Text and photos by Karin Richter @Karin Richter
I remember taking my camera and letting myself be carried away by the sound, by the lights, because of the environment. The world could fall to pieces and nothing mattered more than being there: to record, to capture, to immortalize that chord, that piece of lyrics, that expression…
Covering a festival like Rock al Parque It will always represent a challenge. Beyond the lineup, the media, the organizers, the opinions, what it represents, the weather, my musical taste, or whatever, What is expected in new editions always surpasses past ones. One expects a larger audience, better lighting, stages that live up to expectations, a great atmosphere, and bands that give their all on stage. One always hopes for THE photo; The one that combines light, movement, opportunity, technique, music, feeling, and a little bit of luck. The one that makes the viewer, at the moment of seeing it, remember precisely that moment: From what the lead singer said, to the bassist's jump, to the fan's closed eyes as they belted out the chorus, to the band's guest, to what the person next to them said, or to the downpour. You always want to capture, preserve for posterity, and remember every little moment of a song, a gig, a festival.
You have to be prepared. Packing the camera, filling a backpack with lenses, emptying the memory cards, charging the batteries, and bringing a raincoat are always the least of it. The preparation is mental, physical, and emotional. You have to read the poster, try to research the bands, find out what genre they play, see if there are photos to get an idea of what the show is like—you have to do your research. If you don't, You have to arrive with your ears, eyes, and mind wide open., With the certainty of being surprised and the possibility of leaving disappointed. With age and experience, one must internalize that it's three full days (and nights) under the sun, in the rain, and in the relentless cold of the capital; with a heavy camera in one's hands and a backpack full of lenses on one's back. which eventually becomes part of your body.
Qualities magically appear such as patience and tolerance, that don't allow you to lose your temper when someone pushes you or when someone blocks the photo you're trying to take... to those two things, you add the perseverance to get to the desired place, find the angle, wait for the moment and be able to leave, at the end of the day, despite the tiredness, with a huge smile on his face and a swollen heart for finding that photo you were looking for.
I still have that feeling from when I took one of my favorite photos: Rock al Parque 2010. It was almost six in the afternoon and Mojiganga was killing it on the main stage. Blue lights, a towering stage, a gray backdrop. Mojiganga without masks, without black silhouettes against red backgrounds. Mojiganga for the first time on my camera in a decent way. Hannibal seemed like a spring and never stopped jumping. My challenge: to capture one of his jumps. I made my way through the crowd, settling in on one side of the catwalk. I waited, leaning against the security barrier. I followed her body with my lens… how it came and went. I kept waiting, taking deep breaths to keep my hand from shaking. Finally, it's close, the moment of the cut arrives, three milliseconds… it jumps. I shot out of reflex, out of fright, out of emotion. He falls, I check the screen and there it is. The photo I was looking for: Aníbal mid-jump as if he were about to land on top of me… It was inevitable to shout: JUEP%&·$!!!!!
Someone once asked me why I take photos of concerts And I don't know the exact answer. I've been surrounded by music my whole life, connected to music my whole life, and over time I realized that I couldn't be on stage. In a way, because of those strange cosmic connections that music has, I could never break free from it. In a way, it always found a way to find me and remind me that this bond is unbreakable… that once a melody or a lyric or a particular sound enters your ears and touches your soul, it's very difficult to forget it. So I think music found me through photography.
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