Issue Nine- January 2021:

By Mercedes Barreto

Joe Mack, or better known as the best music photographer in The Hudson Valley, answers a few questions about his profession, his prowess, and the beginning of something special in an industry where he tries to capture the animation and emotions of musicians, & the art of music photography in itself.

When you first became a music photographer, what kinds of photoshoots did you have in mind, in terms of artistic possibility?

“I have been a musician probably as long as I have been a photographer. I decided a few years ago that there was a void to fill in the music industry in our area. Musicians and bands need good material rail to help them promote what they do.

I saw all the cell phone photos on band websites and Facebook pages and decided to see if I could do better as a photographer, and I did. 

My goal was to give Hi-Resolution performance photos and posed photos to bands and solo and duo performers. I try to capture the emotion in a performance. And I always tell them not to look at me, just make-believe I am not even there. One time during a soundcheck I was taking some test shots and the bass player was smiling at me, I laughed and said: “get that out of your system now and no smiling during the shoot”.”

When you take a picture of a music group or concept, what kind of perspective or theme are you looking to freeze in time with photography, in a musical sense?

“I like to capture the emotion, animation, and interaction between players. Nothing pleases me more than to see two guitar players standing side by side playing off the riffs of each other when they are facing each other, even better.”

When did you start with the music photography business, and who were your first clients?

“I had done travel and landscape photography for years. Being a musician I decided to try my hand at music photography. My son plays in a band, and at one of his shows I asked him if I could photograph the show, he said sure. Afterward, looking at the photos I took, I decided ” I can do this”. That was over 3 years ago. If not for my son and his band none of this would have happened.”

Are you locally well-known when it comes to your business? To the point where you are the one people go to? How is the competitive angle in music photography?

“If you look at my Facebook page I have almost 5000 “friends” there and I would say 90% of them are musicians. I work hard at networking and marketing myself and my craft. 

I have become the go-to music photographer in the area. Just the other day someone was looking for a photographer for a performance, this on Facebook. I was so pleased to see SO MANY people recommending me. The funny thing is, the guy looking for the photographer knew me, knew I do not work on Saturdays, and that’s why he was looking for recommendations….he finally had to say in the post, JOE MACK DOES NOT WORK ON SATURDAYS STOP RECOMMENDING HIM…”

If you could do a shoot with any musical group, what would you choose to shoot, where and why?

“This is such a hard question.

You know, I never think about shooting big-time acts. Mostly because I could never get the shots I want sitting in the audience. I move all around getting the best angles possible, sometimes even getting on stage.

But if I could, being from the era of all the GREAT bands, I would love to shoot The Rolling Stones.”