An interview with Jered Scott

In concert and band photography, Jered Scott is my inspiration. In the past year, he’s hung out and photographed a bunch of bands. (Anberlin, MxPx, and Relient K to name a few.)

I’ve been wanting to talk to Jered and see how he’s been doing. A few weeks ago, I mustered up the guts to ask him out. Yes, a man date, shut up.

After he got back from SxSW — and my Trig test was over with — I called him. (It helped that he sent a Twitter updated of his rough schedule for the week.) So, between his photoshoots, we met at Millie’s Diner in Silverlake for lunch.

For such a mellow guy, he’s very insightful and makes you analyze yourself.

I asked him several questions about his photography career in the music industry, to which I can sum up with this statement in my own words: Be patient, the best at what you, promote others and know the right people.

Patience

For Jered’s first year doing concert photography, he was essentially doing it for free. Well, not exactly free because he was building his portfolio. Once he amassed a portfolio of his best photos, he went full time and needed to start charging.

Some cheapskate bands dropped him, some didn’t. Regardless, he knew how valuable he was to bands and knew that it was more than fair to be compensated.

Jered is now an AP photographer, and then some.

You’re the best…around

Look at Jered’s photos. He strives to capture photos nobody else can get.

Don’t use camera bodies and lenses because everyone else has it. Use the equipment you need that makes your photos different than the others.

Watch, listen, then thank me in three minutes (SFW). I couldn’t help myself.

Promote others

Aim to make everyone else look good. That’s your priority.

Network

This word hurts me because I’m pretty shy around new people. Unfortunately, it’s a requirement. Talk to lots of people in the industry, be confident.

In conclusion / Therefore

In the grand scheme of things, Jered still considers himself an unknown[1. I don’t “know” many other concert photographers, but I do follow Nicole Rork and Tasha Schalk (Redwall Photography).]. No matter. He’s one of my industrious heroes.

Thanks for the lunch and advice, Jered! I hope I can be like you someday. 🙂

You can find Jered at:

• jeredscott.com
• Flickr
  
• Twitter

About the photo

I was lucky to get a deal for two tickets to Bamboozle Left (Sunday), so James bought the other one and went with me. We ran into Jered that afternoon while wandering around. After Deftones finished their awesome set, Jered sent a Twitter update:

Who wants to eat in n out with me right now? (#)

So, we met up with him in La Mirada and had a grand time. I took his photo again because the one I took of him the week before was terrible.