentionally! In my composition, I play with the available stage light, the frontlight and the backlight. Where other photographers see backlight as an obstacle and try to avoid it, I look at it as an element to use in my photo.
Greenday photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Oasis photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Katie Melua photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Jamie Cullum photograph by Andreas Terlaak
There’s always one rule at concerts: first three songs, no flash. No idea where that rule came from, but I reckon that if you can’t do it in the first three songs, you better stop as a music photographer. The no-flash rule doesn’t bother me at all. Using your flash can give a nice effect, but mainly it ruins the live atmosphere.
Colin Kyteman photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Concert photography can be physically demanding! Sometimes I have to place myself in an unhumanlike angle just for the composition I want. Sometimes in those three songs it means the utmost physical exertion. Sometimes I leave the venue with legs trembling and sweating like I’ve never done before.
Small venues don’t have barriers between stage and crowd. This means I have to use my charms to earn that position frontstage. With fans paying a lot of money for that ticket, I have to use a lot of charms.
Esperanza Spalding photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Even in your travel and sports photography you capture that same energy as you do in your work with musical artists — so quickly and without losing the moment. Can you tell me about some of the technical aspects of your work — for example, what camera are you using, any special lenses or techniques?
I bought my first single-lens reflex camera for my studies. This was an analogue Minolta Dynax 500si. After a few years I had a whole series of lenses to cover a range from 19mm to 300mm or so. When I started with festivals and concerts, I had a big problem. None of my lenses were low-light lenses. I needed a lense with a wide aperture of 2.8. So I bought a used Nikon F-801 camera with a used 2.8 80-200 lens. Yes!! Now I was ready to hit the stage. Only to realise that everybody around me was moving, or had already made the move, to digital photography. I worked with this analogue Nikon for a year or so, in which I spent a tremendous amount of money on film and on the developing and printing of them. I also lost so much time in the process. Then it was time for my first digital camera and from there on grew in my gear.
I must say that without the financial support of my parents, I wouldn’t have had the possibility to invest in my gear. It’s so nice to see how proud they are of me. They collect all the newspaper articles and publications with my work. I’m very grateful for their support, in every way.
Costa Rica photograph by Andreas Terlaak
New York City photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Cycling photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Soccer/Football photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Where do you see your work going from here? What do you hope to achieve?
When I was 25, I said I wanted to be a successful photographer at 35. Successful in the sense of being able to make a living out of it. I played it safe and gave myself 10 years. When I was 31, I became a full-time photographer. So that was achievement for me! Three months after I started freelancing, I won 1st prize in Holland’s most prestigious photography contest with an Amy Winehouse photo. This meant a lot to me, and it gave me a lot of self-confidence and encouragement. Besides that, it was good for my reputation and it put me and my work on the map. My customers were happy, and it created extra customers and assignments.
Amy Winehouse photograph by Andreas Terlaak
Over the years, live photography became my speciality. So much that I felt the urge to expand my activities. A logical step for me was the one to portrait photography. So now I do more and more of that. My portraits are okay, but I’m not satisfied yet. I’ll have to work on that and be more daring. The images need something extra to make them stand out. Portraying someone or a band asks so much more of a photographer. Social skills are very important. Directing and taking control of the situation. Knowing what you want and being able to communicate that to the subject being photographed.
Portrait of Moby by Andreas Terlaak
What are some of your favourite things, whether they impact your work directly or just make you happy?
Since I became a daddy, my life seems less complicated and more structured. There’s one priority, and that’s my daughter and my little family. Life doesn’t revolve around me anymore. I love spending time with that little girl and being together with my girlfriend and our daughter. It takes my mind off everything. I’m more relaxed in every way.
Andreas Terlaak, photograph by HP
All photographs copyright Andreas Terlaak.
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